Deena, how have you been feeling?

I think we have a well-armed militia--it's called the ARMY

Right, but would the current armed forces help the people to defend against an oppressive government? I suspect that it would be likely to be rather the opposite, that our military would be used to exert the oppressive pressure.

This is clearly devil's advocate stuff for me, as I fall on the wacko side of pacifism and don't really believe there is any good reason for a gun aimed at another human. My social justice stuff means that puts me in the middle of a whole whack of contradictions, but oh well.

I mean, I guess it's just as scary for me to think of guns in the hands of people intending to foment revolution as it is in the more common way I see it, which is kids trying to survive and destroying themselves instead. But I see it as constitutionally provided for in the former case, so it's odd for me.

I eat a lot of game, so I've clearly got no issue with the hunting thing, although I did as a kid. And I've also got no issue with it as sport, although personally I'm more interested in archery.

Also, I gotta add that I'm so appreciative that we can have conversations like this one and the one about race the other day. I really like being able to work through the issues to get past the sides' talking points and see how people feel and why. It's really helpful to have such civil discourse, even with issues like this that people have strong feelings about.

I heart Buffistas.

I have an odd take on gun control that usually just befuddles folk.

Befuddle away.

I've never shot a gun, or even held one. I kind of want to try it at a shooting range sometime, just because I'm curious, but I don't want to own a gun.

When I was a kid, my sister and I weren't allowed any toy guns, even ones that were obviously fake or sci-fi ray guns or things like that. We had water guns, but those were shaped like elephants, not like guns.

Also, I gotta add that I'm so appreciative that we can have conversations like this one and the one about race the other day.

So very, very much this. I've done a hell of a lot of thinking about the whole gun thing, but I also have personal issues* on the subject that make me disengage and run like hell from almost any online conversation on the subject. Y'all are awesome, even where we disagree.

* you have no idea how hard it is to avoid a "trigger" pun at this moment. See? I failed.

My take is that this is the 21st Century. You want gun control? Build the control into the guns. Mandate biometric hardware keyed to the licensed purchasers handprint or retinal scan or whatever. The gun *will not fire* for anyone but the recognized owner. Bulk unit manufacturing would up the price of the finished gun w/biometrics by a few bucks, but nothing outrageous and the guns themselves would be safer. Also, once you've matched a fired bullet to a gun ala CSI you *know* who fired it...the guy who could.

Now, I'm not so naive as to think this solves the gun control issue, but it makes it harder for stolen guns to be used in crimes. It makes stolen guns more expensive to process for street level dealers because now they have to hire a hacker to bust into the gun and reset the security.

And it's an NRA-proof argument. "Look, you can have your gun. And, dude...only you can shoot it. How awesome is that?"

(This would probably not be an ideal set up for police or military, when they are more often in situations where you might need to pick up a buddy's gun and fire it than your average civilian.)

That's a really interesting idea ,MM. I kinda like it.

One of my neighbors was Sikh. ( well they still are sikh, just not my neighbors) . They were robbed. Lots of gold was stolen Along with a number of guns kept for religious reasons.

I think we have a well-armed militia--it's called the ARMY

Well, that's the point. There wasn't a standing army at the time.