Gun Control Debate

[Vicsun]

That's embarrassing. It's only two posts above me, too.

Well, until TEMPLAR's back, I'll offer my uninformed opinion on the subject: I think it's refreshing to see the NRA aren't a wing of the republican party. In principle I agree that suspects shouldn't be treated differently than other citizens until convicted and that includes their right to own weapons.

[fable]

Well, until TEMPLAR's back, I'll offer my uninformed opinion on the subject: I think it's refreshing to see the NRA aren't a wing of the republican party. In principle I agree that suspects shouldn't be treated differently than other citizens until convicted and that includes their right to own weapons.

But this also causes a dilemna for the paranoid branch of the Republican Party (and Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman), which desperately wants us to fear for our security ever second of our lives, proclaiming themselves as the watchdogs of security and the saviors of the nation, worthy of eternal reelection. And they can best do that by maintaining a sense of hysteria and constant (however ridiculous) vigilance. They've been chipping away at civil liberties since 2002: habeas corpus, Homeland Security, Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay, several thousand illegal wiretaps, forced rendition, etc.

The dilemna in any case is that while they can and have loudly tarred and feathered their opponents as "weak on security," what are they going to do to the NRA, one of the biggest funders of many Republican campaigns? My guess is that they'll simply ignore the NRA's stance, so as to avoid having to react to it. Then at some point they'll quietly drop the bill. One nice thing about living in the US and looking to curtail civil rights: there are so very many opportunities to do so. I'm sure they'll find another one to concentrate upon, real soon.