@JLeslie, I live in Tennessee where I can go to a gun shop, plop my cash on the counter, fill out BATFE Form 4473, the seller makes a quick call to the police for a background check, and ten minutes later, I’m out the door with my new gun. By craptacular laws, I’m referring to laws like in California that are arbitrary at best. Take the California assault weapons ban, which restricts things like bayonet lugs and folding stocks. Does anyone really think that is going to have any negligible effect on crime? So called “assault weapons” are only used in something like *.*15% of all gun crime, last I checked, and most of the laws regulating them are based on the fact that these types of weapons are cosmetically very “scary” looking. Here in Tennessee, I can have all the guns I want with bayonets, barrel shrouds, folding stocks, 30 round magazines, etc., and ironically, my state’s gun crime is significantly lower than California, New York, and other states with highly restrictive laws. Why do you think that is?
I like to think of myself as a Progressive who happens to think that weapons can be beneficial, and I find it odd that most other Progressives, liberals, etc. are so quick to call for the restriction of guns to regular folks when I believe the socio-economic factors behind gun crime are what should be more effectively addressed, but that’s beside the point.
Pshew, I get a tad ranty when talking about this sort of thing. Do ya catch my drift? :-)