Thursday, March 19, 2020

What's Not Happening



It’s been a while, but I haven’t seen any gunfights in the streets of Maine or New Hampshire the past few years and I live very near the border between the two. That’s what progressives predicted would occur if gun laws loosened and people didn’t have to get permits to carry concealed guns. I haven’t seen any newspaper articles or television reports about increased gun violence either after each state passed legislation eliminating concealed carry permits. It’s been three years in New Hampshire and more than four years in Maine, so were the progressives wrong when they predicted both states would turn into the wild, wild west?




Police chiefs in both states were also against the new laws claiming their officers would at risk. What do they say now? Nothing. Vermont never required concealed carry permits and it’s always been one of the safest states in the country. That fact was ignored by progressive gun control advocates when they argued against New Hampshire and Maine revisions of concealed carry permits to copy Vermont.


Many people in the three northern New England states still leave their doors unlocked and crime rates remain very low. Is that because guns here are as common as unlocked doors? That’s probably a factor but not the only one. Most people own guns here and know how to use them. That’s a deterrent, certainly, but they also know who their neighbors are. There’s a much stronger sense of community. People here tend to look out for each other and are wary of strangers and unfamiliar vehicles in their neighborhoods. 



Most rural towns in northern New England don’t have police departments either. They rely on county sheriff’s deputies and the state police. Because of logistics and geography, response times for those larger law enforcement agencies are slower than police departments are in New York City or Boston. Rural people know this so they’re not only more prepared to defend themselves, they’re more willing to do so as well. They’re much less likely to cower in the face of criminal aggression of any sort.


There’s been no let-up in gun crimes for either state since gun laws were relaxed, but the perpetrators usually had prior felony convictions, so carrying a gun remained illegal for them. That didn’t stop them, of course, but then it never did. If you look around and see where most gun crimes are committed, you’ll quickly learn that they’re places with strict gun control laws like Chicago and New York. Gun laws on those places have only been obeyed by the law-abiding. Criminals have historically ignored them.


Although Bernie Sanders has always been a doctrinaire lefty on nearly every issue since he was elected Mayor of Burlington, Vermont almost forty years ago, his position on gun control didn’t fit the mold. Is that because he knew he would never have been elected to state-wide office there if he favored gun restrictions? His army of supporters would likely argue that Bernie has always been guided by principle over political expediency, but is that changing?


According to an article by Russell Berman in the February 27 issue of The Atlantic

The senator from Vermont’s hallmark has been his consistency as an unbending progressive over four decades in elected office. Yet if Sanders has embodied left-wing purity more than any of the other potential Democratic nominees, gun policy is one area where his record has been far from pristine in the eyes of progressives… But it’s telling that on gun control, he has gone further this time around to repudiate his past positions and align himself with the Democratic Party’s mainstream opinion. “The world has changed, and my views have changed,” he said at the February debate in New Hampshire.

Was Bernie sincere about his gun control views forty years ago? Is he caving in to political expediency here in 2020? He really wants to be president, but what if he loses to Biden or Trump? Can he be reelected senator in Vermont now that he’s become a gun control advocate? We may never know because he’s not up again until 2024 and by then he’ll be eighty-two years old. Maybe he’ll retire. Maybe he’ll change his position again.
While Democrats consider abortion their most important issue, gun control seems to have become the next most important. Maine and New Hampshire have been voting Democrat the past few cycles, and Vermont has been solidly “blue” for even longer. Maine and New Hampshire, however, are moving the other way on gun control. While Vermont has become even more leftist, there’s no indication they’ll tighten up on guns.

10 comments:

Brian said...

Yes, gun control is one of the most important issue to democrats. It would be very bizarre if an issue that was the 2nd leading cause of child deaths in the country and also resulted in almost 40,000 total deaths a year was NOT a main concern.

Here is a fact for you: the 10 states with the highest gun deaths have some of the weakest gun laws in the nation. Then look at one of the lowest rates of gun death in the country in Massachusetts and their very tough gun laws.

