jfh
Member.
my viewpoint says there are more benefits that disadvantages.
Getting a permit (concealed or otherwise for carry) "documents" a particular firearms commitment--i.e., the numbers of permittees have become a viable political base.
Yes, we can fret about government records--but that issue isn't going to go away anytime soon.
Elsewhere (in another thread), the point has been made that politicians consider one voter who writes him to represent the viewpoints of one thousand who don't. That's important political leverage for the pro-gun community.
Next, the wind of public opinion is clearly at our back. No less than six major polls done since the election show that 1) the public in general support for "gun control" to be at its lowest point in 40 years, and 2) we don't need more laws. So, getting a permit--and perhaps even letting your social circle know it--can lead to building higher status in social groups not just among gunnies.
It is this last change--if it can come--among the general public that will lead to 1) firearms once again recognized as a integral part of the American Experience, and with it 2) the defeat of the antigun mentality.
Once the antigun mentality has been muted--when people in conversations (save for small, intimate circles) feel the antigun POV is demonized--that we can worry about the next step. Logically, the next step is reconstructing legislation--i.e, AWBs, FOIDs, 1986, 1968, and the endless stream of micro-management policies.
It's a long haul--but look how far we have come.
As much as I feel one should not register to exercise a fundamental right, that POV, as logical and SCKimberFan pointed out, is not really at issue here--at least if one admits how far the country has gone down the road to the registration and confiscation.
We have to work from where we are at, IMO.
Jim H.
Getting a permit (concealed or otherwise for carry) "documents" a particular firearms commitment--i.e., the numbers of permittees have become a viable political base.
Yes, we can fret about government records--but that issue isn't going to go away anytime soon.
Elsewhere (in another thread), the point has been made that politicians consider one voter who writes him to represent the viewpoints of one thousand who don't. That's important political leverage for the pro-gun community.
Next, the wind of public opinion is clearly at our back. No less than six major polls done since the election show that 1) the public in general support for "gun control" to be at its lowest point in 40 years, and 2) we don't need more laws. So, getting a permit--and perhaps even letting your social circle know it--can lead to building higher status in social groups not just among gunnies.
It is this last change--if it can come--among the general public that will lead to 1) firearms once again recognized as a integral part of the American Experience, and with it 2) the defeat of the antigun mentality.
Once the antigun mentality has been muted--when people in conversations (save for small, intimate circles) feel the antigun POV is demonized--that we can worry about the next step. Logically, the next step is reconstructing legislation--i.e, AWBs, FOIDs, 1986, 1968, and the endless stream of micro-management policies.
It's a long haul--but look how far we have come.
As much as I feel one should not register to exercise a fundamental right, that POV, as logical and SCKimberFan pointed out, is not really at issue here--at least if one admits how far the country has gone down the road to the registration and confiscation.
We have to work from where we are at, IMO.
Jim H.