# Why do so many people vote Republican out of fear of getting taxed more or guns being taken away? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 27, 2016, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136 "2016-11-27T08:41:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/41 "2016-11-29T00:38:52Z")
I feel like the title of the thread answers itself? ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/42 "2016-11-29T01:11:17Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Please cite just ONE statement by an influential quoted person who has ever said that civilians’ right to own guns should be taken away. Just one cite. Who is this famous dem/lib who has ever said “take their guns away” or in any other terms has advocated such an outcome? > > When they instituted speed limits or no-parking zones, where was the accusation that “they’re going to take our cars away”? Is the founder of Handgun Control, Inc. now known as the Brady Campaign an “influential quoted person”? From Richard Harris, A Reporter at Large: Handguns, New Yorker, July 26, 1976, at 53, 58 (quoting Pete Shields, founder of Handgun Control, Inc.): > [@](#): > > We’re going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily – given the political realities – going to be very modest. . . . [W]e’ll have to start working again to strengthen that law, and then again to strengthen the next law, and maybe again and again. Right now, though, we’d be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice. Our ultimate goal – total control of handguns in the United States – is going to take time. . . . The first problem is to slow down the number of handguns being produced and sold in this country. The second problem is to get handguns registered. The final problem is to make possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition-except for the military, police, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors-totally illegal. > [@jtur88](#): > > Go and find her entire statement, before being self-servingly chopped out its context… She made it clear, earlier in her remark (as also made clear by the narrator in your own link), that the was referring only to assault rifles, like the one she is holding… Over 900 specific weapons would NOT be included in the bill she proposed, and would remain legal. > > Try again. That may have been in response to the 1994 AWB, but it wasn’t Feinstein’s first foray into wanting to ban guns. In 1982 when Feinstein was Mayor of SF, [she proposed and signed an ordinance banning all handguns in the city.](http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/29/us/san-francisco-bans-possessing-most-pistols.html) It was later overturned. > [@R3d\_Anonymous](#): > > And with guns, no Democrat is even coming close to completely “[taking] away” guns. They might tighten up a little on gun control and background checks, which may be unnecessary, but I don’t see how this is an instant deal-breaker. Is “completely taking away guns” the only thing that should be opposed? My state just passed a law confiscating many of the magazines I own. Should I be okay with that? My only recourse is through the courts which could take a long time and is uncertain, or if there is some kind of national law passed. That would never happen under Clinton, but it may under Trump. Anyone proposing any additional gun control is a deal breaker. Gun people vote in blocks and vote in every election. I don’t smoke, but I vote against cigarette taxes. Just because I don’t make over $2M/year doesn’t mean i can’t be opposed to the concept in principle. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/43 "2016-11-29T02:58:06Z")
Americans who are afraid of guns being removed vote Republican because a) they always blame Democrats, even when Republicans limit guns b) they don’t understand statistics, and c) they have no imagination. a) - see **pkbites** above, who when called out on Republican presidents limiting firearms, promptly dodges the question. b) guns cause deaths. Often accidental, often suicidal. But they are not shields. If they were no soldier or police officer or gun-toting gangbanger would ever be hurt or killed. c) Air superiority has been a key point of warfare for decades, and yet those who insist the need firearms to protect themselves from a tyrannical government never consider that the tyrannical military won’t be willing to call in an airstrike on their position. If they’re coming to take away your guns, if they’re willing to shoot you, there is no reason to think they’re not willing to escalate. Besides, with today’s current attitude toward news and reality, President XXX could just state that those killed via an airstrike were actually terrorists who blew themselves up with an IED gone wrong, and anyone showing video of a missile is just repeating anti-American propaganda. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/44 "2016-11-29T06:38:36Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > a) - see **pkbites** above, who when called out on Republican presidents limiting firearms, promptly dodges the question. Like hell I did. That is a fucking lie! > [@pkbites](#): > > And I have pointed out their offenses on these boards over the years. Over the years on these boards I have consistently pointed out the anti-gun stances of Republicans regardless of what office they seeked. But especially I consistently attacked W on these boards in '99 and 2000 over his anti-gun statements/stances. And I have posted negative comments over Reagans stupid signing of the 1986 law he signed. But I’ve also went after local Republican pols who were anti-gun rights. And in this very thread I reminded you of this: > [@pkbites](#): > > And I have pointed out their offenses on these boards over the years. I did not dodge that question and ask that you have some honor and retract your statement! ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/45 "2016-11-29T14:50:02Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > Is the founder of Handgun Control, Inc. now known as the Brady Campaign an “influential quoted person”? From Richard Harris, A Reporter at Large: Handguns, New Yorker, July 26, 1976, at 53, 58 (quoting Pete Shields, founder of Handgun Control, Inc.): > > . Shields made it abundantly clear, over and over again, that he was referring ONLY to handguns, which are designed and manufactured for the sole purpose of effectively and efficiently killing human beings. He neither said nor implied any kind of control of any other kind of firearm, which the American people have a constitutional right to possess. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/46 "2016-11-29T15:13:39Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Shields made it abundantly clear, over and over again, that he was referring ONLY to handguns, which are designed and manufactured for the sole purpose of effectively and efficiently killing human beings. He neither said nor implied any kind of control of any other kind of firearm, which the American people have a constitutional right to possess. He also said they would need to take one modest step at a time. Goal posts seem to be shifty. So only in the case where every single firearm is banned is objectionable, is that what you’re saying? So Feinstein successfully passed a law that banned all handguns, and at another point in time she stated she wanted to ban all assault rifles…but that somehow doesn’t count? That’s a strange hurdle you’ve created. Is it too much to admit that there are people, people with some modicum of influence that actually do want to ban all guns? There’s even more people that want to ban some subset, like all handguns. In any event, your reasoning about just banning a subset is interesting, but has been [obliterated as any meaningful rationale:](https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZO.html) > [@](#): > > It is no answer to say, as petitioners do, that it is permissible to ban the possession of handguns so long as the possession of other firearms (i.e., long guns) is allowed. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/47 "2016-11-29T18:35:24Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Shields made it abundantly clear, over and over again, that he was referring ONLY to handguns, which are designed and manufactured for the sole purpose of effectively and efficiently killing human beings. He neither said nor implied any kind of control of any other kind of firearm, which the American people have a constitutional right to possess. You mean arms that are not designed for killing anything? What, Nerf guns? All this clearly answers the OP. Handguns, “assault weapons”, .50 cal rifles, bolt action rifles (because they can be used as sniper rifles), all semi-autos. All of these at one time or another have been suggested to be banned, all suggested by Democrats. Put these all together and you have pretty much everything. That is why some Americans vote out of fear of losing their guns or losing their choice of gun in the future. And calling them stupid or that they don’t have a right to such things is not a convincing argument. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/48 "2016-11-30T01:30:17Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > See? There’s someone who actually believes that having a gun makes them more free. It’s baloney, but useful for keeping him a slave. How can you possibly construe _not_ forbidding an individual from owning something a type of slavery? ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/49 "2016-11-30T01:47:29Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Over the years on these boards I have consistently pointed out the anti-gun stances of Republicans regardless of what office they seeked. Except, you know, in your first post in this thread, where you blamed Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/50 "2016-11-30T04:58:43Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Except, you know, in your first post in this thread, where you blamed Democrats. Yes, that’s true, but since his first post was the rebuttal of a claim involving Democrats, it would have been a _non sequiter_ to blame Republicans. Did you know that? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/51 "2016-11-30T05:21:40Z")
> [@Waymore](#): > > How can you possibly construe _not_ forbidding an individual from owning something a type of slavery? Because the main function of “gun rights” in our society is to convince people to give up all the rights that actually _matter_ for guns. Everything from free speech to personal survival is less important than the Holy Gun. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2016, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/52 "2016-11-30T06:07:11Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Because the main function of “gun rights” in our society is to convince people to give up all the rights that actually _matter_ for guns. > > Everything from free speech to personal survival is less important than the Holy Gun. You’re just making assertions here. Care to elaborate? ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136/53 "2016-12-03T00:34:09Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Yes, that’s true, but since his first post was the rebuttal of a claim involving Democrats, it would have been a _non sequiter_ to blame Republicans. In the fight between legal procedure and accuracy, I prefer accuracy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-vote-republican-out-of-fear-of-getting-taxed-more-or-guns-being-taken-away/773136.md?page=2)