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Charlie's avatar

The claim that gun regulations won't "rid us of mass shootings" is the biggest straw man in recorded history. Of course they won't. How about reducing them? You think that might happen? You think regulations might stop, or at least delay for a few days while a kid with an immediate reaction to a bad family situation, might prevent a kid from going nuts with a gun? Or that if it doesn't, you could reduce the kills by banning high-capacity magazines? Second biggest straw man: Dems ignore the legit needs of gun owners for "protection." From what--burglars? You need an AR-15 with a high-capacity magazine for that? The people who want to keep these unregulated weapons want them for a fever dream of rebellion--Exhibit A is Mo Brooks on Fox this morning: "we need guns to protect us from a dictatorial government." When Mo's hoped-for apocalypse comes, who's going to be more authoritarian, Joe Biden or the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters? Trust me, they will have no use whatsoever for empty suits like Mo Brooks.

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Marcy Wagman's avatar

The bothsideism in this article is inaccurate and disingenuous.

No credible Democrat or liberal suggests that instituting reasonable gun regulation will eliminate all mass shootings. And the discourse on the Democratic side is anything but "oversimplified". Detailed studies giving rise to specific regulatory frameworks (like the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 and the Brady Bill, both of which had the desired effect of reducing gun violence) comes from Democrats.

But what do we get from Republicans? Less doors in schools (!!). Arm the teachers (!!!). More God and Christian prayer in the schools (!!!). It's utter stupidity and obscures what we need to do. Republicans sometimes mention addressing mental health issues, funding for which they NEVER vote for, or eliminate in their state budgets (see: Greg Abbott). You've posted a Christmas photograph of Thomas Massie and his heavily armed wife and children - if that isn't a picture of mental illness that gives rise to violence, I don't know what is.

In 1988, one metal dart killed one child, and metal darts were eliminated. No child has died from a metal dart since. That should tell us how far we've fallen down the gun culture rabbit hole since. It's my opinion that the 2nd Amendment is not absolute, as Scalia said - we must, in the public interest, restrict and regulate guns. But, somehow, at the same time, must break the raging ugly fever of the sick gun obsession that pervades and is overtaking our nation. We're on the precipice of becoming a failed nation. That's not an "oversimplification". It's reality.

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