Barring all the skewed statistics and such, all of the problems with the people pushing gun control seems to be the public's and certain politicians' misconception of the "power" of certain guns. For example, when someone sees an M16 or other such "military style" gun, their mind automatically defaults to what they see in movies, which of course is a fully automatic death machine that seemingly never has to reload. In that case, this whole thing is a matter of image, and the only thing necessary is to prove that the guns that are currently banned or restricted have no more killing power than the guns currently allowed. Why should a semi-auto rifle like a Galil or a FAL be banned when they do no more harm than a bolt action .308 could do to a human? Why does a gun with a collapsible stock or pistol grip or a flash hider have to be banned? Do any of those features magically make the gun more deadly? Maybe they'll argue that guns with "hi-capacity" mags are dangerous, but someone carrying a bunch of mags could do more damage by reloading faster, not that reloading is an arduous process to begin with. It just seems like common sense to me that the ones making these "common sense laws" are the ones who are operating on emotion rather than logic. So why exactly haven't we won yet?

baaaa. Easily manipulated.

Feel-good legislation and the fact that the general population are so un-informed and lack real-world experience with firearms.

 

In today's mass-media, perception becomes reality....

It would really suck if they reversed it on you, and used it as grounds to ban whatever additional weapons you tried to show as equivlant...

perception is the reality...... switchblades I think are a good example of this.

 

 

What if I told you there is a simple compound out there that is readily available and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people a year! It kills man woman and child indiscriminantly. Tell that to the lib left and the cries would be instantanious to ban it. But.... its hard to ban water.

Reminds me of a real example of testing the lack of knowledge of people. They created a petition against a dangerous substance (listing the bad things it does) and lots of people signed to regulate/ban the substance. In the petition they referred to it as dihydrogen monoxide (i.e. H2O).

I think most people just don't care.

 

I've always likened NJ's gun laws to its laws on All Terrain Vehicles or ATVs. I know that NJ restricts where they can be used and has repeatedly promised that they will open 3 public parks... 'someday...'

 

I don't own an ATV. I will never own an ATV. I don't want to ride an ATV. I can't wrap my head around why anybody would want one. They are dangerous, and parents let kids ride around on them unsupervised. People who own them can be reckless and tear up the environment.

 

Sound familiar? Replace the word ATV with Assault Rifle.

 

So when a politician comes along and says : ATVs are damaging our environment, am I going to write any letters? No. If NJ banned the use of ATVs because of public safety concerns, would I care one bit that owners would be stuck with thousands of dollars in equipment that they would be forced to sell out of state at a loss?

 

Nope.

 

So there is no use in explaining how an AR with a bayonet lug is no more dangerous than an AR without one. Nobody cares. If nobody cares, people can pass all sorts of wacky laws.

 

Gun control in NJ is our state's way of playing lip service to preventing crime. There are basically two ways to prevent crime: increase the availability of jobs and social services or hire more police and build more prisons. Both ways cost money. The alternative solution is to pass gun laws that create the illusion of action because laws are cheap.

 

In all honesty, our state's biggest barrier to legislative gun rights reform is the low rate of ownership. The low rate of ownership stems from the permitting scheme, which dissuades most people from ever returning their FID application.

 

How do we grow the ownership? Take a new guy shooting and open their eyes to the fun of the sport. Donate to NJ2AS to fix the permitting scheme.

 

But reasoning your way into an anti's heart just isn't going to work.

so why havent we won yet?

 

 

its simple because the number of gun owners exceeds the number of people who show up and vote. the problem is the gun owners dont show up, a lot of people just sit back and think there vote doesnt matter or cant be bothered to exersize there right to vote. another thing is the politicians only care about who is giving them money towards there campaigns, if you want change you must be proactive. i have been to a couple of small fund raisers for these guys and all they talk about amongst themselves is who is a good contributer. remember this is jersey. plus not to mention we have the nj2as who are giving up alot of there spare time to protect our rights and cant even get small contributions for legal fees to benefit us. if we want it fixed then we must throw money at the problem.

Thanks for the responses guys. It's just frustrating to know that what should be a simple matter of common sense is so skewed and warped because of certain politicians and organizations. If anything, at least I've been inspired to donate some more to the Second Amendment Foundation.