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Nov. 17, 2004 As mentioned earlier in this section, the Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) did more to hurt the Democratic Party than to help it. Crime rates resulting from the use of firearms went virtually unchanged during the time of the ban, and many moderate Democrats and swing Republicans abandoned the Democratic Party over what they saw as a completely unjust intrusion on their Constitutional rights. The vast majority of gun owners in the United States are law abiding citizens who either own the firearm for personal and family protection or to hunt. These are valid reasons for owning a firearm, and owners should not have come under fire for owning them as they did when the AWB was passed and signed. It is true that owning an assault weapon may worry some Democrats, but the fact that the same weapon with minor modifications could still be sold during the time of the AWB is a fact often overlooked by those seeking to argue blindly for it. Criminals will be able to obtain guns whether or not there are bans in place. That does not make it wrong to attempt to curb some of the weapons being sold, but when the AWB proved to be ineffective, the Democrats should have led the effort to admit their mistake and take the ban down. Instead, several liberal Democrats led the charge to enhance and extend the ban while John Kerry spoke a much different view to voters, who were rightfully confused over the entire issue. The disunity of message in the Democratic Party during 2004 on the issue of the AWB was astounding. Had the ban simply been left to expire without comment, or perhaps touched upon in the past tense by Kerry, West Virginia and Ohio may have swung further his direction. It is understandable to want to protect our children and loved ones, but the AWB attempted to solve these problems in a way that was determined to be not only ineffective, but lethal to moderate and swing voters in their support of the Democratic Party. In order to regain these voters, as well as the South and West, Democrats must be willing to admit that the AWB was a failure from the beginning, as it stressed only cosmetic changes banning a gun from sale. We must be willing to admit that our position in 2000 and 2004 to restrict the ownership and sale of guns was, however noble, on the wrong moral side of the issue. In 2000 and 2004, gun rights was an issue that Democrats, sadly, were simply on the wrong side of. ------------ About the author: Max Burns is a 17-year-old Democrat with moderate, centrist ideals. He blames John Kerry's 2004 loss on John Kerry, and is authoring a pamphlet on how to refine the Democratic Party for Victory in 2008 and beyond. For more information, check out The New Democrat. Read the fantasy-fiction novel "Alcardia". Email: DeMBurns@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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