It's True. You Can Tell A Lot About People

[Minimalist]

by seeing who their friends are!

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/article97522037.html

Sen. Bernie Sanders says he'll campaign actively this fall to send Democrat Hillary Clinton the White House. And he says he'll urge the supporters of his former presidential campaign to help Democrats take back a majority in the Senate.

as opposed to:

The National Rifle Association is making plans to help Donald Trump.
The NRA's political victory fund has reserved about $2.7 million in TV commercials from the week of Sept. 5 through the week of Oct. 18, Kantar Media's political ad tracker shows.

[The Grand Nudger]

Predictable.  Wouldn;t this be a much better country if a group like the NRA (or, maybe, an actual gun rights advocacy group) was actively courting a democratic candidate for meaningful reform to how we address our gun laws?  Never going to happen, so long as the parties use it as a stumping lever to coerce a vote....and particularly so long as one party has willingly set themselves up in mortal opposition to gun rights.

[abaris]

Predictable.  Wouldn;t this be a much better country if a group like the NRA (or, maybe, an actual gun rights advocacy group) was actively courting a democratic candidate for meaningful reform to how we address our gun laws?  Never going to happen, so long as the parties use it as a stumping lever to coerce a vote....and particularly so long as one party has willingly set themselves up in mortal opposition to gun rights.

Most of all they're in the pockets of the weapons industry. As far as I am informed the NRA wasn't always as it appears today. I don't know how legit the sources are that I read, but it seems they once stood for responsible and partly regulated gun ownership and represented actual people instead of industrial lobbies.

[The Grand Nudger]

They don't represent industrial lobbies now either....it's just that industry has no other choice.  The dems are not and cannot be their friends...it would cost them votes. The political game is more important to vendors on both sides of the aisle than people, rights, responsibility, regulation, etc.

Remember, gun manufacturers are the ones installing all the fancy little safety devices into their designs, with no legal requirement to do so...they're the ones whose bottom line takes a hit if america "turns on guns" for good reason or poor reason. You can't buy anything from them that doesn't come with a short novel on safety, responsibility, and regulation. My last purchase, trigger lock..hex key hammer, gravity locked firing pin......and 48 pages of legal disclaimers with two pages on operation.

-For a pellet caliber bolt action rifle.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Didn't I read that the NRA rank-and-file are overwhelmingly in support of reforming gun legislation, at least as far as keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have guns? If this is the case, why are the NRA directors (if that's the right word for this group) pushing to block ANY gun-law reform?

Boru

[Minimalist]

Because they are primarily funded by the gun manufacturers.

[The Grand Nudger]

That doesn't explain it at all.  Manufacturers voluntarily go to the extra steps of added safety measures as a competitive edge, and no previous gun reform (or sensibly potential gun reform) has or would register as a blip on their profits.  They make -more- money when this or that gun is banned, when people even talk about banning this or that model.

At some point, you have to start entertaining the notion that guns are a political prop to the NRA.  OFC the manufacturers pay the gate fee to play the game, the NRA is the only one courting them. Maybe sensible people should court them, maybe sensible people should offer them a platform. They're a business, after all...they want to continue to exist, continue to turn a profit.

Or, I guess, we could keep doing what we're doing..wasting political capital on poorly informed (and completely ineffective) pipe dreams while alienating an industry that has a history of voluntary compliance with everything we hope to achieve with those pipe dreams....and simultaneously, flooding a nutball fringe with both real -and- political currency.

If this is the case, why are the NRA directors (if that's the right word for this group) pushing to block ANY gun-law reform?

Bar setting for negotiations. They start it at "batshit crazy" knowing that they will -have- to be negotiated with, stacking the deck in favor of their own interests in any bargaining process. Bit like asking for $100 when I'll take $25. Everyone's happy, at the end. I get what I want, and the opposition can take their "success" at reducing my price back to whomever it matters to along with the product. Yet another service the NRA provides it's opponents.

[Minimalist]

Gun manufacturers and the sad history of smart guns in the US.... or, watch the death merchants unleash their NRA attack dog!

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015...jersey-law

The Guns the NRA Doesn't Want Americans to Get

So-called smart guns could become a $1 billion market—and make us safer.

[The Grand Nudger]

"Up at 5, Industry resists abusive top down controls...then at 5:30, water is wet.  Next on Breaking News".  

Let's ignore the fact that you just pulled that shit out of mother jones.  OFC an industry doesn;t want the law to stipulate that americans be forced to purchase guns they can't afford or will not pay for while banning the sale of their current products entirely.  WTF?  Ask yourself this question...will a smart gun reduce any of the tragedies you list in your second amendment thread?  Not likely, is it, since most of those people are either the owner of the firearm, or a user that the owner would register on their piece. That's ignoring the fact that most "accidental discharges" involve a firearm that has been modified from it's factory specs..a practice that wont stop (rednecks are smarter than people think they are). They resisted -yet another- misinformed and politically motivated hatchet job, those evil motherfuckers.........even while they, themselves, voluntarily produced such guns for those that could afford them, and were willing to pay the premium. There's no point in painting the mustache twirling villain picture. These guys are accountants and engineers.

???

[Minimalist]

Would a smart gun stop a kid from picking up daddy's gun and killing himself or others?  Yes.

What else have you got?


And Motherjones at least cites its sources.