Your thoughts about Steve's essay

[Lily Sawyer]

Throw in prison, mama, a train, the rain, drinking, and pickup trucks, and you got yourself a certified hit.

Well, I was drunk,
watching Fox News in the rain.
Obama came to get me in his pickup truck,
and all my second amendment rights went down the damned ole drain.

I was drunk right outside the prison,
watching Fox Nois- I mean News in the rain;
Obama got me and Mama in his pickup truck,
to watch our Second Amendment rights leave on the congressional midnight train.

[Patricia A]

Here are some more of my thoughts on Steve's essay. I think guns should be harder to come by, less people would die if guns weren't so handy. That's not an opinion, that's math.
I also admire the fact that he put his money where his mouth is. Can you imagine the uproar if he made one red cent from this essay? Oh Mylanta!
One thing he said gave me a mini-waking-nightmare, it was that liberals should watch FOX news for a year...... Noooooooo!
Personally I am a fired up and ready to go, dyed in the wool progressive liberal who watches more C-SPAN than other news. I feel like I get more facts and less opinions that way, but I loves me some MSNBC too and find it hard to resist Stephanie Miller on Current in the morning.
But I do watch some FOX just to keep abreast of what they are telling people. I also have this habit of fact checking things I hear on the news and if I watched a whole year of nothing but FOX my poor internets would explode and I would probably develop a permanent and nasty nervous tic in my eye lid. I get those when I'm stressed and watching people lie through their teeth makes me mad, and fear mongering harshes my attitude. Being wrong is excusable, being deceptive is not, at least not in my universe. Maybe in Glenbeckybeckybeckystan facts can be manufactured to fit an agenda but not here in Patlandia. We the person and cat of Patlandia demand and deal with the facts as they are.

[Chessie]

I read the first few chapters of this essay last night. So far, I only have one opposing view (if it's even an opposing view) and that is King's consideration that the NRA should modify their approach to stopping gun control - stop being so radically right-wing. However, I think radical thoughts are needed - left and right - because if we don't hear and listen to the radical ideas, how can we decide that our ideas are correct?

I consider myself center of right, a Conservative Democrat, accepting and rejecting viewpoints after careful consideration of facts. While I am right of center on gun control, I am left of center on other issues. I am also one of those rare individuals who can 'change their mind' when new facts are encountered.

I'll post more when I have completed the essay.

[Waving The Flagg]

If a pea shooter is incapable of hitting a squirrel, how can a maniac possibly expect to slaughter 20, 30 or 40 school children? But I digress. I'm bored with feeding the fish. *Yawn* Bite someone else's ankles. Someone who isn't sticking to the subject of gun control, perhaps someone more interested in semantics.

A .22 is not a pea shooter. Do you think it would be easier to hit a moving squirrel (or a person) with an AR-15? My guess is that you have no clue because you've never hunted and probably never fired a weapon. That is why semantics in this discussion is important. A large % of Americans do not understand guns...a .22, a 12 gauge shotgun, a 30.06, a TEC 9? They're all guns and therefore all fall into the same category for them. Same with my ORIGINAL point which is the difference between semi-automatic and automatic. The terms are used interchangeably and that doesn't help the discussion. The only way to have good dialog is for the people involved in the dialog to be educated on the subject they are discussing. The semantics have everything to do with the subject of gun control.

[Sepia and Dust]

My guess is that you have no clue because you've never hunted and probably never fired a weapon.

Never thought I'd see the day where someone from Indiana accuses someone from Texas of never having fired a gun....

Cool username, by the way.

[91rewoT]

I haven't read they essay yet, but want to throw in my two cents worth. Sai King is so NOT like other high profile people when it comes to stating his opinions about political issues. He actually reads, researches, and understands what he is talking about, unlike many in Hollywood who simply use their positions to state their political opinions every chance they get. Whether you agree or disagree with him on this issue will never change the fact that he is a very wise, generous, responsible man. And no, I am not a liberal, so I'm not just "taking his side". I look forward to reading the essay (as soon as I can figure out how to get it on my dang Nook!) to see what his thoughts are. Reasonable people can have differing opinions while maintaining respect for each other.

[Todash]

Huh, the Vietnam vets I know didn't sit in a leather chair in Virginia controlling a drone with a joystick and dropping bombs on questionable targets? Hmmm?

Right, so much better to slaughter little kids in person. Anyway, here's a little tip for you: the real guys in charge are pretty much always controlling drones. It's just sometimes the drones are 18 years old, wearing combat boots and fatigues, and eating MREs.

Yeah, I get it, your guy is at the helm so it's ok to slaughter innocent kids. Pathetic and shameful...

1. He's not "my guy."
2. No. It's not okay. It's awful. Horrible. It's always been awful and horrible.

and that sorry reply of yours, have I been against war my whole life? Seriously?

Yes. Seriously. Questioning my valid, reasonable question is not an answer. The US is responsible for some awful, awful things, and that didn't start four years ago.

[Todash]

Well, I was drunk,
watching Fox News in the rain.
Obama came to get me in his pickup truck,
and all my second amendment rights went down the damned ole drain.

<slow clap> Well done. Well done, I say.

[GNTLGNT]

....could somebody please open a window?...the reek of stale rhetoric is overpowering....and I look to the swamp as I ask that...methinks I've had enough of the histrionics and hissy fits...the rest of ya have made reasoned and sound debate and opinion slinging very enjoyable...I'm proud of this family, and I mean family in the sense of those who have been here for the long haul...not those that have decided to only be "Johnny Come Lately's" and deride and dissemble...

[swampdonkeykid]

Executive orders are not how this works....