sisyphus
11-22-2008, 11:48 AM
Memorandum
To: Gun Nuts of America
From: Liberal Establishment
Date: 11/22/08
RE: Your Guns
This may come as a surprise to many of you gun enthusiasts out there, but in the list of things us liberals want to get done in the next four to eight years, messing with anyone's guns is pretty far down. In fact, unless you are a convicted felon (and thereby legally ineligible to own firearms) - I don't even think guns are on our list at all.
I know this is at odds with what you hear from the folks from the NRA, or Hannity, or Limbaugh, or NewsMax, or wherever it is you get your news these days. But trust me, we really don't care that much about guns.
Why is this? Well, to start with, most of us Liberals are pretty pragmatic folks. We care about what works - and what doesn't. We like scientific studies, and reasoned analysis to help us make our decisions. And, believe it or not, the Constitution (and all 27 of its Amendments, not just #2) is pretty important to us too.
We've looked at the studies about gun ownership, and you know what? There just doesn't seem to be a strong correlation between guns and crime. True: Private ownership of guns doesn't seem to increase crime, including murder. But also true: private ownership (even concealed carry) doesn't seem to reduce it either. What does reduce crime? More cops on the street, and better economic conditions. So, given that we can only do so much, we're gonna focus on making us stronger economically. If you think that buying a handgun, or a shotgun, or a rifle, is going to make you safer in your home: You're free to believe that. We could point to statistics that say the opposite. But we won't.
The last couple of elections have been generally pretty good for us Liberals. Across most of the country we've increased the number of candidates we've had elected. And most of those new legislators want to get re-elected. The last thing those newly elected Liberal senators or Congressmen want to do is stir up a lot of controversy voting for something that a) isn't going to make much difference and b) is going to piss off a lot of voters. We might, possibly, do something to make it harder for convicted felons to buy guns (the gun show loophole) - but even that's a stretch.
I'm sure as you're reading this, some of you are going to say "Well back in xxx or so Barack HUSSEIN Obama put xxx on some form" or said something else in some interview. Well guess what: It just doesn't mean anything. His priorities as President of the USA are going to be a heck of a lot different to those he had when he represented a crime-ridden district on the south side of Chicago. If you want to keep on obsessing about it, and bringing it up, and rambling on endlessly - there's nothing anyone can do to stop you. You are free to believe whatever you want. But that doesn't make it true.
In case you missed it, right now our country has some pretty big challenges ahead of it. Our banking system almost collapsed. Our car industry is pretty close to falling apart. Unemployment is way up. We're getting out of Iraq - and more into Afghanistan. We need to deal with Iran and China and Russia and Cuba and Venezuela. We need to come up with an energy policy. Thirty million of our citizens don't have health insurance. And Joe Sixpack owning a gun isn't going to help us with any of those. If you can tell us a good way we can shoot our way out of a recession or into better health care - go ahead, we're all ears. But in the meantime, we're going to work to try and fix those things I've just mentioned. Taking away someone's legal right to own guns frankly isn't even on our radar.
If you want to be part of the discussion about fixing some of those big problems I just mentioned (the economy, energy, healthcare, etc. etc.) we'll welcome your input. But if all you want to do is rant about some secret (and factually nonexistent) plan to take away guns, then we just aren't interested.
To: Gun Nuts of America
From: Liberal Establishment
Date: 11/22/08
RE: Your Guns
This may come as a surprise to many of you gun enthusiasts out there, but in the list of things us liberals want to get done in the next four to eight years, messing with anyone's guns is pretty far down. In fact, unless you are a convicted felon (and thereby legally ineligible to own firearms) - I don't even think guns are on our list at all.
I know this is at odds with what you hear from the folks from the NRA, or Hannity, or Limbaugh, or NewsMax, or wherever it is you get your news these days. But trust me, we really don't care that much about guns.
Why is this? Well, to start with, most of us Liberals are pretty pragmatic folks. We care about what works - and what doesn't. We like scientific studies, and reasoned analysis to help us make our decisions. And, believe it or not, the Constitution (and all 27 of its Amendments, not just #2) is pretty important to us too.
We've looked at the studies about gun ownership, and you know what? There just doesn't seem to be a strong correlation between guns and crime. True: Private ownership of guns doesn't seem to increase crime, including murder. But also true: private ownership (even concealed carry) doesn't seem to reduce it either. What does reduce crime? More cops on the street, and better economic conditions. So, given that we can only do so much, we're gonna focus on making us stronger economically. If you think that buying a handgun, or a shotgun, or a rifle, is going to make you safer in your home: You're free to believe that. We could point to statistics that say the opposite. But we won't.
The last couple of elections have been generally pretty good for us Liberals. Across most of the country we've increased the number of candidates we've had elected. And most of those new legislators want to get re-elected. The last thing those newly elected Liberal senators or Congressmen want to do is stir up a lot of controversy voting for something that a) isn't going to make much difference and b) is going to piss off a lot of voters. We might, possibly, do something to make it harder for convicted felons to buy guns (the gun show loophole) - but even that's a stretch.
I'm sure as you're reading this, some of you are going to say "Well back in xxx or so Barack HUSSEIN Obama put xxx on some form" or said something else in some interview. Well guess what: It just doesn't mean anything. His priorities as President of the USA are going to be a heck of a lot different to those he had when he represented a crime-ridden district on the south side of Chicago. If you want to keep on obsessing about it, and bringing it up, and rambling on endlessly - there's nothing anyone can do to stop you. You are free to believe whatever you want. But that doesn't make it true.
In case you missed it, right now our country has some pretty big challenges ahead of it. Our banking system almost collapsed. Our car industry is pretty close to falling apart. Unemployment is way up. We're getting out of Iraq - and more into Afghanistan. We need to deal with Iran and China and Russia and Cuba and Venezuela. We need to come up with an energy policy. Thirty million of our citizens don't have health insurance. And Joe Sixpack owning a gun isn't going to help us with any of those. If you can tell us a good way we can shoot our way out of a recession or into better health care - go ahead, we're all ears. But in the meantime, we're going to work to try and fix those things I've just mentioned. Taking away someone's legal right to own guns frankly isn't even on our radar.
If you want to be part of the discussion about fixing some of those big problems I just mentioned (the economy, energy, healthcare, etc. etc.) we'll welcome your input. But if all you want to do is rant about some secret (and factually nonexistent) plan to take away guns, then we just aren't interested.