Your Opinion- gun rights today vs. 1998?

[Kaiser7 33]

A friend of mine recently gave me a few NRA magazines that the former owner of his mom's house owned. (Unfortunately, she threw out a lot of them. I've helped her understand 2A rights a little, but she's still a little finicky with guns.)

 

Anyway, for those that don't know, I'm only 20 years old, but have been learning about politics and things since the 2000 election. However, being so young, I knew nothing of guns, gun rights, or gun control.

 

These magazines have some timeless information, how to be a better shot with a shotgun, how to disassemble a k98/Vz24, etc. But it's interesting to see what the state of gun rights was at the time. Reading articles about the AWB, and Clinton's proposed taxes on guns, and laws that would punish you if someone stole your guns, I wonder if our current climate (with respect to 2A rights) is better, or worse than it was 14 years ago. I don't know how much of this stuff has survived, went through, or was stopped (I know Bush allowed the AWB to expire), but it is interesting to take a look back and gauge our progress, or lack there-of.

 

Such reflections will also be useful in terms of figuring out how to further protect our rights in the future.

[BigHayden 77]

I was only 16 when the Federal AWB was put in place, and while I didn't know much about it at the time (I was too busy chasing girls and working on cars to care about anything else), I remember that the news made it sound like it was a good thing and that the NRA was simply being unreasonable for opposing it.

 

Fast forward almost 20 years and I've learned a lot about the so-called "Assault Weapons" ban and how much of a sham it was. I think a lot of people are like me and have had their eyes opened. I was never for gun control, but I was ignorant of the whole subject before 10 years ago. Support for gun control is at an all time low, even in the wake of a few high profile shootings. More and more women are getting into shooting. We've won numerous court cases, including Supreme Court cases in the past few years. I would say, for certain, things are much better now than they were in 1998.

[Kaiser7 33]

(I was too busy chasing girls and working on cars to care about anything else),

 

Fast forward almost 20 years and I've learned a lot about the so-called "Assault Weapons" ban and how much of a sham it was. I think a lot of people are like me and have had their eyes opened. I was never for gun control, but I was ignorant of the whole subject before 10 years ago. Support for gun control is at an all time low, even in the wake of a few high profile shootings. More and more women are getting into shooting. We've won numerous court cases, including Supreme Court cases in the past few years. I would say, for certain, things are much better now than they were in 1998.

 

Yeah, that first part is how I am. If only I could find a girl who shoots, has dark hair and pale skin, I'd get married on the spot.

 

 

That's how I feel though. I'm generally super-pessimistic, however, reading the stuff from back then, it seems like support is growing, even if media outlets aren't reporting that, and are simply pushing an anti-gun agenda. It's an interesting phenomenon in my opinion. Even among my age group, many at my college (Rowan) are impressed, rather than appalled, by my sports-shooting. Even more are surprised by the pain-in-the-ass it is to be issued an FID here in NJ, and many express an interest in at least trying out shooting as a hobby.

 

As a 2A rights supporter, I think our best course of action is to expose people who are on the fence, or who express interest to the joys of shooting, and take them out, even if on our own dime, since I believe this is the best way to win converts towards the support of our rights.

[diamondd817 828]

Just got finished reading a great book. "From Luby's to the Legislator". It's about Luby's massacre in 1991 and how one woman (Suzanna Hupp) had a huge impact on gun control and concealed carry throughout the 90's.

[halbautomatisch 60]

Attitudes have changed dramatically over the last 4 decades or so, in the 70's when DC, Chicago and San Fran passed their handgun bans, it was a forgone conclusion by many that handguns would get banned nationwide - it was just a matter of time. Then in the 80's, Cali had several bad mass shootings done with semiautos, one at a Mc Donald's and one at a day care in Stockton (where a racist Vietnam vet with an AK style rifle shot and killed a bunch of Asian kids), this began the call to ban "assault weapons". CA banned them first, then NJ and a little later MA, NY and the federal ban.

 

I can remember news "documentaries" at the time being totally one sided and saying that a ban must be enacted, using all the rhetoric we only hear from the Brady Bunch and the Lautenbergs nowadays - "Assault weapons have no purpose but to kill people", "civilians don't need assault weapons", " the NRA is just a bunch of nut cases that want to help people kill children", etc. - this was broadcast on regular TV as factual news (not opinion) with no counter points. The media can't get away with this anymore because gun owners, gun friendly politicians and groups like the NRA went after them by contesting their broadcasting license renewals, claiming (correctly) they were not being impartial as was required.

 

I'm much more optimistic now, that with time, a lot of these do nothing to prevent crime gun restrictions will be repealed or overturned by the courts, 20 years ago the thought was, buy em before that ban em.