What Part of 'Shall Not Be Infringed' Does He Not Understand?

So E.J. Dionne is all butthurt because the NRA won't sit down to a round table discussion about new gun control laws with the very people who would dearly love to see the NRA's membership carted off to some camp and 're-educated', or worse.

Really, hoss? For nearly 80 yrs, gun owners in this country have been backing up and giving away more and more of our Consitutional right to keep and bear arms.

I mean, first we had to register and pay a tax to own short barrelled rifles and shotguns, suppressors, and full auto weaponry. At least in the 1960s, the Poll Tax was eliminated so one could vote without fear of running afoul of some taxman.

And speaking of the 60s, what with all the fun and excitement of 1968, we just had to 'do something' about all the violence. I mean, all those radical left-wing groups that burned down LA, Chicago, and other places had to be put on notice that this was not going to stand. So, we borrowed the verbiage from the Nurenburg laws and we banned certain classes of people from owning guns. Think GCA isn't racist? Look at the block on the 4473 that asks for your race. WTF does that have to do with buying a gun?

Since GCA 68 wasn't good enough and gave rise to an as yet still unaccountable government operation and agency, we had to 'reform' things. So, we get the Firearm Owner Protection Act of 1986. This little gem was supposed to rein in an out of control agency and give some semblence of continuity to gun owners. All it really managed to do was make one class of firearms unattainable for 90% of the gun owner population.

We did such a good job with FOPA 86, we had to 'fix' things again in '93/94. So, in order to make sure that those people we deemed as not good enough to own guns in '68, we had to make extra sure. So, the Brady Act was passed, ostensibly to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them. Even while this idiotic law was being debated, the next boogeyman was being pulled along.

Scary looking semi-automatic rifles, shot guns, and pistols were demonized left, right, and center as the preferred weapons of low-lifes, hoodlums, and gangsters and were only suitable for mowing down large swathes of school aged children in the shortest amount of time possible.

This was the last national legislative victory for the guns are icky crowd. Slowly, the pendulum has begun to swing back.

Mr. Dionne, you should know this. Not one more inch. Not one more law. We have had enough of your 'common sense gun regulation'. The time for compromise has past. We have given for the last 70+ yrs, it's time you gave some of it back.