Cool as a rule, but sometimes bad is bad.
The initial response to Sandy Hook and other such events is knee jerk.
Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.--David Bowie.
It is easier for people to support an ambiguous statement, like they did with the concept of making guns harder to get for psychos, than it is to garner support for actual bills that are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Going into this support for gun ownership was higher than it had been in the modern era (say 1950s forward), this is a return basically to those pre-Newtown numbers. Not much room to claim poll bias either since this one is from CBS, a proud contributor to the Obama Administration.
Reflects what I was seeing and talked about on here. I didn't get any "you dirty so-and-so" comments when I went to a professional Christmas party and me being a gun dealer and CCDW instructor came up. I got "really I've been thinking about getting a gun" and a 20 minute ensuing conversation answering questions about carry licenses and guns for self and home defense. This wasn't a bunch of good ol' boys, these are post-grads and professionals who one would think were at least generally anti-gun. You could also say "it was Kentucky", but it was also Lexington, which has far more liberals and non-Southern transplants than the rest of the state.
Of course it's unlikely anyone was going to accost anyone at such gatherings, but I have yet to have one happen in this whole post-Newtown period and I'm beset with people whose eyes light up when they find out I may know something about guns. Many of them would be first time gun owners. This wasn't just guys stockpiling their safes, the reaction by people who didn't have a gun was a lot of "there are lunatics and criminals out there with guns, I need to get one too" instead of "there are lunatics and criminals out there with guns, let's ban them all b/c then they won't have one".
Long story short: most people have figured out that criminals by definition don't obey laws, and they will have the gun they need to mug you or invade your home regardless of any of these proposals. They just aren't buying the simplistic "ban guns = no more gun violence" view. They're also more inclined to see the police as unable to protect them, which means taking responsibility for your own defense. This was the case with a LOT of men I talked to who were worried about their wives and girlfriends who weren't gun people.
It's women who are moving to being more pro gun ownership, taking responsibility for protecting themselves and refusing to be victims. If that continues, the anti-gun people don't have a chance long term.
Unfortunately politics in Washington isn't about what the nation wants or even what constituents in districts want. If it were we'd have a lot fewer problems in Washington. They'll still try to push it on us I don't care if it's 99% opposition to a gun law. That's why Fast and Furious and why Feinstein was looking to the Mexican gun running as justification for these same laws. She'd happily use the UN Small Arms Treaty or just procedural stuff like the Dept. of State making it tougher to be a manufacturer or to import guns. They won't give up no matter what the polls say.
People keep asking if I'm back and I haven't really had an answer. But now, yeah, I'm thinkin' I'm back.
I was surprised at the number of teachers who decided to get concealed carry permits after Newtown, many of which did not have a firearm prior to Newtown. Several asked what type of firearm to purchase, I advised them to start with a .38 or .357 revolver, and upgrade from that point as they felt the need to upgrade.
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