re: #178 Anymouse

A purity pony argument of “all of our gun regulations right now” is doomed, every bit as much as any other purity pony issue. As much as leftier than thou types hate to admit it, incrementalism works far better than sweeping revolution.

See, from where I sit, there isn’t even a question of imposing any new regulations; in fact, what we see is a coordinated effort to roll back what regulations do exist now. In Texas, open carry of handguns and concealed carry on campuses wasn’t a thing until quite recently, and in fact isn’t supported by a majority of Texans - but it’s supported by the ones who vote in Republican primaries, and that’s what matters.

IMO it’s absolutely a culture war thing - the NRA & gun manufacturers have an obvious interest in making people as fearful as possible, so we have handgun ownership spiking as violent crime decreases, the expansion of Stand Your Ground laws, and so forth, due to those who are terrified entirely out of proportion to reality. So I’m not really convinced that “education” is going to do much. If we can find a way to figure out how to stop certain Americans from being so damned scared of everything all the time, that might help.

To be clear, I’m a city-dwelling liberal who has no objection to rural Nebraskans owning firearms. The thought of owning one has crossed my mind, but I don’t find that an honest, actual threat assessment weighed against the responsibility comes out on the side of making a purchase. I do object to the idea that computerized government tracking of gun ownership is a sign of the Antichrist, or that there shouldn’t be penalties for people who have their guns stolen or kill innocent people posing no threat solely because they say they were “afraid”. But until Birch Society Fever dies down I don’t really know what one can do.