Speak up, Democrats, on gun control

[SecularMotion]

If anyone watched this year’s presidential conventions, you would have been hard pressed to hear even the slightest mention of guns or gun control. Indeed, the only official word on the subject was in the Republican platform, which expressly forbids the party from supporting any legislation that would reduce the maximum number of bullets in a magazine clip.

Of all things to have in a party platform, this may have set a new standard of insensitivity, given that high-capacity magazine clips were a prime reason for the horrifically high body count at the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting this summer.

More surprising is that Democrats, the party of progressive stands on social issues, said nothing about gun control even after the rash of tragedies in Colorado, Wisconsin, and in Washington state. The timid Democratic response was painful to witness after the near-fatal shooting of one of their own congresswomen less than two years ago, along with the fatal shooting of the husband of another congresswoman over a decade ago on a Long Island train.

Gun violence, which costs this country as much as a $100 billion annually and is perhaps along with obesity the number one public health issue of our time, was put on mute again.

http://crosscut.com/2012/09/26/politics-government/110600/speak-democrats-gun-control/

[Reasonable_Argument]

1. I think you cut off the last bit

"I'm Mitt Romney, and I approve this message".

[Missycim]

2. Join in the google dumps to build a gun free WORLD!!!!

nt

[pipoman]

3. Who wrote this opinion piece?

Bio:
Ralph Fascitelli is a Seattle businessman and a member of Washington Ceasefire since 1999. The non-profit group is dedicated to reducing the almost 600 annual deaths from guns in this state.

No, contrary to the rabid gun control advocate's cries, Democrats don't actually support violation of enumerated civil liberties...as has been demonstrated numerous times right here on DU in polls in GD. Democrats...liberals...generally believe in liberal interpretation of civil liberties.

[Remmah2]

4. WTF?

"Gun violence, which costs this country as much as a $100 billion annually and is perhaps along with obesity the number one public health issue of our time, was put on mute again."

McGun Store?

[holdencaufield]

5. We must control ...

... what people eat, and what sports they engage in ...

FOR THE CHILDREN!

[gopiscrap]

28. Thank you I fully agree

Fuck guns and the fucking gun nuts who can't think for themselves!!!

[Remmah2]

30. I was thinking it was the most piss poor piece of journalism yet.

But who am I to think for myself.

[Shitty Mitty]

44. Ever been robbed?

?

[holdencaufield]

45. I felt I had been robbed ...

... when I paid to see "Alien 3"

[gopiscrap]

46. as a matter of fact, yes!

[slackmaster]

6. The author is a presumptuous prick. He is speaking for authoritarians, not for Democrats.

[Mojorabbit]

29. Yep. I agree with your assessment. nt

[GreenStormCloud]

7. "...magazine clips..."? LOL. N/T

[holdencaufield]

8. Magazine Clip

[spin]

41. You have feel sorry for the news media. They try so hard and still fail. (n/t)

[former-republican]

9. .......

[rrneck]

10. Guns hurt Gore in Trnnessee.

I was there. I watched it happen.

[glacierbay]

12. It destroyed him in Missouri also

When he called for more gun control, I knew in that instant that he had lost MO.

[rrneck]

18. For want of a nail... nt

[SecularMotion]

13. That's a NRA myth.

Al Gore ran for President as a native son of Tennessee. The Vice President may have been an official resident of the state, but he was born and raised and spent most of his life in Washington, D.C. While most Tennesseans identified with the self-made life story of his senator father, the straight-laced and Harvard-educated Al Junior did not hold the same level of affection with the Tennessee citizenry

Tennessee has evolved over the past 36 years into a solid red state for the Republicans. No Democratic candidate for president, even Clinton, has received more than 48 percent of the vote in Tennessee since 1976. Gore got 47 percent of the vote in 2000. That was still six points better than John Kerry received four years later, despite Kerry’s catering to the gun rights crowd, with a well-publicized pheasant shoot during the campaign.

In 2000, Tennessee was about as red as it gets. It had a Republican governor and two Republican senators. Not only was the state anti-gun, it was also anti-gay rights, anti-abortion, anti-union, anti-universal health care, anti-immigration etc. It didn’t help that the Democrats took the state for granted in 2000 and gave more time and committed more advertising to other toss-up states.

It wasn’t guns in 1994 and 2000 that cost the Democrats. Indeed, national polls at the time showed overwhelming support for both closing the assault weapons ban and closing the gun show loophole.

