Name:   Talullahhound - Subject:   Watching the CNN Town Hall Date:   2/22/2018 11:29:05 AM

This morning, LaPierre gave a speech, warning against socialism and the eroding of rights.  I tend to think of him as an extremeist, but I figure we need some extremeists on the right to counter the extremists on the Left and maintain balance.  

I find it interesting that the focus is 100% on guns - background checks, ARs, age, etc and no one is even willing to consider anything else.  I've read two good articles recently about the effects of psychiatric medications on individuals that coud case extreme acts of aggression.  Becasue really what it all comes down to is mental health, because sane gun owners don't go into places and shoot the place up.  They don't kill other people.  To hear the anti-gun lobby tell it, by virtue of my owning an AR, I am compelled to take it and kill someone or shoot something up, which we all know is crazy.  The gun doesn't shoot itself, and in the hands of a normal person, no one is hurt by one.  As a friend of mine said - if they had put a wood stock on it, it wouldn't be called an assault rifle.  

I personally don't have a problem with raising the age to 21 to buy one, although I think the NRA makes sense in saying that if you are old enough to go to war and old enough to vote that it makes no sense to raise the purchasing age.  I don't have a problem with making extended magazines harder to get.  Everyone talks about the gunshow loophole, but I honestly don't know how anhyone will ever close it.  You can make it illegal to transfer a gun person to person, but then murder is illegal but it still happens every day.  I think what is key will be getting arrest and mental health records into the back ground check, and I don't have a problem losing a bit of privacy for that purpose.  

One last amusing note - that police chief in Florida came off like a real ass last night, acting like he knows the answer to everything, and talking down to the NRA rep who happened to be a woman.  

Had to say that I thought Rubio did a creditable job - when asked point blank if he would continue to take campaign money from the NRA, he did not take the pledge.  And he didn't flinch or go limp when accusations were hurled on him.