The left doesn't want to take your guns!

[Belsnickel]

(03-30-2018, 09:42 AM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: I don't take them seriously at all.  I remember how ill informed I was at that age and how much I didn't even realize I didn't know.  But whether you or I take them seriously is not the point, the fact that so many others do is the point.  The anti-gun side has painted themselves into a corner with these kids.  On one hand they claim extraordinary moral high ground with them and claim they are the figureheads of a huge movement.  On the other hand they have to contend with the inevitable missteps these kids will make in the public arena.  You can't simultaneously ascribe near sainthood on these kids and then dismiss their comments as the words of children when they put their foot in their mouths.

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And please again refer to my response. Either these kids are your figurehead or they aren't. The anti-gun types shackled their wagon to these horses, they can't complain about where the horses lead them. When one of them openly states that "you give us an inch we'll taker a mile" it only confirms what gun owners have long claimed, that they should surrender no ground and never compromise. Who knew using teenagers as your spokespeople would have drawbacks?

I see these kids right now as figureheads of an anti-gun movement, but not of the liberal base. Those are two different things. This is a single issue group that is going to force gun control to be discusses during the mid-terms, I have no doubt, but they aren't the figureheads of the left.

(03-30-2018, 09:42 AM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: You're much smarter than this, Matt.  We've reached the point were celebrities are openly calling for repeal of the 2nd.  I'll reiterate the above point, you can't use celebrities to make political points, which the left does consistently, and then dismiss them when they make a point that is less than politically expedient.

Maybe I underestimate the celebrity issue because I don't dive into pop culture much nor care what celebrities have to say. I just still maintain I don't care what he has to say on the issue.

(03-30-2018, 09:42 AM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Ahh, here's the crux of it, and why the Democratic party is scrambling on this issue now.  Outside the coastal bubbles gun ownership is a hot button issue, gun owners vote.  The Dems are now seeing any hope of a "blue wave" crash well short of shore as they have, inadvertently, made gun control the cause de celebre of the mid term elections.  The media propped these kids up as avatars of change, the Democratic party held them up as the crest of a wave.  They got the anti-gun side excited and they predictably overreached.  

These arguments don't resonate with you because you're a rational person who doesn't let celebrity or mob opinion sway you.  Unfortunately, many people are immensely susceptible to this.

I said it above, but I'll get into it again here a bit more. Yes, these kids and this event are going to force gun control to be a talking point in the election cycle. I don't see it going as far as they are going to want it, though. Their media attention will wane and cooler heads will prevail. This is just in time for primary season, which is usually when folks run to the edges, but by the time general elections come around, everyone will be taking more modest approaches.

If I were a political operative, I would be directing the DCCC, DLCC, and DSCC to tell candidates to focus on an economic message. It's what the people want right now, and you can bring into the fold the fact that the one thing that has the highest correlation to gun violence rates in this country is poverty. The higher the poverty rate, the higher the gun violence rate in a community.

But nobody wants opinions from wonks when it comes to political messaging.