LogFAQs > #979412948

I discussed this with a friend of mine who is far smarter than I will ever be, and we got talking about firearm ownership and how it's actually a left-wing ideal rather than right-wing.

What you're looking at here is the limited Overton Window of mainstream US politics, and very silly, deliberately inculcated framing that actually benefits "conservatives." Left-wing and right-wing have very specific meanings that go back centuries. Right-wing referred to the half of the French parliament that wanted to conserve power in the hands of the social elite. Left-wing politics are about distributing power, flattening hierarchies, extending political franchise to more of the population. The definition of right/left the average person operates under is extremely limited and has been deliberately engineered to make people flip those ideas around in their head. It's not a surprise that there are pro-gun people on the left, because that's what we want: typically we want people to be able to do shit, unless we can make a strong argument against it which usually boils down to "because it infringes on someone else's rights or freedom." For example, "regulations" aren't "big gubbermint imposing on the little guy", they're in place to prevent corporate entities and employers from poisoning water supplies, discriminating in their hiring practices, or abusing their workforce. Firearms? Many of us are fine with them for a number of reasons, without even bringing up "revolutions" and crap, but it makes sense to put some restrictions in place, don't it? Otherwise one person can do a hell of a lot of infringing.

I wish this guy posted here, to be honest.