I don't think a rational debate on gun control is currently possible in the United States
Not with the "gun culture" in this country and the paranoid/spiteful right-wing ideology associated with it.
You do have to wonder about people who think their freedom depends on having the ability to (potentially, possibly, theoretically-right?) shoot people, or who honestly believe that they have the right (let alone the likelihood of them being able) to violently overthrow the United States government (
)
I think a rational debate, with empirical data, is desperately needed on this issue, but we're not getting that, and we won't get it, anytime soon.
-My $0.02.
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The OP used the words "rational debate on gun control", which begs the question:
Why are you bringing up gun grabbers in a thread about "rational debate about gun control"?
I suppose you think Shannon and the other posers are "rational"?
Not unless some brilliant mad scientist unleashes a strain of Ebola that knocks off all the wingnuts in this country. 
You're absolutely right about the guns issue: we'll never be able to have a rational discussion as long as there are sick bastards like Eric Frein who are lionized as heroes by a significant and very vocal segment of the population. Let alone do anything constitutionally (i.e. repeal 2nd) to kill off the supply (and deal with the demand later).
But you also will never have a rational discussion about global warming/climate change, Ebola, gay rights, women's rights, immigration, dark money in politics, the drug war (and its disproportionate impact on minorities in terms of imprisonment), economic inequality, you name it: there's no room for rational discussion in this country as long as wingnuts are given a seat at the table, because all they do is flip the table over and start throwing chairs when they don't get their way. They don't want debate. They want a fight. You hear it all the time from these types, how "men aren't men" anymore because they don't learn to fight like the cowboys did in saloons. They idolize John Wayne and use Wild West mythology as a template for how the country should be run. They want Chuck Norris to be president so he can kick and punch and shoot his way out of a difficult situation. Hence the utter contempt for "government" or any sort of organized body of debate: they want a society where Sheriff Reagan (or someone like him) is given carte blanche to run the town his own way and throw anyone in the county jail because he said so. See also: Clive Bundy.
Face it: you're never going to get any semblance of common sense from a majority population that bases its model of government on Bonanza, and their model of "elections" on a shoot-out at the O.K. Corral (or a Burr-Hamilton "debate"
. They're petulant children, playground bullies playing cowboys and bandits, and running things with brawn rather than brains. The problem is that we have so many of them and, you're absolutely right, a culture that reinforces this perverse pretend play at all costs and actively seeks to disenfranchise those who would do it differently (aka better).
I'm done with 'Murica. My desire to leave the United States and set up shop in a civilized country is only going to increase after this election. I'll probably have to bide my time working at something domestically after college, but hopefully it won't be forever and I can pick up and leave before the Republicans turn me gray. Or throw me in a concentration camp for being one of the undesirables.
Ironically, I might actually fare better in Germany than, you know, a fascist dictatorship like this one.
The only thing I'll miss about the United States of Bonanza is, well, the unofficial national anthem.
...and it could have been a lot, lot worse.
I am merely showing where most of the responsibility lies with the lack of reasonable debate. You should read Kates & Kleck's "The Great American Gun Debate." In it you will find a good survey of the history of "debate" that includes lots of hateful caricature and downright potty talk spewed forth by major editors, politicians, academicians, cartoonists, and other "opinion makets" in an era well before the internet. The culture war parameters were well established early on.
The battle has been joined, and not to the controllers' favor.
You seem to think there is an ideal of intellectual style and moderation within the controller community which you can refer to, even as you continue to pour hot tar from the parapets. That is not the case.
