Hawk and JB:
I have a degree in Political Science, but this does not make me an "expert" on any one issue. My belief that serious gun control is needed in this country is largely anecdotal. Most advanced nations have very strict gun control, such as Japan, Britain, and continental Europe. They also have much lower murder rates than America does.
Every few weeks in the U.S. we are greeted with another headline about school-children shooting each other to death. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (or a village for that matter) to determine that too many guns are a problem. So lowering the overall number of deadly weapons circulating in both the legitimate and illegitimate markets makes sense to me, to prevent more needless tragedies. I could be wrong about this, but so could you. A little flexibility and common sense is what is needed, not clinging to fixed rhetorical positions.
Saving innocent lives is the ONLY motivation I personally have for more gun control laws. Personally, I don't see where some of the extreme anti-government views you guys espouse come from. Seems like this country is doing okay to me under the current leadership and political system.
As Joe Manco would probably say, "Hasta!"
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