"
Why Liberal Attacks on Gun Nuts Will Lose a Culture War" -- I was excited about the headline, especially since it came from Bloomberg Business Week --- until I read the article.
After predictably trashing Ted Nugent and Larry Pratt, and agreeing with what "liberal activists" think of them (and most of us), the article makes its point:
Quote:
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What I question is whether the gun-control movement should intermingle calls for modest regulatory changes—limits on ammunition magazine capacity, for example—with engagement in a broader (and ultimately futile) culture war that the likes of Nugent and Pratt relish.
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The author also suggests using the lowered crime rate in NYC as an example of what gun control can do and to use this a debate point. Of course there's also D.C., Chicago, and other major cities to use as a counterpoint. Indeed, the crime rate generally declined across the country.
More fundamentally, there is no proof NYC's gun control policy is the reason, at least not the main one. The crime rate mostly went down during Rudy Giuliani's administration which wasn't gun friendly but wasn't totally bonkers like Bloomberg's. Other possible reasons? IIRC, NYC has the largest ratio of police to population of any major U.S. city. They are under a federal court order because their massive stop and frisk policy was unconstitutional. In most states, until the last three or four years, prison sentences have been longer, especially for repeat offenders. There may be a number of other factors which could account for a decreased crime rate.
Still, I think this may be the announced change in plans for the gun grabbers. Go back to incrementally taking away gun rights until they are mostly gone. It worked for a number of years until gun owners finally began pushing back.