# New NRA Proposal: One Step Beyond? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 26, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098 "2014-07-26T15:25:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![babygoat666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@babygoat666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/babygoat666)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/21 "2014-07-27T03:07:29Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Time was the Democratic Party favored Jim Crow laws. Yeah, conservatives are the worst, right? Surely we’re all glad they left the party. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/22 "2014-07-27T11:33:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Should we be scheduling the gun proficiency classes before or after the sex proficiency classes? I’m trying to figure out which way will have the students less distracted while handling firearms. Either way, less danger of accidental discharge. ---
**Author:** ![Shooby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@Shooby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shooby)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/23 "2014-07-27T12:25:57Z")
The genie’s out of the bottle for a few hundred years now (I’d prefer we didn’t have publicly available guns in this country, and the 2nd Amendment never existed), so just add a gun safety component to gym class alongside sex ed and first aid. Heck, just showing videos of idiots accidentally shooting their friend/relative will probably do a decent job of scaring straight young potential idiots who somehow get a hold of papa’s rifle to show off to their friends. I mean, if they’re gonna show herpes/genital warts in the name of safety… I’ve never even fired a gun and I still think everyone should be taught the basics of how safeties work on different models, how magazines and and chambered bullets work, how to hold the damn thing, etc. Won’t stop kids from playing around like jackasses, but maybe they’ll actually know how to empty ALL the bullets before waving their little lead-spewing dick around. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/24 "2014-07-27T14:24:59Z")
While I agree that the NRA, as it currently functions, is fundamentally only interested in selling more guns, all day every day sell sell sell - and all of their actions are in support of that mission - I am willing to take a moment and walk down this path with them, hypothetically. But, like any political discussion, there has to be a quid pro quo of some sort. So: mandatory gun carry zones - OK, and mandatory gun free zones some sort of rewards for people that carry - (That’s just silly, sigh!) Since the goal is to sell guns, why not just have a rebate on purchase? School children not be allowed to progress unless they take a gun course that would not just encompass what to do if they encountered a gun, but would require them to learn how to shoot. - OK, then in exchange real sex education classes. And licensing upon completion of the gun classes, must be over 16, and can’t use or own a gun until licensed (just like driving a car, yah?) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/25 "2014-07-27T14:29:40Z")
How about real sex education courses, where the kids don’t graduate until they demonstrate that they are proficient in a minimum of 20 different positions? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/26 "2014-07-27T15:14:12Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > How about real sex education courses, where the kids don’t graduate until they demonstrate that they are proficient in a minimum of 20 different positions? My religion objects to 4 of those 20 positions. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/27 "2014-07-27T16:49:20Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > My religion objects to 4 of those 20 positions. I _really_ like one of the four. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/28 "2014-07-27T16:58:15Z")
> [@Shooby](#): > > I’ve never even fired a gun and I still think everyone should be taught the basics of how safeties work on different models, how magazines and and chambered bullets work, how to hold the damn thing, etc. I’m glad to hear you believe that – but why, if you think everyone should learn this, haven’t you taken it upon yourself to learn? In other words, I’m suggesting that if it’s at all feasible where you live, you engage a friend or a local gun range to show you some basics of safe firearm handling, and shoot a few boxes of ammunition. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/29 "2014-07-27T17:37:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > My religion objects to 4 of those 20 positions. Oh, ho ho! Look who’s all _pro-#14_! You people make me sick. ---
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/30 "2014-07-27T17:49:28Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > I support both compulsory gun safety classes in school and compulsory sex education classes in school. Yep, a 12 year old who comes home from gun class ain’t gonna take no shit if mama says he has to eat his broccoli. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/31 "2014-07-27T20:55:13Z")
And I say we should graft guns to the hands of newborns! This way it makes it even harder for the government to take them away! ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/32 "2014-07-28T06:52:36Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > It’s run by people who are primarily concerned about driving up business for the gun industry. I’m sure Philip Morris would also like us offer smoking classes with cigarettes purchased by sweet, sweet, government money. You got anything to support the notion that the people who run the NRA are primarily concerned about driving up business for the gun industry? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/33 "2014-07-28T06:55:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If the government has the power to make you own a gun then it also has the power to make you not own a gun. How do you figure? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/34 "2014-07-28T07:47:18Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > School children not be allowed to progress unless they take a gun course that would not just encompass what to do if they encountered a gun, but would require them to learn how to shoot. > > - OK, then in exchange real sex education classes. And licensing upon completion of the gun classes, must be over 16, and can’t use or own a gun until licensed (just like driving a car, yah?) No, see this isn’t a practical idea. You start up a school where students get to shoot guns and have sex and how are you ever going to persuade them to leave school and enter the real world? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/35 "2014-07-28T07:57:29Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > How do you figure? It’s implicit in having the power. If you say the federal government has the power, for example, to establish post offices then it also necessarily has the power to not establish post offices. If it didn’t have the power to not establish post offices, then we’d all be buried under a pile of post offices. But the federal government decided to establish 31,000 post offices and not establish any more than that. By having the power to establish post offices, the federal government has the power to decide where it stops exercising that power. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/36 "2014-07-28T13:56:31Z")
It’s very telling that some anti-gun people are so reflexive in their dislike of the NRA that they can’t pick up on the real message of this video and take it literally. It’s satire, but it makes a good point. Gun policy in this country limits gun access. A true “pro-gun” policy by the government (which would never happen, as the video points out) would look a lot different than what we have now. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/37 "2014-07-28T13:59:15Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > They are proposing mandatory gun _proficiency_ classes. No. They’re not. Ever watch the Daily Show? You know how some people on the right might watch that for the first time and take it literally as true and believe everything that Jon Steward says and misunderstand the satirical elements of it? They they get all outraged over something silly that they just didn’t understand? You’re doing that. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/38 "2014-07-28T14:17:54Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > How about real sex education courses, where the kids don’t graduate until they demonstrate that they are proficient in a minimum of 20 different positions? That sounds like a silly equivalence. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/39 "2014-07-28T14:31:34Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Yeah, that’s the only right the government doesn’t actively promote, and frankly I’m getting sick of all those PSAs telling me I don’t have to quarter troops in my home during peacetime. So what laws and regulations do we pass that restricts or limits our third amendment rights? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098/40 "2014-07-28T14:45:46Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > That sounds like a silly equivalence. As does the NRA’s video. Comparing empty stomachs to empty clips? As far as the accusation goes about those _opposing_ the video not getting it, you should check out the comments section. Quite a few supporters think the ideas presented are just jim dandy…and when the video’s presenter makes several appearances in the comment section he makes no effort to disabuse them of the notion that he was being serious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-nra-proposal-one-step-beyond/694098.md?page=3)