And what is that complete BS about Chicago being "gun free"? Did your talking points come from a time machine? Chicago had their hand gun ban struck down in 2010, and in 2013 citizens no longer had to register them. Since these events gun violence has spiked greatly. C'mon, Tom, don't you care about the truth?

I also must call you out on you uninformed comment that "Democrats consider abortion their most important issue". That would be news to most democrats. A recent gallop poll ranked the top issues for both parties and found that abortion was the 13th most important, only ahead of a few issues, such as LBGTQ rights.

CJ Johnson said...

Poor Brian, wrong again. On all counts.

Brian said...

...and yet you were unable to refute a single fact. Awesome.

CaptDMO said...

Once again, showing WHO it is that ACTUALLY relies on spreading disingenuous panic, that never seems to come to fruition when put to the test.
Weighed, measured, and found wanting.
YET AGAIN without consequence.
"Well, it just wasn't done RIGHT!"
THAT doesn't count, because....Calvinball!"

Kafir said...

Off topic but needs to be mentioned: the Dems killed the $1.8T coronavirus stimulus package because they wanted to include forgiveness of student loan debts, unprecedented collective bargaining for unions, increased fuel emission standards for airlines and expansion of wind and solar power credits. Nice going Nancy and Upchuck!

Anyone, especially Brian, who supports these despicable, disgraceful and corrupt politicians in a time of national emergency should have NO voice commenting in a forum such as this blog. They’re simply a repulsive waste of human flesh.

Brian said...

My my, look how the right wing media has whipped up Kafir into a foaming-at -the-mouth name calling frenzy. No the bill is not killed just because the Republicans couldn't quickly ram through their partisan version. The bill failed to provide funds that hospitals, cities, states and medical workers need to combat the crisis. The legislation had many, many problems. At the top of the list, it included a large corporate bailout provision, with no protections for workers and virtually no oversight. Let's get it right before we start throwing out these bailouts that the Republicans used to be so against.

I wonder why none of your anger was taken out on the person who for weeks acted like none of this was even worth talking about? Oh year, that was you too! Funny you are not angered at what Trump's delays cost us. And before you try and rewrite history, watch the proof below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxG241bExqY&t=1s&fbclid=IwAR3kWoSlOtb5JUkm2aWdWLHWJVcwBG-l0wzQ1QgbTQ3hRtuZO4jKv07Yy3s

An incredible display of gross incompetence that has cost the lives of American citizens.

Kafir said...

Trump and his team are working on the problem unlike Obama who chose to go golfing during the 2009 flu pandemic with 60 million cases and 12,500 deaths in the U.S.

Brian said...



It seems many things are over your head no matter how often they get explained to you (like the swine flu numbers compared with Covid-19) but nevertheless...

Can you back up your nonsense?

Here are photos of your precious "hard-working" Trump golfing...yes, GOLFING, during the crisis (a little after he said that cases were "almost down to zero" and would "like a miracle" go away)

Oh, how I love chucking your stones back at your dopey glass house!!!!

I bet there is nothing for you to do but pretend you didn't see this!!

Kafir said...

Final comment, Go F yourself! You remind me of Juan Williams on “The Five” which I’m guessing you don’t watch. A nice guy but totally a Kool-Aid drinker. Wish we could meet in person. Your intellect is likely as weak as your manly skills. Typical of most Dems who comment while hiding in their parents’ basement.

Brian said...

Look what our so-called president has done to the country. He's set the tone for responding to facts you don't like with anger and childish insults.

"Look, a photo that shows how hypocritical and silly your last post was" ................................................"F-YOU!

"Look, a video showing how horribly Trump botched the beginning of this crisis" ..... .."REPULSIVE WASTE OF HUMAN FLESH!"

You display the same childishness and insecurity as Trump. Mulling over "manly skills"?

Face it, only losers run away from a discussion/debate like that.

...and you'll be back to read this.