Hello, I've been away a few days. The wife is on a business trip for awhile, so what does that mean to me? It means marathon sessions of "Sid Meier's Civilization V" is what it means for this doggy; it also means staying up late, letting the dogs sit on the couch, watching zombie movies past midnight.
What can I say? I'm a rebel.
Important questions following the Orange Julius.
Anyhow, I was wondering about something here at good old Daily Kos, and in the flurry of gun diaries everyone's always arguing back and forth about "gun control", or various regulations, laws, restrictions, etc. The problem is, the term clearly is not well defined, and can mean just about anything to anyone depending on the circumstances or contexts of a given moment.
After all, there are now, and have been in the past, some prominent names calling for "gun control". Those names include folks like Diane Feinstein, Michael Moore, Joe Biden, and the late Ted Kennedy. But while they are crusaders for gun control, each of these people have also, at least at various times, owned guns. Feinstein actually has a small pocket pistol and a concealed carry permit; Michael Moore is a member of the NRA. Joe Biden openly touts the cool factor of shotguns. So obviously, "gun control" isn't strictly a color-inside-the-lines sort of thing.
Gun control as a political topic generally follows political party distinctions, but is often not as clear as people would think. A lot of Democrats and liberals and progressives own guns, while some Republicans seem utterly dismayed by them (Mitt Romney as an immediate example). So again, there is no one easy filter that can be applied.
So in this, I'm not interested in fueling rancor or debate; this isn't a diary for arguments. I am curious to see what the general consensus is here on the term "gun control", and see if that consensus is widely shared, or if it is just a definition that enjoys a very narrow margin of victory over multiple points of view.
I have tried to present a wide range of possibilities, from 100% bans and confiscations all the way to "we should actually loosen laws more". Please look over the questions since I've tried to put a range of severity and nuance from "most strict" to "least strict" by weapon classes and who would be able to own weapons.
Please enjoy the poll, and I look forward to seeing the points of view brought up.