# pro vs anti gun Dopers tally **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 21, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273 "2013-04-21T00:45:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/81 "2013-04-28T08:18:30Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > I think it’s interesting that there are so many anti-gun posters on a left leaning board. > > I put the anti-gun people in the same category as Pro-Life and Anti-SSM people. They are trying to impose their values on others, as in I don’t need or want a gun so you can’t have one either. > > Pro-gun people are in the same category as Pro-Choice and Pro-SSM people, as in I may not want to get an abortion or I’m not gay and don’t want to marry someone of the same gender but it’s okay with me if you do. > > That is one of the big differences between the anti-gun and the pro-gun crowds. The anti-gun people want to tell the pro-gun people how to live, the pro-gun people don’t give a shit if the anti-gun people have guns or not. No one ever died from someone else’s abortion. Well, ok, that does depend on how you define “someone else”. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/82 "2013-04-28T12:18:51Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > I think it’s interesting that there are so many anti-gun posters on a left leaning board. > > I put the anti-gun people in the same category as Pro-Life and Anti-SSM people. They are trying to impose their values on others, as in I don’t need or want a gun so you can’t have one either. > > Pro-gun people are in the same category as Pro-Choice and Pro-SSM people, as in I may not want to get an abortion or I’m not gay and don’t want to marry someone of the same gender but it’s okay with me if you do. > > That is one of the big differences between the anti-gun and the pro-gun crowds. The anti-gun people want to tell the pro-gun people how to live, the pro-gun people don’t give a shit if the anti-gun people have guns or not. It’s also noteworthy how many leftists who otherwise are extremely critical of government and the police nonetheless think they should have a monopoly on weapons. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/83 "2013-04-28T14:26:28Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > … > > I put the anti-gun people in the same category as Pro-Life and Anti-SSM people. They are trying to impose their values on others, as in I don’t need or want a gun so you can’t have one either. > > … FWIW, I have different opinions on all three of those topics. Just because you’re anti-gun doesn’t mean you’re anti-SSM. I’m not sure where I stand on the gun issue. I don’t have or want one (and am screwed up in the head so I probably wouldn’t be able to get a gun\*) but I’m not against guns entirely. \*Also, I’m in Canada, not the US, and I don’t know how easy it is to get a gun in Canada vs. the US. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/84 "2013-04-28T15:24:25Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s also noteworthy how many leftists who otherwise are extremely critical of government and the police nonetheless think they should have a monopoly on weapons. This is silly. I’m critical of the questionable use of armed drones in sovereign countries without their consent. I don’t think the answer is to give armed drones to private citizens, or to those other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/85 "2013-04-28T15:27:10Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > FWIW, I have different opinions on all three of those topics. Just because you’re anti-gun doesn’t mean you’re anti-SSM. > > I’m not sure where I stand on the gun issue. I don’t have or want one (and am screwed up in the head so I probably wouldn’t be able to get a gun\*) but I’m not against guns entirely. > > \*Also, I’m in Canada, not the US, and I don’t know how easy it is to get a gun in Canada vs. the US. I’m not saying if someone is anti-gun they are anti-SSM. I’m saying it’s the same attitude of ‘if I don’t approve of it you shouldn’t be able to do it’. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/86 "2013-04-28T16:08:04Z")
As an avowed leftist, I too find it regrettable that the left has become the home for anti-gun loons. Then again, I’m sure a lot of gun-nuts would call me an anti-gun loon considering that I would argue for things like universal background checks, magazine size limits, requiring licenses for ALL handgun ownership, and such. But I’m not anti-gun whatsoever, as explained earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/87 "2013-04-28T16:32:14Z")
I have gun control opinions but my pro-bacon views are stronger. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/88 "2013-04-28T17:49:11Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > As an avowed leftist, I too find it regrettable that the left has become the home for anti-gun loons. Then again, I’m sure a lot of gun-nuts would call me an anti-gun loon considering that I would argue for things like universal background checks, magazine size limits, requiring licenses for ALL handgun ownership, and such. But I’m not anti-gun whatsoever, as explained earlier. You hardly fall into a loon category. The anti-gun people I know think that there is absolutely NO reason for anybody to ever have a gun, no matter who they are, what they do, where they live and they are totally unable to accept that certain living conditions ie: living on a farm or a ranch or living in wilderness areas makes a gun a necessary part of life. In their minds if you live in one of those areas and you aren’t willing to accept that the wildlife of those areas are going to kill your stock, or pets and even break into your home and kill you or your kids then you should move to an area where guns aren’t necessary. They have no concept of any lifestyle outside their own little protected box and think everybody should conform to their idea of how to live. They want to put down anybody who owns a gun and somehow it always comes out to be that the only people who own/want guns are mouth breathing religious white paranoid psychopaths with small penises who are hoarding stockpiles of weapons for the future apocalypse. That could be insulting me and the entire farming side of my family, if we actually gave a damn what they think. What we do give a damn about is that they, who know nothing about the lifestyle, want to dictate how we should live. They are no different from the lunatic fringe on the right who want to tell me what to do with my body, who I can marry and that I’m surely going to hell because I don’t believe in their form of Christianity. When one segment of society wants to impose their values and beliefs on another segment of society, that is wrong, and it doesn’t matter which side you’re on. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/89 "2013-04-28T21:08:20Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > I think it’s interesting that there are so many anti-gun posters on a left leaning board. > > I put the anti-gun people in the same category as Pro-Life and Anti-SSM people. They are trying to impose their values on others, as in I don’t need or want a gun so you can’t have one either. I see the more credible anti-gun viewpoint as “I don’t want to get shot, so you shouldn’t have one.