Pro-gun America quiet, contemplative in wake of Sandy Hook massacre

[morningfog]

Pro-gun organizations and politicians usually quick to counter calls for gun control in the wake of massacres involving assault-style weaponry have remained largely silent after Friday's Sandy Hook massacre, for the moment at least ceding their role in a vigorous gun control debate raging across the country.

* * *

After Friday’s massacre in Connecticut became the 7th major mass shooting in the US this year, police later Friday arrested a Cedar Lake, Ind., man who owned 47 guns, after he threatened to go to a local elementary school and open fire.

* * *

Sensing a pause from pro-gun rights groups and individuals, pro-gun control advocates like Huffington Post columnist Robert Cavnar, a licensed gun owner, noted that "the conversation has finally begun."

"The age and innocence of the victims in this massacre, coming right on the heels of the Oregon shootings and the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide, have finally caused the self imposed discussion moratorium, enforced by the millions of dollars invested by the NRA and gun manufacturers, to be ended," he writes. As proof, he says, "The NRA has uncharacteristically gone subterranean since the shooting, and its website is completely silent on the matter."

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/1216/Pro-gun-America-quiet-contemplative-in-wake-of-Sandy-Hook-massacre/%28page%29/2

[Skittles]

1. they have blood on their hands and they fucking know it

they'll still cling to their guns like the cowards they are though

[reformist2]

2. Quiet, yes. I don't know about contemplative.

I'm not sure they're capable of that.

[Happyhippychick]

3. Agree

[Fumesucker]

6. They are contemplating their next propaganda campaign n/t

[TDale313]

9. Bingo. n/t

[Hekate]

11. Oh yeah -- they're just laying low for awhile.

[Chorophyll]

4. If only they were as quiet on DU as they were in the rest of America.

But yeah, it's over for them. Breaking point reached.

[Indydem]

5. Yes, lets have a conversation.

I am a pro gun rights Democrat.

I own firearms and do so in a responsible and legal manner.

I support the right of all others to own firearms responsibly.

I do not support the ownership of firearms by the mentally ill.

These are my beliefs.

If you can propose a series of "solutions" to these tragedies that don't involve trampling upon the constitutional rights of tens of millions of Americans, then we can talk.

Let the discussion begin.

[Fumesucker]

8. I have never seen a gun owner that claimed he or she was irresponsible

Not once in all my years online and my first modem was a 300 baud acoustic coupled unit you put a handset on.

And yet we all know they are out there.

[Indydem]

10. Absolutely. What do we do about those who are irresponsible?

Mandatory classes?

Mandatory securing of firearms?

Steep fines if a gun is used in a crime?

[upaloopa]

15. I think you paint the picture better than anyone can

You are pro gun rights and leave it there. That's the problem in a nut shell. The rest of us have rights too. The right to life liberty and the persuit of happiness. Those rights trump you gun rights. You don't seem to be able to comprehend that.
Society will just have to step on gun rights as a means of self preservation.
I am sorry but there can't be a conversation any more. Those dead children make it so.

[Indykatie]

7. The Silence from the Pro Gun Crowd is Deafening

I have seen some positive comments though on the need for discussion and change coming from a few Republicans so maybe we are headed in the right direction. Roger Simon over at Politico has penned an excellent opinion piece but apparently he has been a supporter of gun control for many years. I expect the rhetoric at Fox will be somewhat muted given Murdoch's support for some control measures.

[kestrel91316]

12. Contemplative, my ass. They don't give a shit about

their victims.

Time to name all NRA officers and staff and publicly shame/shun them. Same for the board members/officers of all gun manufacturers, distributors, and major retailers. We need to know who these murderers are.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. The vast majority of it is public information, so have at it.

[ellisonz]

13. Oh if only...

...the NRA knows it's got its minions out in force.

[quakerboy]

16. Bologna

None of the Pro-gun people I know are particularly quiet. I just had a tossup with my dad this afternoon, which we both decided not to discuss further, as my mom declared it was time to stop as she wanted to remain on good terms with both us.