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AP: c1ee41a0-70b5-4ba4-a2e1-10ddffd7ce36
The reaction to the Connecticut school shooting can be seen in gun stores and self-defense retailers across the nation: Anxious parents are fueling sales of armored backpacks for children while firearms enthusiasts are stocking up on assault rifles in anticipation of tighter gun control measures. (AP Photo/The Roanoke Times, Matt Gentry)

Tomorrow is the big day

BY Dave Ross  on December 20, 2012 @ 7:51 am (Updated: 9:04 am - 12/20/12 )

Tomorrow the NRA issues its first statement about the Newtown massacre. It promises to "offer meaningful contributions."

But don't think they'll support any kind of weapons ban.

NRA fundraising letters have warned for years about a secret Obama agenda to ban assault weapons, and last year Wayne La Pierre got up and said, "The president will remind us he's put off calls from his own party to renew the old Clinton gun ban, saying he's actually been good for the second amendment. But it's a big, fat, stinking lie."

So if you think the NRA is going to accept any kind of ban I've got a Mayan calendar to sell you.

But here's what it COULD do.

I was an NRA member for a while. I got a plastic card, and window sticker - better than a security alarm sticker by the way - and I ended up on a mailing list for various special offers.

But there was no initiation, no pledge to sign, nothing.

What if NRA membership stood for a level of personal responsibility. Suppose as a condition of membership weapon owners had to provide proof of training. Suppose you had to pledge to store your weapons securely - subject to inspection by an NRA official. Suppose you had to pledge NOT to attend movies that glorify the misuse of weapons, or pledge to boycott arms manufacturers whose ads play to angry young men, or video games that award points for killing?

The NRA is right - guns don't fire themselves. But when a country's gun culture is as casual as ours has become -- they might as well.

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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  • TheSymbolForBoron wrote...
    I see we're finally getting somewhere in the conversation about gun violence in our country.
    December 20, 2012 3:04 pm
    Oh wait. That was a different blog.

    Nevermind.

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  • DesertRez wrote...
    Sambra
    December 20, 2012 3:32 pm
    Automatic weapons have been illegal since the 1930's. Semi-auto weapons, are legal and have been around at least 50 years (such as my Remington model 742). The "assault rifles" that you are talking about are usually 5.56mm (223 caliber) and are illegal for hunting because the caliber is too small to humanely kill a deer. A .240 is the smallest legal caliber for hunting big game.
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    desert Rez
    December 20, 2012 3:55 pm
    But 223 cal work wonderfully killing humans.It used by military units all around the world
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  • Howdy wrote...
    I wonder if these guys are NRA members
    December 21, 2012 5:30 am
    http://burien.komonews.com/news/crime/809012-8-suspected-drug-traffickers-arrested-after-8-month-investigation
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  • MartinTravels wrote...
    I have no problem
    December 21, 2012 8:44 am
    With folks who want stricter gun laws. What I do have a problem with is the foolish notion that gun laws will somehow curb this behavior. Really? This is not a gun issue, this is a human issue. The reason shootings are WAY up since 2007 isn't because gun laws have changed. It is because people are (and always have been and will be) troubled. Maybe if we stop giving the killers any attention at all, they would be less likely to seek their morbid fame and attention by these mass shootings. That is the only thing that has changed since 2007; we are giving them way more attention than ever before.
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  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Sambra
    December 23, 2012 2:28 pm
    Obama is a LIBERAL. Liberals and their party have always been about abolishing the Second amendment. Or greatly curtailing it. I believe that before Obama was re immaculated he had to be tight lipped about his and his parties plans to end the American citizens rights to keep and bear arms. Now that the Dear Leader is re immaculated and UN accountable, he has nothing to fear, nothing to stop him from implementing the rest of his Anti-American Socialist agenda.
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