My response to an anti's question:

[Erik]

The question of whether or not pro-gun control supporters are open to changing their opinions about the gun control debate was recently asked on another forum. My response was as follows:

I have changed. I used to be pro-gun control. I have spent many hours over the years, particularly in the insulated world of the college campus, arguing the benefits of gun control. Then I began noticing that the accusations of my more conservative friends and aquaintances rang true. "You'll see," they said. I saw. Gun control advocates were in fact beginning to represent themselves as less and less "anti crime," and more and more "anti gun." (Though not so much publicly, for obvious political reasons.) I slowly began to move away from the gun control platform toward the pro-Second Amendment platform. The "give us an inch and we will take a mile" behavior of the supporters of gun control continues to this day. As a result, I no longer support any of their measures, as they increasingly and with more zeal than ever seek to abolish the Second Amendment.

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Ah, misspent youth.

 

[Meiji_man]

In School, I too was a anti.
Then I got out, and learned to think.
And I looked at the facts, and the reports.
And I got better.

All we need now is a 12 step program.


One fact help me to start. There has never been a scientist who has started out pro-gun, and has "turned" based on the avalable evidence.

 

[KL2001]

Personally, I was pro gun control until MSG Talley came to our JROTC program, and invited all students in the school to the shooting range, I got there, learned the proper respect for a firearm (doesn't take long) and learned to shoot, and now I have gone from supporting gun control to opposing any new measures, and disagreeing with alot of current ones. Only regulation I support is backround checks, with no records being kept, by anyone, and the tight regulation of class 3 firearms.

Kris

 

[Ed Brunner]

KL2001; What is your basis for supporting background checks and regulation of Class 3 firearms?

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You have to be there when it's all over. Otherwise you can't say "I told you so."

Better days to be,

Ed

 

[Waitone]

In an ideal world where logic reigns supreme a background check sames some sense. We in reality live in a world where moral standards permit one to lie long, hard, and fast to achieve another, another goal. That is my opposition to background checks. Once the system is in place the authorities can change definitions. Let's see. . . .felons can't get permits. Then because the political climate changes, felons can't guns and neither can children 18 or less. No let's change that to 21. Now spousal abuse is bad, so let's add that to the list of no-no's. We all know class III weapons are totally unnecessary for a normal human being not engage in combat so let's outlaw ownership of those weapons by the general population. Wait, some of those weapons that are not class III really look evil, just evil. OK, let's control those. Now an automatic rifle really throws out the lead, but so does a semi-auto with a big clip. We can't have that so lets limit the number of rounds in a clip.

You see my point? Every bit of this happened and it all started with a "common sense" provision.

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Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Barry Goldwater--1964

 

[Battler]

A gun is a piece of metal - a tool. No to background checks.

As we've seen, in a free society where the rest of us could easily get guns so could the bad guys - in making it impossible for the bad guys to get guns the only way to do it (and that's what they're after) is to ban the rest of us from having guns.

BG checks - most gun owners swallow it hook line and sinker.


Battler.

 

[hoosierboy]

I always screw with the chicago police when I go there. I ask them why they are carrying guns. They say because the bad guys have them. I then say with a confused look, I thought guns were banned in chicago.

Of course I try to do this with a crownd around me. Don't think for a moment, that all cops are pro gun. Especially in chicago, where citizens can't even own a gun legally, cops don't think the people have a right to carry. Ironically, Daley want the cops to put on trigger locks when they are off duty. They get what they deserve.

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"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force."

--Ayn Rand, in "The Nature of Government"

 

[hube1236]

But as you are converted, it is your responsibility to go convert.

 

[CoastieN70]

Hoosierboy,

The only way to carry a gun in Chicago is with a Badge. You would be amiased no astonished at the number of non-paid Sherrif's Deputies in Cook County, IL!