Continuing the discussion from Are Jews people? Find out after the break on CNN:
When they kick at your front door
How you gonna come?
With your hands on your head
Or on the trigger of your gun…
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Did you write that yourself, or is it from something?
Guns of Brixton
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I’ll quote myself from the previous thread:
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Sound advice.
Right around 25% of the US military are Democrats, so there’s a fair number of Democrats running around that are trained to be proficient in their use.
Liberals with firearms aren’t as rare as the stereotypes would lead you to believe. I grew up with them and have used them since I was 10- I consider myself a democratic socialist.
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Lots of “blue dog” and rural democrats are gun owners. Though a lot of them tend to be more the shotgun and hunting rifle types. But like I said, it shouldn’t be a liberal vs conservative issue like many make it out to be. Indeed there are Jewish and Gay gun rights group, so you have primarily liberal groups who are pro gun rights.
I actually hadn’t realized it until now, but I am pretty sure why this is still on the Democrat platform like it is, is a throw back to the past. And now it is just one of the party lines to throw at red neck republicans.
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That’s what caught my eye in your post and I thought pretty interesting, I myself have never thought about the roots of this stereotype.
Part of what confuses the issue is conflating Democrats and liberals (not that you did, pointing out the Blue-dogs reminded me of that)
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@Mister44 (and paging @anon61221983) I get the impression that the actual numbers on rural gun owning democrats is pretty low compared to the Big City Democrats who tend to be quite against gun ownership.
Oh and from what I understand the Jewish firearms groups dont tend to be democrats.
Theres also outliers like my father who is a lifelong Democrat who owned a handgun when he lived in New Orleans but never in his life owned a rifle or shotgun or went hunting.
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I’m a good shot but I’ll never have a gun in the house.
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You a big fan of Rosa Luxemburg?
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I grew up with them and was taught the proper handling long before I was allowed to use them. I have young children so the firearms are locked in a vault in a home that does not have children. I’ve taught my eldest gun safety, though he is not allowed to handle one.
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This is pure anecdote, of course, but I know a family of academics, who I’d consider very left, that live in the city, who hunt regularly. I can’t imagine that they are the only ones here in the south. He’s not even originally from the south, but his parents were Austrian immigrants from the northern part of Yugoslavia (after the WW2) and he grew up in Southern California before heading off to college. So maybe your father isn’t as much as an outlier as you think (don’t I remember you saying your parents were academics of some variety? Am I confused?)
I’d guess that gun ownership is much higher in the south as an aggregate (and in states that are highly rural in general, like vermont), even in southern cities among democrats than you’d expect given the way we think about this issue more generally. Remember that here anyway, most of us are from elsewhere and even if we grew up here, we probably have family in the rural areas of the state who farmed/hunted regularly. Meaning many of us has family members who have guns (both my husband and I included on both sides of the family).
I just think that gun issue is a much more complicated one than liberals against, conservatives for. Even people who are in favor of some gun control are not necessarily “anti-gun” as you might expect.
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Speaking of anecdotal… Most of the gun owners I know up here in the great white north are a) hunters b) super liberal lefties c) pro-gun control. Funny that eh?
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There are things about her to be admired.
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As someone who falls into those categories, I can offer the personal insight that when your interest in firearms comes from them being used as tools vs an identity issue, the regulation of them is not as troubling.
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The handgun was for shooting to kill in the event of a home invasion. Not an unreasonable concern in New Orleans at the time. Yes, a hard science academic but not a southerner in either body or soul.
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I have to agree on this as well. Adding to the anecdotal pile, my family has been on the Democrat to left side of the spectrum for generations, and gun ownership was pretty common as well. My father and grandfather both grew up on farms, which had a lot to do with viewing guns as tools. They also both believed in regulation, and despised the NRA.
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Define “pro-gun control”. Generally these people are fine with laws that don’t directly affect them. Because they primarily deal with shot guns and bolt action rifles, they don’t care if the “gang bangers” can’t buy pistols or the “crazies” can’t buy ARs.
My dad COULD be one of those people, as he has little to no use for pistols or ARs (he does have a couple pistols, but they are single action revolvers and a .22 target pistol). But he knows there is little difference between his Winchester Model 70 deer rifle, and a military sniper rifle.
Europe has a rich and varied hunting tradition. While you had the poorer rural people who worked the land and hunted it, you also had the rich land owners where it was sort of a status thing.
I agree with that. I know I am a hardliner when it comes to this, but it is because I honestly don’t think the laws are helping with crime, we have a ton of them as it is, the new ones will only further effect legal owners - not criminals who are not using the system. I also don’t think most people who want new laws are necessarily trying to destroy anything. I think they are generally earnest in their intention, I just disagree their ideas will have any real affect on crime - just as none of the past laws can show a large, direct correlation.
But thanks everyone for illustrating the foolishness in it being a left or right issue.
Also, as an aside, while I still disagree with them, I would begrudgingly accept things like FFL transfers for all weapons, or possibly a permit system (they don’t infringe on rights, they just make it a PITA and cost time and money), I won’t ever accept things like a blanket AWB or a registration scheme.
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Grew up with many guns around the house (upwards of 100–dad was a military history nut, most were not in firing condition). Not my thing, but I have at times considered purchasing one if I thought I might start hunting.
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I hear about these people, and know they’re out there, but I’ve never actually met a Fudd. Everyone I know who cares enough to own one believes they have a right to do so. But anecdotal, so…
As a former holder of a FFL, you’d be surprised how many convicted violent felons run afoul the 4473 and NICS. Doesn’t mean they don’t then buy them elsewhere, but it’s a start.
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