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/90 "2013-04-28T21:49:38Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I see the more credible anti-gun viewpoint as “I don’t want to get shot, so you shouldn’t have one.” I see your point, but it prevents me from shooting a bad guy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/91 "2013-04-28T23:11:01Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > I’m not saying if someone is anti-gun they are anti-SSM. > > I’m saying it’s the same attitude of ‘if I don’t approve of it you shouldn’t be able to do it’. And I am for SSM, just for the record. 🙂 **sahirrnee** , the anti-gun people you describe sound really stupid! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/92 "2013-04-29T01:04:09Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s also noteworthy how many leftists who otherwise are extremely critical of government and the police nonetheless think they should have a monopoly on weapons. I love the government, especially when the Democrats are in charge, and am very supportive of the police. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/93 "2013-04-29T01:47:49Z")
## Unrelated observation 1: There are so many examples of seemingly contradictory stances held by individuals, or by groups (not each member of which holds both views simultaneously), that anyone being surprised at this with regards to gun control is itself surprising. Unrelated observation 2: I’d say I’m only slightly more liberal than average for America, until the past 4 years I would have said I was in the top 75% most liberal, but the country has thankfully moved to the left on social issues. Yet I almost put “strongly pro gun”. I only didn’t put it because apparently there are 10% of the population that are in complete agreement with the NRA. I don’t see why we can’t have some reasonable reform like limiting magazine size, but more importantly I think that the knee-jerk calling of anyone who wants to implement any restrictions at all a “gun grabber” is shrill and simplistic, even when I don’t agree with the gun restricters’ goals such as the renewal of the AWB. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/94 "2013-04-29T02:38:46Z")
They are afraid that if the “I don’t want a gun, so you shouldn’t have one, either” folks get one law passed, it will be easier to pass others which would be more restrictive. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/95 "2013-05-09T20:27:25Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > 40% is fringe. Got it. There may be 40 senators that would vote for an absolute ban on abortion. But that doesn’t mean they’re not fringe? > [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The justification is easy. It doesn’t stand a chance in Hell of ever being implemented again Federally. In fact, the mention of it devastated the push for more legislation when it seemed certain that something was going to pass. Feinstein had it ready to go immediately and sucked the air completely out of the room with it. It failed 40-60. It wasn’t even close. The idea that it ever will be again is a pipe dream, and the people who push for it are absolutely fringe, they’re trying for something that isn’t possible at the expense of what IS possible. I’ve tried to make the same point. The AWB is probably the reason why manchin toomey didn’t happen. I’ve tried to bring up the historical example of how LBJ lost his chance at licensing and registration (and I know not every gun nut approves of L&R) because some senator from Maryland tried to push for a ban. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/96 "2013-05-09T20:35:59Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > There may be 40 senators that would vote for an absolute ban on abortion. But that doesn’t mean they’re not fringe? Yes, it does. By definition of the word “fringe”. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/97 "2013-05-09T20:47:51Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Apologies all, I really should have defined the choices more clearly, as follows: > [ul] > [li]strongly pro-gun: I believe that private ownership of firearms is a benefit to society and there should be the fewest practical restrictions on owning them[/li][li]mildly pro-gun: I am overall in favor of gun ownership but would accept restrictions that others might not[/li][li]neutral/ no opinion/ qualified answer/ other: what it says on the tin[/li][li]mildly anti-gun: I’m not in favor of banning all guns but there should be strong limits on what guns people can own[/li][li]strongly anti-gun: As an ideal, no one should possess firearms at all; barring that, the heaviest restrictions that can be enacted[/li][li]bacon: all polls must have ‘bacon’ as an option[/li][/ul] By these definitions, I fall somewhere between “mildly” and “strongly” pro-gun. There seems to be a bit of a gap between the two, IMO. I voted “mildly”, fwiw. I do not own a gun. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/98 "2013-05-09T22:26:38Z")
I missed your definitions. I guess I’m neutral, then, as I’m between your “mildly pro-gun” and “mildly anti-gun.” I’m not generally for guns, but I also don’t support the idea of what “strong limits” usually means. I don’t think there’s any one particular type of gun that is currently permitted that should be banned. Guns don’t kill people–people kill people. My preferred restrictions are about who can own them and possibly what they can be used for (though most of that is already covered by current laws). I would be inclined to check on those people who are so paranoid that they think Obama is going to take away their guns, though. I’m sure most are just being misled, but some might have truly delusional paranoia. And that’s one group that shouldn’t have guns. (Another being those with anger problems.) ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/99 "2013-05-09T23:35:02Z")
I own eight guns (including 2 Glocks w/ high capacity mags - not necessary for the other six, as they’ll put a jackbooted thug down with one shot) and disagree with pretty much everything the NRA has said or done in the last 20 years ago and I’m downright sickened bytheir post Sandy Hook behavior, so label me as you see fit. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273/100 "2013-05-09T23:47:36Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I would be inclined to check on those people who are so paranoid that they think Obama is going to take away their guns, though. I’m sure most are just being misled, but some might have truly delusional paranoia. I think that is to some extent fearing the worst case scenario. I don’t believe the cats who never go outside will be expose to rabies, but they get their shots anyway. But then, I’m an engineer. 🙂 If their is some chance the Feds under Obama will outlaw a particular firearm, they are resisting it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-vs-anti-gun-dopers-tally/656273.md?page=6)