Martin Luther King had guns. So did many Civil Rights activists of his day:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-winkler/mlk-and-his-guns_b_810132.html
Did Black Americans have any right to fight back with deadly force when the KKK came to visit?
Martin King's movement did not depend upon guns. It was peaceful. They would have lost if they had tried to stage an armed resistance to Jim Crow.
Ah, but it did. It was most definitely 'armed resistance'. What it was NOT was armed rebellion. They worked within the existing system, which allowed citizens to own guns and use them for self defense. And they did just that. There are plenty of articles on line, and whole books written about this topic.
If I name some specific group, historically oppressed, you are fine with them fighting back with guns. But you want to prevent or restrict current groups from doing the same. Cognitive dissonance! ALL gun registration schemes, gun licenses, mandatory training programs, whether intended to or not, have the effect of preventing oppressed peoples from accessing guns.
Let me give you a current equivalency: Many states run by the Republican Party are trying to implement voter ID, where you have to show something like a driver's license or a passport or some other approved ID to vote. Democrats say that this is designed to suppress the Black/minority vote. Is it? How are your gun control systems different? If I say gun controllers are timid people who want to keep dangerous brown people from owning guns, why would I be wrong, by your lights?
To piggyback on the point Tom mate at the end there, to "speak the language of liberals" so to say.
Pro life folks often prevent effective sex ed in classrooms.
Gun control folks often prevent effective gun safety in classrooms.
The reasons for these 2 facts are the same. Both groups are driven by ideology, rather than being interested in effective solutions.
Sex is a part of a normal, healthy life, guns do not have to be, therefore one should be taught in public schools and one should not. The idea that those should be equivocated is ridiculous. I was taught how to shoot at a gun range, like a normal person, not a school.
Are you misunderstanding me on purpose?
I'm not saying children should be taught how to use firearms in school. I'm not saying kids should *shoot guns* at school. I'm saying they should be taught about how to (not) handle firearms if they come across them unsupervised I'm a classroom setting.
Just like kids should be taught about sex in a classroom setting. Kids shouldn't *have sex* in a classroom to learn about sex. Rather taught about how it can be handled safely and responsibly when it comes up in their lives.
You must be purposely misrepresenting my statement. There is no other explanation.
Or, the other (true) explanation is that I disagree with you. Simple as that. In my sex education class we learned about our anatomy, saw a video of a birth and an abortion, saw examples of STDs, put a condom on a cucumber etc. Things that directly related to sex/effects of sex. Exactly how can you teach anything about gun safety (other than leave if you see one) without the proper props? No one would say you should not teach sex ed with no examples (or at least most would not).
I find many of these comments concerning especially because I am not anti-gun, but honestly without the examples of people who I know are responsible gun owners, this thread may have moved me from the gun crowd camp to maybe we do need these bans. At least how it is coming out, you guys are not the examples I would want to use for the pro-gun camp.
Really? You can't imagine how to teach gun safety to kids? How about this.
In elementary school you teach them the basics of don't touch, get away, tell an adult.
In middle school you go a little further. Explain the facts that all guns should be treated as if they are loaded, even if you think it isnt. Teach them which situations it is appropriate to handle firearms (in a proper venue under adult supervision) and when it isn't (when you are hanging out at a friends house). You teach them the rules of gun safety so they can know what's safe and what's not. That way if they do end up going hunting or to a shooting range with a friend's family for example, they know to excuse themselves from the activity if the people they are with are NOT being safe. Just like we teach them not to get in a car with a person who has been drinking or agree to sex if no condom is present. Because we realize kids may be exposed to guns in the coming years and they need to know how to handle these situations just like they need to know how to handle drinking and sex. You can teach kids not to get into a car with a driver without getting anyone drunk. You can teach a teen not to get it on without a condom without putting a condom on Junior in the middle of biology class. And you can teach them how to handle situations with guns without having a gun in the classroom. You show some graphic images of gunshot wounds so kids know that it's not like the movies. The hero of the story (them) doesn't take a bullet and keep on saving the day, they bleed to death. We display reality to dispell the misconceptions they have about the seriousness of firearms they pick up from video games and movies. Just like we do by showing pictures of STDS.
How's that for a start? Are you getting a picture yet? See, we have real solutions. Now, some people would say to this "I find that distasteful, we shouldn't have to do all this we should just keep guns away from people!" And that's the exact same ignorant garbage people used to (and some still though thankfully a minority) say about educating kids about sex and drugs. You find it distasteful? Wish we didn't have to do it? Well tough luck, guns are a part of life in America and we should educate kids so they are equipped to make smart decisions.
As for you being turned off of the pro gun crowd due to attitudes like mine... I don't care. People like me are the face of the gun rights movement. And since we have been winning we must be doing something right. The gun rights movement lost a lot of ground through the 20th century by pussyfooting around and compromising and being timid. We are gaining found by pushing back against the bullshit, hard. We are speaking the truth and people are listening and attitudes are changing for the better.
Two decades ago, the president of one of America's biggest gun manufacturers ENDORSED the assault weapons ban. If someone did that now, gun owners would boycott that company into bankruptcy overnight without a second thought. No more compromises on our rights. We have the right to keep and bear arms (including assault weapons) to hunt, recreate, collect, defend ourselves and our families, defend against a foreign invasion and from our own government if need be. Those are the facts.
You know, I usually concealed carry. But for the rest of the week I am going to open carry and be extra polite and courteous to everyone e I meet. Hell, I might even invite an uninitiated co-workers to the range and explain the importance of the 2 on the way there. Winning.