Reporter's Notebook: Big Gun Country

[beevul]

Reporter's Notebook: Big Gun Country
Montana Governor Weighs Democrats' '08 Chances
Reporter's Notebook By TEDDY DAVIS
April 7, 2008


Described by the founder of the liberal Daily Kos blog as "a genuine version of Bush's fake ranch," Schweitzer is the state's first Democratic governor in 16 years.

On the same November day in 2004 that Montana backed President Bush by 20 points, Schweitzer scored a four-point win of his own.

If Schweitzer were running for president, he says he would spend $100 billion on research and development into carbon sequestration technology.

"It sounds like a lot until you consider that we're spending $1 billion a day in Iraq," said Schweitzer.

While he thinks either Obama or Clinton running on his or her own has a 50-50 shot of winning the White House against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, Schweitzer doesn't think either Democrat can take Montana.

Asked why not, he had a one word answer: "Guns."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/Story?id=4605159&page=2

The more I read about Schweitzer, the more I admire him.


The Democratic Party needs more people like him in positions like Governor, and maybe president.

[napi21]

1. This may be a stupid question, but WHY don't the Dems have many

hunters, skeet shooters, or gun collectors? I've been a Dem all my life and so is my hubby. We have a nice gun collection, my husband is an avid hunter, both our sons are hunters, and I've gone hunting myself, though never acquired the interest in the sport that they have.

I used to think it was because most Dems are from larger cities where they see the downside of guns and people using them on people, but that doesn't necessarily follow because both I & my husband were born in Pgh. Pa. and grew up there. We only moved to the South in 1987 when we were both well over 40.

To edit: I LOVE Schweitzer! I've only had the chance to hear him speak 3 or 4 ties, and a few others on TV & radio interviews. I've posted many times here on DU that HE would be my choice for our Presidential candidate, but Brian is very adamat...he has the best job in the world and SOES NOT WANT TO MOVE TO WASH!

[angrycarpenter]

2. Some people have guns because they enjoy them.

But some people are filled with fear and loathing. They need guns to be able to feel safe. Conservatives fear everyone. They just know that the only thing keeping them from being over run by hippies is the 20 guns they keep under their pillows.

[napi21]

3. I accept what you said, but that doesn't explain why there are so few

Dems in higher political office that like, enjoy, or for whatever reason own guns.

[angrycarpenter]

5. I was trying to say

that the republicans are the fear party for fearful people.

Not everyone likes guns, What party would such a person belong to? Not the republicans that's for sure.

I have a gun but I do not love it. It is a tool that has only one practical use. I do not relish the thought of killing anything or anyone.

[beevul]

7. Your question can not be applied equally.

"Not everyone likes guns, What party would such a person belong to? Not the republicans that's for sure."

No one that I am aware of that likes guns, is trying to force anyone that doesn't like them to have one. Allow but not compell to possess.




Many people that do NOT like guns however, have in the past and continue to in the present - pressure elected officials to enact social policy that restricts or eliminates ones ability to keep and bear arms. Prohibit from possession of some, or all firearms, through force of law.


Surely you can see that those are not 2 different sides of the same coin. They are not opposites.


In spite of the mischaracterizations you might see from anti-gunners calling many gun owners bloodthirsty or triggerhappy, I doubt any of us would revel in killing another human being.

Don't like guns? Don't buy one, or own one. Don't like whats on TV? Don't watch it. Don't like abortion? Don't get one. Don't like marijuana or tobacco? Don't buy or smoke any.

[angrycarpenter]

10. We are free to pursue any political agenda we wish.

Even unpopular, counterintuitive ones. My whole point is that anti-gun people come to the democrats because no one else will have them and they are courted for their votes like everyone else.

I generally am against gun control, but wanting some legal/political solution to gun violence is a natural urge for anti-violence activists and a valid political viewpoint.

As soon as we take sides and start calling each other crazy or cowardly it just creates another wedge to split voters and manipulate public opinion. I really don't feel that strongly about it. I know the gun lobby will do it's job. I care more about poverty and free speech. I couldn't care less if a candidate likes to shoot guns or not.

And as for reveling in slaughter, I live in the rural south. I know many who almost pray for anarchy so that they can protect their mobile home from looters.

I talked to one man who claimed he had shot a guy dead that he had caught in his house. He loved his gun and told the story often. He was a republican and proud of it.

[beevul]

11. True...

"As soon as we take sides and start calling each other crazy or cowardly it just creates another wedge to split voters and manipulate public opinion. I really don't feel that strongly about it. I know the gun lobby will do it's job. I care more about poverty and free speech. I couldn't care less if a candidate likes to shoot guns or not."

But as soon as one side start to push its agenda - one that bans the possession of handguns or rifles with "offending" features or finish or appearance, or "too much" accuracy - you can bet that name calling is going to start. If people are going to try to grab guns, from the people that own them now, or people that might inherit them in the future, you can expect them to be called gun grabbers. I can understand you don't have a dog in the fight, but also understand that when someone talks about banning handguns, or all guns, that concerns me and tens of millions of other people. As far as caring about poverty and free speech, I care about those things too. But I don't see the logic in asking me or tens of millions of others to choose between supporting my rights where firearms are concerned, and doing something about poverty and free speech.

[Boomer 50]

20. No offense to either of you but.....

Both of you are talking the extremes where very few people fit. I'm liberal and conservative. It just depends on what particular issue we are discussing. I've never met a conservative who "fears" anyone and not all of us Democrats want gun control. I'm adamantly opposed to any regulation of firearms possession by law abiding citizens. Gun bans simply don't work as has been proven over and over around the world.

