MM -
Fine, I'm going to ignore what I said and continue to discuss this. There are too many things in that post that I don't want to let stand.
First, the fact that your source is the NRA doesn't mean that everything they say about Obama and his positions must therefore be the gospel truth. The NRA does have an agenda, and they will naturally tend to view things within the context of that agenda.
And by the way, calling the NRA a "grassroots organization" rather ignores the involvement of all the gun manufacturers, doesn't it?
Second, there are things on that list I find perfectly reasonable, as I said, but that doesn't mean I find all of them reasonable. One example of something I might see as reasonable is supporting "gun owner licensing and gun registration." That no more infringes on a person's right to bear arms than car registration infringes on a person's right to own a car.
I don't see it as being unreasonable to support mandatory waiting periods, or mandatory training, either, just as I don't find it unreasonable that we expect people to know how to drive before we let them get behind the wheel of a car without supervision.
Now, we may reasonably disagree on some of these points. That does not mean that I am a person who believes in trampling the rights of others, and I am, frankly, annoyed by that leap of logic.
I'm sure most NRA members do hold basic American values dear. So do I.
I don't care what others do, except when they try to interfere with my rights or the rights of others. I believe that having no restrictions whatsoever on gun ownership would lead to increased violence in our communities, which might interfere with every citizen's right to stay on this side of the grass as long as we can. And there's your answer for why some people feel the way I do about having what we consider to be reasonable gun regulations.
Again, you may reasonably disagree, but do not tell me I am somehow less of an American than you are.
- Allen
PS: This statement irks me: "This is typical of many liberal thinkers, if not all. They have a particular view, it makes sense to them, and they want to impose it on everybody else. I've seen this over and over again on many many issues."
Do you not see that conservatives do the same thing? Everyone thinks his own point of view is reasonable, and would like to see the laws of the land conform to it. That doesn't mean that all liberals want everybody to think like they do, or that all conservatives do, either. |
