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David French

Gun rights, gun control, and irreconcilable cultural differences

The bottom line is clear: For the gun controller, restrictions on gun ownership are a zero-cost policy while for the gun owner, gun control provides zero benefit. In other words, how does restricting my gun rights make my family safer — when criminals have proven hundreds of thousands of times over that gun regulations are irrelevant to them? But it goes even further. For many of us, the entire notion of a disarmed society is unpalatable and represents a change in national character from a culture of self-reliant citizens to one of state-reliant subjects.

This cultural divide is one of the reasons why the Left keeps arguing — despite millions of words exchanged on the subject — that we haven’t had a true “dialogue” about gun control. In reality, we talk past each other because we inhabit parallel cultural and moral universes. In a way, I’m reminded of the environmental and car-safety arguments back in the days when global warming was the Most Important Issue Ever. Prius owners claimed the air would be cleaner and roads would be safer if everyone just drove a Prius (or similar car), while the SUV or pickup truck drivers simply couldn’t see why they should sacrifice their (quite real) safety and transportation needs to achieve a net benefit to the environment or to others so small that it couldn’t be measured with an electron microscope. Even if an all-Prius world were possible, the SUV owner wouldn’t want to live in that world.

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It’s a bit more than that.

It is a failure to recognize what the Second Amendment is truly about by the Left. Well, actually, they love them some gubbmint, so they could never see the need to replace it…while they are in charge.

Of course, all those bombings by Obama’s pal Ayers…against the government…

Does that mean the Left would approve of bombings of the Right?

And it is an attempt to control individuals, as the Left seems most interested, for “their own good” while the Right wants to let people control themselves. (In generalities, that is, for both.)

ProfShadow on December 22, 2012 at 9:30 AM

Any Leftist who doesn’t put a sign on his door or in his yard announcing that there are no guns on the premises is not to be taken seriously when he argues for gun control.

Let him put his safety where his mouth is.

Akzed on December 22, 2012 at 9:32 AM

Any Leftist who doesn’t put a sign on his door or in his yard announcing that there are no guns on the premises is not to be taken seriously when he argues for gun control.

Let him put his safety where his mouth is.

Akzed on December 22, 2012 at 9:32 AM

Of course, putting a sign up announcing that one has guns on the premises could lead to burglary.

In DE one must put an ad in the paper announcing that he is applying for a CCP – including the applicant’s address. This regularly results in burglaries where only guns are stolen – according to a cop responding to such a burglary involving a friend of mine.

Akzed on December 22, 2012 at 9:36 AM

The Moron Majority is going to criminalize or tax conservatism out of existence. Guns? Ban them. Vehicles actually capable of going place rural people often need to go? Regulate them out of existence. Churches? Tax them. Against gay marriage? Hate crime. etc.

forest on December 22, 2012 at 9:37 AM

For many of us, the entire notion of a disarmed society is unpalatable and represents a change in national character from a culture of self-reliant citizens to one of state-reliant subjects.

That’s why the left is pushing it, of course.

This cultural divide is one of the reasons why the Left keeps arguing — despite millions of words exchanged on the subject — that we haven’t had a true “dialogue” about gun control.

For the left, it’s not a “true dialogue” unless and until they win it.

petefrt on December 22, 2012 at 9:41 AM

This cultural divide is one of the reasons why the Left keeps arguing — despite millions of words exchanged on the subject — that we haven’t had a true “dialogue” about gun control.

The left defines “dialogue” as shut up, listen to us, & do exactly what we say. No thanks.

But yeah, I’m sick of this lefty “we haven’t had a true dialogue” crapola. They use the same meme about the DP – another area they never shut up about.

Blake on December 22, 2012 at 9:42 AM

In other words, the gun-control argument is more about cultural values than it is about charts, graphs, and numbers. And those values are shaped less by public policy (or CNN or MSNBC talk show hosts) than by peers, parents, and personal experience. Welcome back to the culture wars.

Its time for the moderates to understand we have never left the culture war. The left has been waging it for decades at every oppurtunity. And they are winning.

We either engage in the culture war or we resign ourselves to the dustbin of history.

unseen on December 22, 2012 at 9:46 AM

The Moron Majority is going to criminalize or tax conservatism out of existence. Guns? Ban them. Vehicles actually capable of going place rural people often need to go? Regulate them out of existence. Churches? Tax them. Against gay marriage? Hate crime. etc.

forest on December 22, 2012 at 9:37 AM

It works. Just look at the spread of Islam in countries. It follows the same pathway.

It’s also called the “slippery slope” Its a very real threat and its why the small things must be opposed as much as the “big” things.

unseen on December 22, 2012 at 9:49 AM

As much as the Right argues that arming teachers and administrators would protect kids, enough teachers and administrators are appalled by the idea that it’s simply not going to happen outside the most culturally conservative regions.

I say let each side have their way.
We already know what the outcome will be.

single stack on December 22, 2012 at 10:02 AM

Air Marshals, Armed Teachers, and Gun-Free Zones: Are You Consistent?

Most of the U.S. supports the air marshal program, fewer support “school marshals.” Is this rational?

Yet objections to the armed security presence have remained minimal. Airplanes in flight are likely never again to be “gun-free zones”; they will instead approach “gun-mandatory zones,” and you likely are pleased with this.

Schools fall under federal “gun-free zone” law. Far more Americans support gun-free schools than support gun-free flights; a segment of the U.S. population thus exists which supports undercover air marshals yet rejects undercover “school marshals.”

Leave aside the emotion: does logical reasoning present grounds for this divergence in opinion?

Even prior to 9/11, airplanes were certainly no soft target. Today, someone wishing to do harm to an airplane in flight must breach several layers of security to board with a weapon, and further, can be expected to face physical confrontation with other adult (or sufficiently large teenaged) passengers. The ratio of physically capable passengers to the helpless or infirm is generally large in all but the most unusual cases; four to one seems a reasonably conservative estimate.

Finally, the perpetrator must deal with that trained, armed marksman that most of America insists be there.

The death toll from 9/11 dwarfs that of all combined school mass shootings over the past couple decades. However, the frequency of school shootings dwarfs the frequency of attempted and successful incidents of in-air attacks. Even with the 18 hijackers of 9/11 included, the number of school shooting perpetrators is greater.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/air-marshals-armed-teachers-and-gun-free-zones-are-you-consistent/

unseen on December 22, 2012 at 10:03 AM

Good article by a former CCW trainer

http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/an-opinion-on-gun-control/

warren on December 22, 2012 at 11:12 AM