[rrneck]

17. Yeah, I read that. I assume you did as well.

"Not only was the state anti-gun..."


Tennessee is not a "red anti-gun state". The Republican narrative of an out of touch liberal elitist intellectual included Gore's association with gun control in general and the AWB in particular.

I was in and out of a lot of warehouses and construction sites then, and that's the narrative that I heard from people who should have been voting for him (It's the economy stupid). Fiscal policy wasn't discussed. It was God and guns most of the time. Obama knows this (he learned it the hard way). That explains how he has handled both issues then and how he will handle them now.

Get out and talk to people who don't agree with you now and then and stop buying your ideology from people who make a iiving telling you what you want to hear.

[friendly_iconoclast]

20. Leave the closed-source gun control information feedback loop? As if...

As we've all seen, gun control advocates share one important characteristic with a group of people they loathe (and who loathe them in return)-teabaggers.

And that characteristic is: They only listen to people that already agree with them.

[rrneck]

23. Religious fundamentalism comes in many forms. nt

[SecularMotion]

24. Thanks for your personal anecdotes

but I'll stick with the facts.

[rrneck]

27. Thanks for the google dump.

I especially appreciate the oxymoron in this particular second hand opinion piece.

[glacierbay]

19. It wasn't a myth in Missouri

I was there, I know for a fact that was the final straw with alot of people who would have voted for him otherwise, they just stayed home and I don't give a damn what some survey or editorial writer says, I was there, as I still am.
He probably wasn't going to win in MO anyway but Bush's margin of victory in MO was that much more because of Gore's stance on gun control.

[Eleanors38]

69. Chads or no, Gore could have carried FL, but for his AWB stance.nt

[glacierbay]

11. More bullshit lies,

hi cap mags were in no way even a factor in this shooting, that POS 100 rnd mag jammed up fast and then he resorted to the shotgun.
That right there is enough for me to dismiss this article as lean on facts and fat on lies.
Do you ever even verify what is in the articles you post?

[jeepnstein]

14. I speak up often.

And I have a feeling that in the circles I work in the issue has been carefully considered. And it's pretty much been relegated to a sturdy Rubbermaid container that gets emptied every night. Gun banning is just a very unpopular policy and candidates that go around saying they want to do it generally don't do well in Ohio. Some localities are more hostile to civil rights than others but as a general rule a statewide candidate in Ohio is better off being in favor of freedom than banning.

The country is awash in real issues, important issues, the kinds of things that directly impact the wallets of the middle class that the other party so clearly hates. And yet some of our activists still want to go around tilting at windmills? They are wasting their time and our good name calling for gun bans.

[4th law of robotics]

15. "costs . . . as much, perhaps . . . the number one public health issue"

Translation: we made these statistics up.

Wild ferret attacks could cost as much as 500 trillion per year and are perhaps, along with wild weasel attacks (closely related but distinct), the greatest threat humanity has ever faced.

[Eleanors38]

16. I already do...

By opposing this meaningless prohibitionist outlook.

[rDigital]

21. SM, do you support complete civilian disarmament? nt

[SecularMotion]

22. rD, Do you support guns for everyone, everywhere with no restrictions? nt

[friendly_iconoclast]

25. How about answering his question first?

Wonder why we don't trust you lot? Simple: It's like pulling teeth to get a straight answer out of you.

[SecularMotion]

31. fi, Do you support guns for everyone, everywhere with no restrictions? nt

[friendly_iconoclast]

32. No; not even the NRA feels that way. And you *still* haven't answered his question...

When you lot are ready to actually compromise (instead of merely saying so), we'll be here. Until then, we are no obligation to cooperate with you
or even stand silently aside.

[SecularMotion]

33. Then we agree

that there should be restrictions on who owns guns, what guns they can own, and where they can be carried in public.

[friendly_iconoclast]

34. Of *course* we agree,to that extent- this isn't Sovereign Citizens Underground...

The hard part is agreeing to what limitations are reasonable...

[former-republican]

35. I do unless you're crazy and violent

[Samjm]

51. Oh please

There is a HUGE chasm between completely disarming the entire country and giving every single person a gun.

[jbgood1977]

36. Please answer the question.

It was rather simple.

[SecularMotion]

37. Hey newbie, Do you support guns for everyone, everywhere with no restrictions? nt

[jbgood1977]

38. Please answer the question.

It's rather simple. I bet you can do it.

