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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 19, 2024

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It applying to just them and not to everyone.

It is applying to people who support gun control.

It would be unfair to apply it to those who oppose gun control, OBVIOUSLY. This is the fair outcome, where nobody gets a rule imposed on them without consent.

gun control for the entire country.

But as we've established, the entire country doesn't agree with it. So they can't get that. But they can get something.

Why wouldn't they accept a compromise that gets them PART of what they want? Surely they're capable of adapting their position to make such a thing 'fair'.

If they won't compromise aren't they just being unreasonable? That's what they keep saying about gun-rights advocates who refuse to compromise on gun control policies.

Why wouldn't they accept a compromise that gets them PART of what they want? Surely they're capable of adapting their position to make such a thing 'fair'.

Because getting the policy enacted on the object level is only part of the motivation for partisan political affiliation and advocacy; there's another whole part rooted in the will to power, the desire to impose one's moral and aesthetic will over others, or just the desire to see opposing moral and aesthetic views stamped down/out.

To steal an old New Yorker cartoon - "it is not enough that dogs succeed, cats must also fail."

OBVIOUSLY. This is the fair outcome, where nobody gets a rule imposed on them without consent.

That's not how it works, unless you're willing to amend your modest proposal with "and all other laws that a party didn't vote for doesn't affect them anymore".

Where do I sign? I'd bite that bullet for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. This is The Motte after all. I'm not going to retreat merely because my idea was pressed.

Incidentally, I'd also love a return to Federalism where the states can have more leeway over how they govern their own territories, but THAT is apparently goes too far by modern standards, which to me is an indictment of modern standards.

But no, I'm just making the point that 'compromise' requires both sides giving up something, and if the Dems want to achieve their gun-free utopia, they can start by with a compromise of imposing gun control on themselves.

But no, I'm just making the point that 'compromise' requires both sides giving up something

Yes, that's what compromise means. Both sides giving up guns. Or else both sides having guns. One side giving up guns is not compromise when the explicit goal is equitably fewer guns.

Oh, so when we make Felons a class of people who can't own guns, are we doing something unfair?

I guess my question is, why wouldn't Democrats sign a document that voluntarily waives their own Second Amendment rights if it resulted in increased levels of gun control in the country?

It's generally understood that when you do something like be a felon, you've been unfair to society and it can be unfair to you in return. (I'm pretty sure Republicans and Democrats agree that being a felon is unfair to society.) Such as imprison you (which can't legally be done to people who don't belong to the Felons class). I'm not convinced that it's so different to make felons unable to own guns.

why wouldn't Democrats sign a document that voluntarily waives their own Second Amendment rights if it resulted in increased levels of gun control in the country?

Their understanding of "gun control" is not the maximally inconvenient and stupid definition that you've crafted here for them. It's not gun control if all the criminals have one and none of the upstanding citizens do, and it's not gun control either when all the reds are strapped and the blues aren't.

Oh, so when we make Felons a class of people who can't own guns, are we doing something unfair?

Insofar as "felons" means "people the democrats like, feel sorry for, and/or totemize," then yes.

Oh, so when we make Felons a class of people who can't own guns, are we doing something unfair?

If only it were just felons. The various red flag laws gun control advocates keep pushing don't even require a criminal conviction.