Second Amendment Absolutists Celebrating Trump's Vicotry [View all]

[billh58]

There are a few OPs on DU that claim that the Democratic Party's loss in the general election was due, in part, to our stance on gun control. Oddly enough, Hillary won the popular vote but lost the electoral college mainly in those states that she took for granted. That was a mistake.

It is a given that the rust-belt and red states are filled with gun owners, but it appears that most of those voters were focused on the economy and jobs rather than background checks for gun ownership. Nationwide, a majority of Americans are in favor of gun control measures aimed at reducing our shameful levels of gun violence.

From the Washington Post:

To be sure, this means that the majority of gun owners—regardless of whether they belonged to the NRA—opposed many forms of gun control. But on the other hand, this list of gun laws did not include some popular proposals. For example, gun owners, regardless of NRA membership, appear to support criminal background checks.

What these poll results show is that the coalitional politics of gun control is more complex than you might think after LaPierre’s speech. This is not a world with gun owners on one side and those who do not own guns on the other. Two of the policies most discussed in the wake of the Newtown shootings—a ban on assault weapons and a limit on the size of magazines—will attract support not only from those who don’t have a gun in their house but from those who do, especially if the gun isn’t theirs and also if the gun is theirs but they are not NRA members.

Gun owners do not speak with one voice about gun control, and, for many gun owners, Wayne LaPierre does not appear to speak for them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/12/23/gun-owners-vs-the-nra-what-the-polling-shows/

"Cold Dead Hands" absolutists claim that ALL gun control measures are aimed at the eventual repeal of the Second Amendment, as silly as that impossibly attainable notion is. And as the article points out, they also claim to speak for ALL gun owners, which is another statistically silly notion. Many non-vocal gun owners are sane, sensible, and reasonable.

The other claim from NRA apologists is that the "real" Democratic value is unyielding support for the right-wing interpretation of the Second Amendment. Again from the Washington Post article:

"NRA members were also different politically even from gun owners who weren’t in the NRA. For example, 70 percent of gun owners who were NRA members called themselves “conservative” or “very conservative.” Only 44 percent of gun owners who weren’t NRA members said that. And while gun ownership has become increasingly confined to Republicans, there are still big differences in terms of party identification even among gun owners. The vast majority of NRA members (73 percent) identified with or leaned toward the Republican Party. But among gun owners who weren’t in the NRA, only 49 percent were Republicans; more than a third (35 percent) were actually Democrats."

Democratic values endorse and embrace non-violence when at all possible, and the protection of all forms of life -- including self protection. They do not include vigilantism (SYG), an easily accessed gun without restrictions, or the public display of lethal weapons by sociopaths.

For the sake of argument, let's say that 50% (average political split in the USA) of those non-NRA gun owners who are Democrats (35% of the total) agree with the Democratic Party platform on gun control. How can the extreme "gun rights" segment of the Party presume to speak for ALL gun owners?

The bottom line is that Democrats represent policies which will, as the Party Platform states: Ensure the health and safety of all Americans, and under that heading is:

•Prevent gun violence
•Expand and strengthen background checks for gun owners, as well as close certain loopholes
•Repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA)

https://electionfacts2016.com/democratic-party-platform-2016/

Along with a majority of thinking Americans, Democrats support sensible gun control measures.