Art Eatman wrote:
That's the ostensible reason but, I'm convinced, not the real reason. The real reason has to do with a cultural conflict in this country. There's a large segment of the population -- centered in big cities, suburbs, and academic centers -- that considers gun owners (and even worse, gun users and carriers) to be rednecks, barbarians, and yahoos. No amount of reasoned argument is going to sway these people. The whole prejudice against guns, and gun owners, is on a very emotional level. The antigunners don't want to merely ban all guns -- they also want to ban the gun culture as well as the people that espouse it. (You can't imagine the vitriol that is poured out against the NRA, for example.)
Of course they don't say it, but in their heart of hearts they feel it.