This is mostly for Jordan but there's a note for Kelley at the bottom.
Jordan--- I have a couple of questions for you about gun control but first I want to say that I agree with a lot of what you've said about fear of guns being irrational and about how liberal objections are often just righteous platitudes with no logical substance. I agree that american violence is very complex and difficult to unpack and that monocausal explanations that put it all on guns don't get us very far.
That said, given that two thirds of murders in the u.s. are committed with guns and that about half of u.s. murders are committed by relatives or acquaintances of the victim isn't it acceptable to say that loosely restricted access to guns is adding fuel to a fire? (I got these numbers from Doug's State of the USA Atlas) We're touchy about gun control now but in the 19th century american west it wasn't that unusual to give your guns to a lawman at the city limits and this worked to control the kind of liqoured up personal violence so prevalent today.
About the argument that access to guns provides protection from tyranny, wouldn't it take a lot of people to pull this off? As long as it's just you defending your little piece of heaven you're always going to be outgunned. If it comes down to it they'll burn you out like in Waco, or use bombs like in Philadelphia. Get enough people together I might even help you load but in the meantime I'm gonna keep reading Marx and calling for *more* government to keep people from becoming desparate enough to use a gun to rob a 7-11 or to kill or injure friends and family.
The last thing I wanted to ask about is the constitutional argument. The right to bear arms is in there but so what? There's also something in there about promoting the general welfare and we're paying less and less attention to that part. Why privilege the second amendment?
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Hey Kelley, the baby got her first tooth last week! She's six months old and she's already got some airline travel under her belt, along with too many parties to mention. Sometimes people ask if the baby keeps us away from our friends. We both think it's the other way round, the baby's more fun than a lot of the adults we know.