Obama and guns

DonWallbaum · 11-13-2008, 09:03 AM

OK, let me cover three message responses in one:

Former NRA member, why? Nothing against the NRA, but the "take no prisoners" approach the NRA leadership was taking was a bit trying on me. I _firmly_ fall into the camp that hold that the government should have no more weaponry available to it than the citizenry, and as the saying goes, "People should not fear the government, the goverment should fear the people" (from the movie "V" - great flick, if you havent seen it, its worth the rental fee.).

So, dogma and ideology as the basis for making any kind of national policy has been tried and found wanting. Between every man has a right to a nuke and all knives should be banned, at some point a national consensus will have to be achieved.

I have no appreciation for HCI - there are bad people out there and every species will defend itself by whatever means available. BUT, while gun ownership is important to this group, and to a lot of groups, and to me, lets face it -- the issues in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Guantanamo, the recession, financial bailouts, Detroit bailouts, all THOSE issues are going to take precendence over a desire to do anything with gun legislation.

Finally, as with the issue of abortion, the country has settled to an uneasy equilibrium, basically a national "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Barring some national disaster involving a weapon, I think the fed. govt. will just let sleeping issues lie for a while. Not to say at some point something will bring gun ownership back to the front of national attention, but I don't see that happening now.

As for why I voted for Obama and his instinct to ban guns, I don't think that instinct is that strong. I view him as a realize, not a demagog, and frankly, I had gotten so infuriated by the Republicans running rough shod over the Constitution (does anyone remember "habius corpus"?) with issues such as rendition, and the Patriot Act, not to mention two unjustifiable wars, and letting the financial markets run amok, that I had NO faith that continued Republican control of the government would benefit MY life or the welfare of the country.

So, say Obama on 21 Jan. says all guns have to be turned in and melted down... I think there will be general non-compliance, and I am pretty sure that he is smart enough to know there would be non-compliance, and he probably has bigger issues he wants to pursue.

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11-13-2008, 09:03 AM	#33
DonWallbaum User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Logan, OH USA Posts: 37 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	OK, let me cover three message responses in one: Former NRA member, why? Nothing against the NRA, but the "take no prisoners" approach the NRA leadership was taking was a bit trying on me. I _firmly_ fall into the camp that hold that the government should have no more weaponry available to it than the citizenry, and as the saying goes, "People should not fear the government, the goverment should fear the people" (from the movie "V" - great flick, if you havent seen it, its worth the rental fee.). So, dogma and ideology as the basis for making any kind of national policy has been tried and found wanting. Between every man has a right to a nuke and all knives should be banned, at some point a national consensus will have to be achieved. I have no appreciation for HCI - there are bad people out there and every species will defend itself by whatever means available. BUT, while gun ownership is important to this group, and to a lot of groups, and to me, lets face it -- the issues in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Guantanamo, the recession, financial bailouts, Detroit bailouts, all THOSE issues are going to take precendence over a desire to do anything with gun legislation. Finally, as with the issue of abortion, the country has settled to an uneasy equilibrium, basically a national "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Barring some national disaster involving a weapon, I think the fed. govt. will just let sleeping issues lie for a while. Not to say at some point something will bring gun ownership back to the front of national attention, but I don't see that happening now. As for why I voted for Obama and his instinct to ban guns, I don't think that instinct is that strong. I view him as a realize, not a demagog, and frankly, I had gotten so infuriated by the Republicans running rough shod over the Constitution (does anyone remember "habius corpus"?) with issues such as rendition, and the Patriot Act, not to mention two unjustifiable wars, and letting the financial markets run amok, that I had NO faith that continued Republican control of the government would benefit MY life or the welfare of the country. So, say Obama on 21 Jan. says all guns have to be turned in and melted down... I think there will be general non-compliance, and I am pretty sure that he is smart enough to know there would be non-compliance, and he probably has bigger issues he wants to pursue.