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Newtown: Trying To Change The Argument

by John on 12/17/2012

So this morning, I am reading my morning memo from the National Review, the conservative magazine. 

The editor quotes one of the magazine’s bloggers, obviously a conservative gun advocate.  He writes:

The one thing the gun-control people claim is that they’re not gun grabbers, and they don’t want to literally ban every gun in the US.  But . . . banning every gun in the US is the only possible gun-control measure that could plausibly achieve the results they seek.  (Italics are his emphasis, not mine.)

This is called trying to change the argument – to either win or avoid the argument. 

Of course, it is a silly premise.  The majority of Americans don’t want to ban every gun in the US.  Are there some people that do?  Yes, but they too are in the minority.

This blogger is tone deaf to the majority of Americans.  I can’t say this blogger speaks for the majority of gun owners or NRA members since we have not heard from them or the GOP lawmakers who carry their water to Capitol Hill.

Here’s the Informed Not Inflamed perception:

  • The majority of Americans want assault weapons banned
  • They want people with any mental deficiencies to be denied guns – and receive help
  • They want current laws enforced.

Here are the facts:

  1. Politically, things are changing.  This time the Far Right is going to lose this argument.  Why?  This time is different.  (I will go more in depth on this in another post.) 
  2. The smart so-called (I hate labels) conservatives will change or moderate their views.  Joe Scarborough did this morning on his MSNBC show “Morning Joe”.  Joe Manchin, the Democratic but conservative/moderate Senator from West Virginia, has also split from the NRA’s previous stance.
  3. Obama is facing, it seems, regret from not doing anything after the shooting of Gabby Giffords.  He also has the Mayor of New York, with great financial clout, maybe enough to overcome the NRA, to make him push legislation that might not even need votes in Congress.
  4. Read my recent post here.  I tell you about a friend – who is a liberal woman, who is for gun control, but not against guns — who carries a pistol in her purse.  I think her beliefs are in the majority.
  5. Most Americans don’t carry guns.  Gun owners are in the minority.  The majority of the guns owned in the US are owned by a small minority of people who are stockpiling guns.  Here are some statistics.

Still, let’s not ignore, negate, or denigrate these Americans. They need to be heard too.  Don’t lump them all together as whackos; they’re not.  Give them a chance to moderate. 

However, that doesn’t mean stop the conversation or let them dominate the conversation.  They must join the debate, but not change the argument.  New laws need to be enacted and old laws need to be enforced.

This time is different.

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