[ellisonz]

39. Jump. n/t

[SecularMotion]

40. I'll bet you can't.

[Reasonable_Argument]

42. Want me to answer the question for you

Or do you know where I stand by now

[SecularMotion]

43. Is that your sock puppet?

[glacierbay]

47. Want to answer the question?

I mean, instead of your usual dodge?

[SecularMotion]

48. No

[glacierbay]

50. I expected that answer

have a good day.

[rl6214]

57. That is the answer of a coward

[SecularMotion]

58. That sounds like something a republican would say.

[rl6214]

59. AAAAhahahahahahahaha

To get called on not having the guts to answer a direct question and then you accuse me of answering like a republican. That is definately the answer of a coward.

[SecularMotion]

60. I think you misunderstood the post

My post was an direct answer to a direct question.

You distorted my answer like a republican would.

[rl6214]

61. No misunderstanding, you were asked a direct question

you didn't have the guts to answer it. No distortion.

[SecularMotion]

63. I think you're confused

[jbgood1977]

65. Gee, I wonder why.

It is a rather simple question. Why do you refuse to answer it? Oh, never mind that - just answer the original question, maybe it is too hard for you to take a stand. Can you take a stand?

[SecularMotion]

66. That was the answer.

[jbgood1977]

68. Shuck and jive all you want, but please answere the very simple question.

Go ahead, give it a try.

[Reasonable_Argument]

52. Nope

I just get tired of seeing you post that question like a "trump card" where you try to paint the person who answers it as a radical. Yet you normally refuse to answer their questions about you.

[derby378]

62. I think it goes something like this

"Do you support guns for everyone, everywhere with absolutely no restrictions?"
"Of course not."
"Then we agree that there should be a ban on assault weapons, a limit of one gun a month, and a limit of 20 rounds of ammunition a month. I win, you lose!"
"I never..."
"Too late, loser."

Yeah, kinda like that!

[jbgood1977]

64. Please answer the question.

Or are you finding it above your ability? I thought it was rather simple.

[jbgood1977]

71. You never did answer the question

I wonder why. . .well, not really as we all know why.

[SecularMotion]

75. I wonder why you haven't been banned yet.

[hack89]

79. Putting you on the spot is a bannable offense? nt

[jbgood1977]

81. Odd,

Still no answer. I wonder why.

[aikoaiko]

26. The silence is not surprising considering anti-RKBA advocates are political pariahs.

Albeit pariahs that get thrown a bone every once in a while to keep them alive.

[locks]

49. great article

Thanks, SecularMotion, for posting the excellent article from Seattle crosscut. Glad my grandson and friends live in a great state and will support Democrats who keep on working for gun control. And hoping that DUers in Washington, Colorado, and Wisconsin will never give up on this literally life and death issue.

[eqfan592]

54. I can't tell if this is sarcastic or not...

...if it is, its funny. If its not, its sad and misguided.

EDIT: And for the record, the issue of concealed carry most certainly hurt Wisconsin dems and helped get Scott Walker elected. And what makes it worse is that there was no reason to be against concealed carry in the first place except for a lot of hyperbolic BS. So much damage done, and for literally no good reason whatsoever.

[gejohnston]

55. Yeah, OK

http://democratsforgunownership.org/

[derby378]

56. All they can do is whine...

Crimes committed with guns are on the decline in America. There is still much work to be done, but we're doing it with a reclaimed respect for our Constitutional rights (except for certain states).

[Clames]

67. Picture says a lot.

[holdencaufield]

73. Is it the black one?

[Eleanors38]

70. "Progressive stand on social issues..."

That's just the problem, and the reason Democrats are not buying into this contrived outlook.

Gun-control is neither progressive nor liberal.

[gejohnston]

72. We are

so did you have a problem with Ted Strickland speaking at the DNC?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/117269792

[PavePusher]

74. Heh, I just noticed that the second picture....

featuring linked-belt ammo (prepared for machine guns) is clearly marked as originating from a military source, thus having nothing to do with civilian arms or the subject of the article.

Seems some people/groups will go to any lengths, using any lies, to sell fear and paranoia, eh?

[SecularMotion]

76. Speaking of paranoia

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1240159225

[gejohnston]

78. says more about the alerter

than it does Pave.

[Clames]

80. He is a known trivial alerter...

...that ellisonz.

[gejohnston]

77. here it is

http://www.flickr.com/photos/316thesc/sets/72157629636509549/
There are some pics of the Sargent Major of the Army wearing a different uniform. Does that mean the Army is getting rid of those "all environments" uniforms that actually doesn't work?