3 ms·

Why I Need an AR-15

9 points by tlrobinson 10y ago

smt88 10y ago
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11912665 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11912665
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
danso 10y ago
I thought this was a pretty reasonable piece, and it should shed some light to how difficult it is to juggle support for the Second Amendment (in terms of interpreting it as an individual right) and coming up with limitations that don't lead down a slippery slope of neutering that ostensible right. Even the idea of barring those under FBI investigation of getting a gun is troublesome. There is no due process when it comes to being put on the no-fly or terrorist-watch list. If the individual right to bear arms is on the same level as the rights to free speech, religion, and petition...barring someone from such a right without due process should be seen as an extreme situation, similar to how getting a National Security Letter restricts one's right to speak freely about it...but even that restriction is very narrow with respect to the 1st Amendment. Note: I'm not saying I agree with the above perspective, just that it's understandable why the NRA et al. don't see a gun ban for a terrorist-watch-list as being so cut and dry. The saddest thing about the gun debate to me is how it sparks up most after huge massacres...and yet, as the OP's inclusion of a Pew survey shows, sentiment toward gun rights increased after Newtown [1]...and this makes sense to me. I'm pretty neutral about gun ownership (I don't own a gun currently, and was happy to have the right restricted living in NYC, but would not be opposed to owning a gun if I were to move to a more rural area)...but the desire to own a gun can sharply correlate with the magnitude of a massacre...after all, the natural tendency is to think: if only someone had a gun to stop that maniac..., as opposed to thinking of the bigger picture of societal impact. Mass shootings are just a very small percentage of gun-related homicides...and owning a gun may not be helpful for the 99.999% of life in which you don't find yourself in desperate need of a gun. In other words, making gun policy after a huge mass shooting is almost counter-productive for anti-gun-rights advocates, as that is when the fantasy of stopping evil with a gun is strongest. Or, to put it another way, it's the gun-rights version of the saying, "Hard cases make bad law" [1] https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*hpdizpnRtEtO1igvLciPow.png https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*hpdizpnRtEtO1igvL...

Why I Need an AR-15

9 points by tlrobinson 10y ago

smt88 10y ago

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11912665 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11912665

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

danso 10y ago

I thought this was a pretty reasonable piece, and it should shed some light to how difficult it is to juggle support for the Second Amendment (in terms of interpreting it as an individual right) and coming up with limitations that don't lead down a slippery slope of neutering that ostensible right. Even the idea of barring those under FBI investigation of getting a gun is troublesome. There is no due process when it comes to being put on the no-fly or terrorist-watch list. If the individual right to bear arms is on the same level as the rights to free speech, religion, and petition...barring someone from such a right without due process should be seen as an extreme situation, similar to how getting a National Security Letter restricts one's right to speak freely about it...but even that restriction is very narrow with respect to the 1st Amendment. Note: I'm not saying I agree with the above perspective, just that it's understandable why the NRA et al. don't see a gun ban for a terrorist-watch-list as being so cut and dry. The saddest thing about the gun debate to me is how it sparks up most after huge massacres...and yet, as the OP's inclusion of a Pew survey shows, sentiment toward gun rights increased after Newtown [1]...and this makes sense to me. I'm pretty neutral about gun ownership (I don't own a gun currently, and was happy to have the right restricted living in NYC, but would not be opposed to owning a gun if I were to move to a more rural area)...but the desire to own a gun can sharply correlate with the magnitude of a massacre...after all, the natural tendency is to think: if only someone had a gun to stop that maniac..., as opposed to thinking of the bigger picture of societal impact. Mass shootings are just a very small percentage of gun-related homicides...and owning a gun may not be helpful for the 99.999% of life in which you don't find yourself in desperate need of a gun. In other words, making gun policy after a huge mass shooting is almost counter-productive for anti-gun-rights advocates, as that is when the fantasy of stopping evil with a gun is strongest. Or, to put it another way, it's the gun-rights version of the saying, "Hard cases make bad law" [1] https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*hpdizpnRtEtO1igvLciPow.png https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*hpdizpnRtEtO1igvL...