You object when you are called a conservative and your views are lumped in with them. I don't care about gun control. It is a distraction. Especially after mass shootings.
Translation: If the 2nd amendment doesn't mean that anyone can have instant and unrestricted access to whatever firearm they want, then lets get rid of the 1st and 5th amendments as well.
I don't doubt that in the beginning both sides were arguing in good faith and the gun controllers really wanted to stop gun violence and the gun keepers really did worry about the constitution and freedom. I knew that I had wondered astray when gun control was more about pissing off the gun fetish suburban white guys who never really shoot anyone, rather than stopping gun violence. I can piss off the Applebee's set without taking their guns. I always suspected that the gun huggers quit arguing in good faith when they stridently oppose literally any regulation even innocuous things like trigger locks. The confluence of mass shooting and Muslims has confirmed it. Guns kill 35000 people every year, no big deal, but look out for Muslim terrorists coming to kill you. The second amendment is inviolable, but lets make special laws for Muslims and quit worrying about due process.
Ahhh, and there it is. The Second Amendment is inviolable. I agree with that.
Many of those gun deaths are from suicide. I don't worry much about those since dead folks have a hard time killing live folks. Many of the rest are gang related. I don't worry about those either since I'm not a gang banger.
So statistically, folks are safe from gun violence unless you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time (think terrorists, or robbery, or eating at Luby's) or some shit bag mistakes your house for his. That's when self protection comes in handy, should the need ever arise. It should be my choice how to defend myself within the constraints of the Second Amendment, not the government's. If we can let the Second Amendment be open to reinterpretation, why can't the rest of the Bill of Rights be as well? I'm not the crazy paranoid type, but I have grown less trustful of the shit bag, self-serving elitists that rule our government today, so I'm not inclined to budge on any right afforded to me by the Constitution.
Most gun owners are in favor of background checks sufficient to weed out those who shouldn't have them. On that note, why aren't folks who legally can't buy a gun aggressively prosecuted when they try? That might solve some problems. Another conversation for another time.
Many gun folks are in favor of new fangled trigger locks, provided they WORK. The infant industry hasn't been able to demonstrate a high degree of reliability and there remain plenty of challenges to perfect them. Trigger lock that only works when my finger pulls the trigger? I'm all for them. Don't confuse resistence to Obama's unrealistic time demands on an unfinished technology with resistence to the technology.
And many gun owners support closing loopholes. Some of the proposals have been far out there though. The problem with the administration using "common sense gun reform/gun laws" is that the definition begins to vary by who is talking. I'm for reform to keep guns out of the hands of shit bags, but the administration should be VERY transparent about what they propose and what would actually get passed. I'm dubious from the standpoint that this administration has repeatedly had an issue with transparency and I can no longer trust what they say will be the reality. I suspect most that don't support "common sense gun reform" feel the same way. Maybe the next administration won't have the integrity issues this one does. If Hillary is elected, I'm out on it for another 4 years. Trump? I'm not going to make a current judgement.
And yes, I've been very sarcastic. I think Muslims should arm themselves against the extremists in their ranks as well. Head in the sand isn't getting shit done.
