Fair warning, I am completely unreasonable on the subject of civil rights. I take exception to this passage in Ben Shotzberger’s analysis of President Obama’s editorial on gun control: “If—and that’s a big IF—there was a true effort to bring NICS up to speed and get it ‘working,’ wouldn’t that actually be progress in the right direction for all involved?” No, NO, NO! The instant you accept the antis’ premise that “some people just shouldn’t have guns” you have lost.
You have lost the “gun show loophole” argument: Hey, if some people shouldn’t have guns then why don’t we require checks on all sales (ignoring the fact that the way the proposed laws are written it is the gun show organizers who would go to prison if so much as a single private sale took place or even was attempted).
You have lost the Lautenberg amendment argument (which ignores the fact that ‘domestic violence’ restraining orders are a common tool in many divorces).
You have lost the drug user argument (anyone who has ever used illegal drugs shouldn’t be allowed to have guns (and I know very few people of my generation who did not at least try weed in their youth).
You have lost the mental health argument (last figures I saw showed that almost 60% of the population over 40 had, at one time or another, been on anti-depressants).
If you grant that there is anyone who should be a prohibited person, the camel’s nose is in the tent. I am with David Codrea on this when he says that a person who can’t be trusted with a gun can’t be trusted without a custodian.
As for felons . . . did you know that if you have ever used a Su-Sat pill dispenser for your prescriptions you are a felon? If you pick up a feather on a walk in the woods and it is from a protected bird you are a felon? If you are going bowling with a friend and he asks you to swing by a buddy’s house so he can get some cash, and that cash is from a drug transaction you are a felon? If you have ever dumped oil or solvents down a drain, or even just dumped them in a corner of your backyard you are a felon?
Never give the antis so much as a single inch. Make them fight for every new restriction and make them fight to keep existing restrictions. Never give up. Never give in.