It's heresy to say it but I'm not as much an advocate of the slippery slope re giving in to assault rifles and clips. I don't favour them. This is personal, not to say that an important principle isn't involved.
All the power and stately edifice of the federal government may think it has done something with legislation against assault and clips, and however cosmetic I think that is, it doesn't matter. It's a harder fight.
Registration should be easier to defeat. My thought reflects what I said earlier about the anticipated "balancing" I expected from Washington's intended get 'em this time program. I'd be careful not to dissipate energy and goodwill.
Choose your battles.
OK, let's examine what you said. Without directly stating that we should give up semi-autos and "clips", you said, that you don't buy into the "slippery slope" argument re "assault rifles" (which are not really assault rifles as Jim has shown with his pictures worth a thousand words example), and you personally "don't favour them." Then we are given your more winnable choice in the coming battle, "Registration" which "should be easier to defeat." Then we are advised to "Choose your battles."
Now, if those statements are telling us to cling tightly to all of our current rights and to give up nothing, then I and several others here do indeed have a reading comprehension problem. I don't see it that way. If that's what you were saying, you really need to phrase things differently to communicate your real point.
I, and several others, read what you cryptically said, and connected the dots, and came to the same conclusion: We should choose battles we can win, and since the battle to keep assault rifle look-alikes and "clips" is "a harder fight", we should not "dissipate energy" and create ill will given the current state of an "antagonized" "nation in mourning" lest we make the mistake of "unwarranted flaming of public opinion" as the NRA did (in your opinion). All of these words in quotes are yours, some from other posts.
That being said, we should ignore what may be unwinnable and concentrate our energies on what may be winnable... stopping, at least for the time being, any registration schemes. The result would be the "balancing" you spoke of previously, and would satisfy Washington and mitigate their scorched earth "get 'em this time program." The resulting loss of "assault rifles" and "clips" which you personally don't "favour" would not lead to the "slippery slope" scenario where the grabbers would smell blood in the water and come back for more. And more. And more.
We, most of us anyway, don't see it that way. You say you "support the 2nd". So does Obama. So does Biden. We hear those words all the time from those who are all about getting our guns while ignoring the root causes of gun violence. It appears there are vastly different interpretations of those words as well... reading comprehension problems in the opinion of some. To me, to the NRA, to most who frequent this board, supporting the 2nd means leaving it untouched and unblemished by feel good measures that the framers specifically warned against. They foresaw the threats we face today because they remembered the past. They didn't just say it, they expounded upon it and their reasoning is just as valid today as it was over 200 years ago. The tendancies for both good and the evil in the hearts of men are the same now as then. Thirst for power and ambition and greed and corruption by Governments have not been erased by a mere 200 years of man's evolution.
So King, when we connect the dots, and analyze your words, we come to the nearly unanimous conclusion that you would have us give up those things which you personally don't "favour" and fall prey to the kind of incrementalism that has methodically stripped gun owners of their rights in your own country and around the world. When we add certain circumstantial evidence to the case, such as your frequent condescending attitude ("Your message appears as from one who hasn't been involved directly in action of what it takes to beat back grabbers other than an NRA membership.") toward pro-gun rights guys and your willingness to give a pass to the grabbers here, is it any wonder so many of us are questioning your advice, if not your motives? Or do we all have reading comprehension problems? A professional wordsmith ought to have the ability to make it clear and concise.
