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Why is the gun prohibition movement positioned left of center in the american context?
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Because it's part of the idea that individual initiative and responsibility are traded for dependence on the state, which is always competent and never corrupt. Allowing the common people to have guns just messes up that whole arrangement.
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We have many people who construct measured, coherent and calm arguments in defense of the right.
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Yep, and we also have blithering idiots who spout all sorts of counterproductive nonsense. The NRA could have the most sober, competent, and articulate commentators around, but the media is going to ignore them in favor of Joe Bob on Facebook who just posted something inflammatory.
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seem we're losing the debate in the court of public opinion, but that places far too much trust in social media. Facebook and Twitter aren't accurate gauges of public opinion. Remember, social media predicted a very different result to the 2016 election with near unanimity. It allows a vocal minority to seem like (and feel like) a greater percentage of the population than they actually are.
Joe Sixpack owns guns. He votes. He works all day, and he's got a family to raise. He doesn't have time for social media, and on the rare occasions he catches CNN yammering about gun control, he changes the channel. He, not @SuzieSnowflakeMoonChild, is the majority.
The medical community tried to steer the conversation in the early 1990's in the same way they're doing now. They pretty much preached to the choir while having little effect on public policy. While things like this are certainly annoying (and worth addressing when they come up), I'm not too worried. This is a battle to be won in the legislatures and courts, not medical journals and afternoon talk shows.