What concerns me is people, no matter what side of the isle they may be on, who wish to restrict choice. I choose to own firearms. What type of firearm I choose to own is nobody's business but mine. If I misuse a firearm, then I should be punished. No one has the right to levy punishment because I "might do something" or because I "don't need" a particular type of firearm.

There is only one legitimate reason for gun control, and it's a reason we should be very concerned about. If we lose our ability to choose what arms we wish to own, or the ability to own guns at all, we lose all ability to make our own choices should someone decide that they know what is best for all of us, even if it is something that we find harmful to ourselves.

[iverglas]

22. one for the bookmarks

I'm adamantly opposed to any regulation of firearms possession by law abiding citizens.

Another one, that is.


No one has the right to levy punishment because I "might do something" or because I "don't need" a particular type of firearm.

That's nice. A propos of something, or did you just feel like saying it? Somebody been punishing you, have they?


I feel absolutely the same way about drinking. No one has the right to tell me I can't drive when I've been drinking because I "might do something". And how 'bout those damned authoritarian speed limits??

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

16. I love my wife, I love my dogs, I love my job and I love my Constitutional Rights.

I don't though love my guns. They are inanimate objects most people get over loving inanimate objects by the age of 8 or so. So I'm not sure what people are referring to when they say people love their guns? The grabbers here like to say that about those of us who own guns.

David

[iverglas]

4. snork

Somebody else who didn't realize s/he had landed in the Guns dungeon. ;)

Git out yr umbrella, it will be raining poop before long!

You gotta understand: firearms crime is caused by the root causes of poverty and racism and suchlike stuff, but until we have achieved the state of perfection in which there is no poverty and racism and suchlike stuff, they needs their gunz to shoot the poor people of certain races who are doing the things that poverty and racism prompt them to do ...

[AGKISTRODON]

6. Prompt?

If someone smashes my door and attacks me in my home, I really don't care what "prompts" them to do so, nor do I care what color they are. I live on SS disability, just barely above the poverty line myself. It does not give me an excuse to act like a thug!

[SteveM]

12. "shoot the poor people of certain races"? Only if you have gun control.

You know very well that the history of gun-control in the U.S. is the history of racism. When "poor people of certain races" are armed, it is much more difficult for "they" to shoot them.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SteveM]

13. Not a stupid question. In fact, there are many lib. Dems who own guns...

In the archives of this forum you will see polls, surveys and other data which show that sizable percentages of Democrats own guns (last year, a DU poll was run, asking: "Do you own at least one gun?" This was posted "in the open" in General Discussion and held open for days. Over 700 members answered and 51% responded in the affirmative, with many more saying in effect: "No, but I am considering getting one." Not scientific, but a good indicator IMO.

The gun-control "movement" is rather recent, stemming as it were from the assassinations and violence in the 60's (prior to that time, the Democratic Party didn't even address the Second Amendment). The gun-controllers got a lot of publicity and propagandistic support from MSM, and engaged in some of the most inflammatory rhetoric you could read on a courthouse bathroom wall.

Then they got beat down. In fact, if it were not for MSM's continued bad reporting on the "issue" of guns, the gun-control movement would move from enclave status to sequestration. But the GOP and the NRA had successfully framed the Democratic Party as the party of the "gun grabbers" and have been cashing in ever since. Gun-control is based on racism, cultural hatred and prohibitionist politics.

SEE: The Great American Gun Debate, Kates and Kleck, Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, 1997.
SEE: www.georgiacarry.org (scroll down to Heller brief) for an excellent summation on the racist roots of gun control.

[benEzra]

15. Who says Dems don't?

Half of U.S. gun owners are Dems and indies.

We've perhaps been drowned out a bit in recent years (partly gun owners' fault for not speaking up), but I don't think it is fair to say that most Dems are anti-gun. Most urban Dems, maybe, but my state is run by mostly pro-gun Dems.

Things are looking up, though, in Washington and elsewhere.

[Buenaventura]

23. To paraphrase Senator Jon Tester,

Freeper scum - that's why I'm keepin' *my* guns!

[Redneck Socialist]

8. Good article. I love the opening.

"Have you ever held a gun before?"

That's what the governor of Montana asked me last week when I visited his home in Helena, Mt.

Before I could finish my quip about having once gone skeet-shooting off the back of a cruise ship, the governor had retrieved a (loaded) 30.06 Savage rifle with a scope as well as a Smith & Wesson .38 stainless handgun with a laser site (or, as he liked to call it, his "little James Bond gun").

While arming a reporter in your living room may seem like odd behavior, it was not entirely surprising coming from Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

Unfortunately the reporter goes on to describe Schweitzer's position on guns as "conservative." It's not conservative. It's sensible and matches that of millions of other Americans.

I'd be juiced if he were tapped for VP.

[beevul]

9. Indeed.

"I'd be juiced if he were tapped for VP."


Someone like him just might have to be, if Obama expects to win.

[virginia mountainman]

18. Too bad he could not have been tapped for president..

[pipoman]

17. I like what I hear about Schweitzer's gun positions

but have to wonder, based on this line:

"Schweitzer is the state's first Democratic governor in 16 years."

how progressive he really is? Is he simply a pug who ran as a Dem because the pug party was already knee deep? Just askin'..

[dmallind]

19. Well that $100bn in carbon sequestration isn't exactly neocon central NT

[Longtooth]

21. The guy seems to make since to me.