Here's a funny thing. The Wall Street Journal, searching for a trend based on Kamala Harris's debate revelation that she owns a gun, says that Democrats are suddenly buying lots of guns. Their data for this comes from NORC at the University of Chicago, but so does mine and it's not the same:
According to the NORC GSS data I downloaded ten minutes ago, gun ownership among Democrats went up a grand total of 1.3 percentage points last year and 2.7 percentage points over the past decade. It's currently at 25.3%, but the Journal puts it at 29.2%.
This is a head scratcher. I've tried all sorts of ways of manipulating the NORC data to reproduce the Journal's figures, but I can't do it. And I'm not sure what the point is anyway, other than trying to find something that supports a thesis. The basic data is what it is, and it suggests only the tiniest uptick in Democratic gun ownership over the past decade.
Just guessing, but perhaps this WSJ writer is simply a lying MAGA POS, hired by Murdoch's newspaper, and the real data doesn't fit the narrative he concocted?
If gun ownership did rise among Dems, I would expect it to be more a result of normie Republicans fleeing MAGA (like me) not a shift in Dem attitudes.
Wrong.
https://www.vox.com/policy/353878/new-guns-us-violence
I don’t think owning a gun or two makes a person a “gun nut”. I think a person owning several guns from various eras would qualify as a “hobbyist” rather than a “nut”.
Owning several AR-15 style rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition would definitely qualify as a “gun nut”.
+1
That's my definition as well. I grew up in Alaska and everyone owned a gun (and still does). Dad had one in the back of the closet. Having personal protection for your family is one thing, an arsenal in the basement in case the tanks come rolling down your street is someone who's unstable and probably shouldn't own firearms.
This is what it looks like when the WSJ wants to sanewash gun nuttery.
They take a molehill and turn it into a mountain so they can say that they're not technically lying about gun ownership being up among Democrats (which could just as well be party registration switcheroos), while "way up" is subjective and they could argue about it.
Meanwhile, it makes the people their constituency provides cover for look sane, so their constituency/readership has permission not to feel guilty about voting for nutjobs.
This isn't hard to understand when you think about it politically. Why are you not thinking about it politically?
Some people have told me Asian Americans are responsible for the increase. The Chiner Plague caused an up tick in attacks.
I know lots of Dems who are gun owners. I am. It's not this unheard of thing.
(Actually looking at chart) Yes, about one out of four.
I am remembering fondly how quickly Ronald Reagan became a gun-controller in 1968. All it took was some photos of Panthers lined up with AK's to "broaden the Governor's views" on gun control.....
Gun up, Dems. The Sunday Soldiers think you're easy target practice. Prove them wrong; shoot back.
Actually, the Panthers were carrying shotguns, which seems quaint now, but at the time looked rather menacing.
Ok, just from eyeballing the chart -- and being too lazy to crunch te numbers and too sane to read the Journal article -- could the WSJ mean that because of that (puzzling) downtick among Republicans, Democrats are now 29.2% if gun owners or gun byers and not 29.2% of Democrats are gun buyers.
Democratic politicians seem to enjoy saying they own guns. It’s creepy.
And I think anyone who owns a gun is a creep… simply by definition. They want to kill people and animals. They think about it so much that the buy these weapons so, when the opportunity presents itself, they can shed blood, inflict pain, and experience death. Creeps.
I don't own a gun but this is clearly a caricature of actual people.
You don’t think hunters enjoy the kill? Or is it the people who buy guns for, allegedly, self defense who you think I’m mischaracterizing?
Because this is a value judgement on my part. It’s my initial assessment of people who own guns. Maybe some could convince me they aren’t full of bloodlust. But their fears are generally irrational. Their belief that a gun will be a source of protection is irrational. And, I’d say, creepy.
I think this might be an over-simplification.
For example, if I was a woman living alone in a rural area -- where the nearest police department or even neighbor might be many minutes away -- I might feel a little safer if I had a gun on hand and I was trained to use it.
Fine… as I wrote, it my initial assumption. They have an opportunity to change my mind if they value my opinion. They don’t.
Gun deaths…
Would you really feel safer?
About 11,600 people have died in US gun violence so far in 2024
And more by suicide
Or . . .
They hear an unusual noise outside at night and spend an hour or so getting back to sleep, pondering their response if it escalated into a break-in.
And starting hoping it was an actual pro, just after money and goods, instead of a thrill killer.
OTOH, when I think about buying a gun, I look up reviews on YouTube, and visit a world I'm not sure I want to enter.
True story. My parents bought property in rural upstate NY that fronted on a state highway. Before my dad retired, my mom would sometimes spend a couple weeks alone there. She was afraid of a break-in. Her then son-in-law suggested she get a shotgun. She responded that she could never kill anyone. He told her that all she had to do was shoot out a window and the noise would scare off any intruders.
I can tell you from experience that if you come face to face with an intruder in your home and you are doing a fast calculation of who's going to walk out of there alive, you won't have trouble pulling the trigger. Self preservation is a powerful thing.
I’d fight too. Who wouldn’t? But do you prepare for that fight? Do you train for it? Because if you do (and you don’t live in a gang infested neighborhood or a war zone), you are a creep to me. Sorry. Just being real.
Well, with a gun you need to train. It's a tool and you need to understand the tool so you don't damage yourself.
Do you feel the same about people who own fishing poles?
😂 sure.
I enjoy eating meat. I’m no vegetarian. If I were living 500 years ago I would not hesitate to kill an animal for food. But… that’s not really what hunters are doing in 2024.
One time in Arizona I was a few feet from a deer for a couple minutes. I just thought "how could anyone possibly enjoy killing one of these animals?"
Sure I was tripping at the time, but I still feel the same way.
Driving near my home today, I saw a deer dead by the side of the road. Hit by a car and dragged out of the way. This is reality. Accident vs. intention.
Dynamic scoring!!
This is 2024. Last year was 2023. The chart ends at 2022.
A high profile public office holder like Kamala Harris is one of the few people with an actual rationale for owning a gun.
Because she might need to shoot her secret service detail?
*sigh*
Harris was a prosecutor in effing Alameda County (Oakland), then in charge of them in San Francisco, then Attorney General of the state for two terms. I would have had a gun in the nightstand starting in Oakland, and I've never given owning one a second thought.
I would bet every single elected official has one in their home. I certainly would if there were crazies out there looking to harm me or my family.
If The Journal is hyping this non-story, you bet there's an agenda behind it. Possibly to reinforce the idea that lefties have it out for Trump and are arming up in case he wins.
It's another example of the wingnut need to insist that someone else 'is the real hypocrite here', on whatever topic. 'Liberals who make money' is another golden oldie in this vein.
Mine is a principled position. The second amendment was a bad idea and should be repealed. I wish our society was less violent (like in the EU) but it’s not. And mostly that’s because there are lots of guns in circulation.