Good- Then I guess it's OK for me to delight in the spectre of you, being trampled to death by a panicked mob trying to exit the theatre after some idiot yelled "FIRE," standing there with your ears plugged and shouting, "la la la... I can't hear you!"

But I learned what to do from you leftists when violence and/or sexuality is shown on television that I don't like - turn off the TV! So I'll give you your own advice - IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, TURN IT OFF!

-- MissButterfly

"How much more control of the media do you guys want anyway"

I feel your pain, brother! The conservative POV has definitely gotten short shrift. So much so, that I have become a staunch advocate of the Fairness Doctrine. With all the liberal control of the media, a newly-revived Fairness Doctrine is our only hope of ever being heard.

Care to join me in this fight?

...I just stop to contemplate infant Rush held in his mother's arms.

Poplawski is obviously a few bricks short of a load. A loser with a long history of violent and anti-social behavior.

Now that said, there are plenty more nutbars like him out there. They're violent, paranoid, stockpile weapons and hang on every word of the usual suspects.

Can anyone please tell what possible good comes from the words of people like Glen Beck, for example?

Can anyone tell me why it is a good idea for people to be allowed to legally purchase AK-47 assault rifles?

The NRA (underwritten in large proportion by arms manufacturers and dealers) has been scaring everybody by lying about Obama's position on guns. As a result, gun-nuts have been stampeding to buy guns and ammo while they are still [cheap and legal] The fear, of course, is that Obama will outlaw certain weapons and/or raise taxes on ammo. This seems silly to me, since it appears that Obama really doesn't seem to care much about those issues. I see plenty of the stampeding here in Tennessee, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little concerned about it. I'm hoping it is just a case of A Sucker Born Every Minute, and the NRA's cynical ploy to scare them into buying more guns.

...is that only one side has a whole passel of unhinged, irresponsible loudmouths who just happen to also be mega-media stars with audiences in the many millions...

...and the other side has a handful of grubby anarchists hammering out incoherent screeds on their MacBooks in the local coffeehouse-- known and taken seriously by few.

Thanks for playing, but please spare us your false-equivalency bullshit, OK?

------------

Talk about whipping up a frenzy...

Jeez. This article sure does a good job against conservatives. The extremes in either party, from right wing nuts jobs, to left wing anarchists, dimwitted, opinionated fools know no party boundaries.

-- larryjack

...it is a dangerous scenario for our country if gun ownership becomes isolated more and more within a fearful anti-federalist culture. Liberal politicians would do well to cross the divide and defuse the increasing and unnecessary sectarianism of gun culture by actually talking to ordinary Americans who simply enjoy gun sports and want to keep America safe from criminal activity while also wanting to play a part in healing homelessness, poverty, and social ills which create cultures of criminality...

...It is increasingly dangerous for conservatives and liberals to remain locked in old ideologies detached from reality.

-- threegables

OK, I totally get this. I'm a transplant from urban NY to Eastern TN. I live in a big small town, so I don't feel particularly threatened, therefore I choose not to own a gun. Many of my friends, however, live out in the styx, and would probably have to wait a good 20 to 30 minutes for the police if they were needed. Some own guns, and that's OK with me. Hell, some of them are even Unitarian Universalists! I'd probably do the same.

Are you listening, you folks who have always lived in urban areas? Gun ownership is more about rural/urban than it is about Red/Blue.

I don't know what your politics are, but it hardly matters. You talk sense, and seem perfectly reasonable to me. If you self-identify as conservative, please share with us how you are regarded by others who also self-identify so. Does this ever frustrate you?

My hope is that reasonable people who are closer to the conservative end of the spectrum will again find their voice, (and help their mislead brethren find theirs) that is currently being drowned out by the loudmouths and fools who are more about inciting hatred, violence and division than they are about finding common ground.

Thanks for helping. I hope you visit us more often.

Police cannot stop you from needing a gun - they can only come by later, investigate, file reports, and perhaps, on a god day, catch the guy. But if you were attacked AND were armed and properly trained, the outcome would be VERY different.

I don't know if this is necessarily true. Because there are demagogues on both sides of the argument, I will invite you to make your case. Please furnish some data that I can use to decide if I am better off being armed in a situation where I was attacked. Please be specific about the kinds of situations that your data addresses.

I'll invite others to do the same, on either side of the argument.

I personally have read far too many accounts of people who tried to shoot back, and things didn't turn out at all well for them.

I don't have data at my fingertips, however, so here is an open call to others to help me out.

Speaking personally, I'd be more inclined to give an armed bandit what he wants rather than betting if I can out-draw him. As much as it would chap my ass to give up my stuff, stuff can be replaced.