Like most sensible Democrats, I know that now is not the time to discuss gun control.

[MannyGoldstein]

It would just reek of cheap political gotcha games.

But how long should we wait before saying that nothing can be done? Should we wait a month? A year?

Regards,

Third-Way Manny

[Scootaloo]

1. Until a day comes when no bullets are fired, duh

The loud banging noises clearly make us too emotional to actually think, see?

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Et tu, Scootaloo?

Good stuff.

[pipoman]

2. Most Democrats know it is a loosing proposition..

either by the voters or the Constitution.

[Glassunion]

3. If I were king for a day, the discussion would start tomorrow.

I would grab victims, gun right supporters(not the NRA... They can go fuck themselves), doctors, gun control supporters, psychiatrists, house and senate members, and lock them all up in a room until they could come up with a solution to this problem.

I would not so much as let them out for air until they had something to bring to the table. Period.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021982971

[onehandle]

5. Nope. That old canard is over as of today.

Gun control and liberalism are no longer 'dirty words.'

[struggle4progress]

9. +

[neverforget]

6. Fuck Third Way Manny!

But MannyGoldstein is cool.

[MannyGoldstein]

10. Goldstein's nothing but trouble

I hear he's Jewish, but can't actually prove it... Yet.

[Exultant Democracy]

7. The Australian gun reform was in the wake of a similar tragedy

As a rule of thumb any time someone says now is not the time to talk about something. it means that it is the only time talking about it would make a difference.

[MannyGoldstein]

8. And their gun death rate plummeted.

Now they're screwed: overpopulation!

[pipoman]

12. Is death by gun worse than by other means?

I mean, what about the actual increase in violent crime since the ban as the US crime rate has been in a 30 year fall? Outlawing black cars would reduce the black car death rate, would it have any effect on the vehicle death rate?

[madinmaryland]

11. For at least 30 more years. At least that how long I have been told to wait by the gun-nutters.

[arthritisR_US]

13. How long? Take one deep breadth to allow the

heaving to subside, now it's time and fuck politics or any such other song and dances.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

14. IMHO, we should wait only as long as it takes for people to respectfully discuss relevant solutions.

It makes no sense for Democrats generally or for Duers (including those who are Democrats) to demand solutions which are not related in a realistic way towards solving the problem.

Taking action or demanding action for the sake of taking action is not the way to solve the problem. Here's an illustration as shown by an old joke which you have undoubtedly heard before

A woman comes across a man crawling under a street lamp. "I've lost my car keys," he explains.

The woman tries to help the man find his keys. After a few minutes of searching, she asks "Where exactly did you drop them?"

"Down the street, next to my car."

Puzzled, she asks "Then why aren't you looking over there?"

"The light is better here."

How is it that Democratic Underground has posters who are not interested in respectfully discussing relevant solutions? How is it that DU has posters who are not interested in respectfully posting solutions which might be practical, but post irrational virulent attacks towards other DUers? Are these people just assholes? Are they otherwise just responding by rote out of habit? Are they really so frustrated by reoccurring events that they cannot discuss important issues in an intelligent way? Are they motivated by authoritarianism and have a need to publicly demand that others accept authoritarianism as well?

Whatever it is, such behavior shuts down any meaningful discussions.

In my opinion, this is not good for Democratic Underground or the Democratic Party. Until the loss of the House to Republicans in 1994, the House of Representatives was controlled by the Democratic Party. That control coincided with the rise of the American middle-class. Our well being was never better. Yet, according to Bill Clinton and others, the loss of the House of Representatives was seriously affected by the pushing through of anti-gun legislation in an undemocratic way which neither reflected the views of a great number of Americans nor a consensus reached after a democratic discussion.

Was Bill Clinton wrong? Were all others who reached the same conclusion? Are there those on this board who would rather see more Democratic losses? Would irrational responses and virulent attacks against those who don't accept authoritarianism lead to the same result as the 1994 election? Are there those who have not learned from history and not willing to discuss history as a way to come up with a rational solution? (Or are there authoritarians and authoritarian-followers who have learned from history and are willing to post hateful attacks while demanding solutions which others may not see as practical or desirable?)

If you have a solution to the out-of-control shootings or DU, it would be interesting to hear it.

[villager]

15. We must keep our (gun) powder dry!

We don't want to.... offend anyone, after all!