I was raised in a Democratic voting household, my dad was a member of the IBEW and we would be considered lifelong Democrats. My family and the millions of families like us make up a significant portion of the Democratic Party. Who are we?
I don’t think we are that much different from most other folks. We are hard working, we appreciate what unions have done for us, we believe in an American Dream, we are proud of and connected to our heritage, our tastes are simple (a fancy night out is going to Texas Roadhouse), and while we don’t regularly attend church we have a strong and deep seated belief in God. Our families are tightly knit and we are very protective of them, we see the value and appreciate the role that government plays in our lives. We also have a cousin or a friend of a friend of a friend who owns or has access to a backhoe.
In the fall we go hunting for deer, ducks, geese and pheasant. In the summer we go to places like Mount Rushmore, Disney Land, the Black Hills, the Grand Canyon and Gettysburg. We live in the hills, on the plains and in the mountains. We also live on the edges of larger cities or in bedroom communities and in smaller towns a couple hours away.
We watch things like the History Channel and TLC, we subscribe to our local news paper, we watch our local news and NBC, CBS or ABC broadcasts for national news and we watch CNN when there are bigger stories.
We really don’t care what people do in their private lives, we don’t have the time nor are we inclined to care about who sleeps with who, the color of your skin, if you smoke pot or if you decide to have an abortion. We are concerned about things like equality under the law, the economy, sending our kids off to war, the state of our roads and bridges, the environment, jobs, health care, social security, and our schools.
We have lived through tornadoes, floods and severe winter storms. We know that the power can and does go out for days at a time, therefore we are prepared. We have candles and batteries and a generator. We maintain a supply of bottled water and canned goods. We have Coleman Duel Fuel camp stoves and sleeping bags and tents and we have a lot of tools so we can fix and build things.
When I was just a young lad, I very distinctly remember my grandfather taking me aside and giving me some very sound advice. He said “Son, there are three things you never get rid of. Never get rid of your camping gear that way you will never be homeless. Never get rid of your tools, that way you can fix what is broken, build what you don’t have and find work if need be. And you never, ever get rid of your guns because your guns allow you to defend yourself if necessary and put food on the table.
My family owns a lot of guns. Between me, my dad and grandfather we had something like ten different shotguns, pump action, semi-automatic, single shot, double barrel, 12 gauge, 20 gauge and .410. Our rifles were both bolt action and semi-automatic, we had a 7mm, .270, 30-06, an M1, a Mini 14, and and several .22s. The same went for our handguns, my dad and my grandfather both had single action .357 revolvers and .22 revolvers while I had .45 ACP, needless to say we are well armed.
As for the title of my diary, this is not my GBCW. I’m not leaving Dkos, regardless of the vitriol that gets spewed towards people like me and my family because of our position on gun ownership. This diary is for the people who are taking for granted the votes of me and the millions of others like me; it’s time for you to PTFA (Pay The Fuck Attention). You are losing people like me; you are losing people who have for their entire lives voted for the Democratic Party.
We aren’t dummies and when people on the news say things like “Let me explain what I would do, I would agree with Diane Feinstein, it is the high powered guns of any variety which can fire 30 or 40 or more rounds in less than a minute that can cause mass murder that would be my primary concern right now.”
Here is where we get down to the brass tacks. To my knowledge there is hardly a single semi-automatic handgun or rifle that doesn’t fit into the above mentioned category of “any variety”. But the most telling bit is the last two words, “right now”. This clearly states what I fully believe is the ultimate goal of gun control control advocates, the removal of semi-automatics from civilian hands. Because if semi-automatic rifles are worthy of being banned because of their rate of fire, then it is axiomatic that semi-automatic hand guns are ban worthy as well, if you are honest that is.
“Right now” we want to institute an assault weapons ban, a ban that is not based on functionality but rather appearance (really folks, just how stupid is that?). One step at a time, first it is 20 and 30 round magazines and black plastic guns, then in a few years once there is enough evidence to show that the bans did nothing to reduce crime rates the cry will go out to ban semi-automatic handguns and the wood stock semi-automatic rifles that got left out before. Step by step, little by little, all towards the ultimate goal of only the police, military and the rich having access to semi-automatic weapons.
I know, my family knows and millions of others like me know and are learning that the call for bans and “reasonable gun” control has little or nothing to do with safety or with saving peoples lives, its about controlling a significant portion of the population that is engaged in an activity that our benevolent ruling class doesn’t approve of.
So just as a heads up…marginalize us and you run the risk of a Republican majority for the foreseeable future. I mean, how many people out there consider themselves Democrats? 20 to 30 percent of the population? Which translates to something like 50 to 60 million votes? If we lose 3, 4 or 5 percent of those folks, the Democratic Party won’t hold a majority in the house or the senate for quite some time and that my friends will cause more harm than firearms ever have or ever will.