Are We Better Off Gun Wise Than In Past Years?

Are gun rights more or less restrictive than past years?

  • Have become more restrictive

    Votes: 42 47.7%

  • Less restrictive..better of than past years.

    Votes: 30 34.1%

  • Stayed about the same

    Votes: 16 18.2%
  • Total voters
    88
M

madmag

New member
Well, I had a discussion on another thread about the status of our gun rights compared to past years. Clearly some think that our gun rights have not diminished through the years. Lets say starting with 1934 to present. So, do you think gun rights have become more restrictive or less restrictive than past years. This includes CCW and general gun ownership.

I voted that gun rights are clearly more restrictive. I lived through the 40's to now, and I don't really see any comparison. Yes, we have CCW laws. But these laws are a result of people try to make gun ownership & carry more restrictive...not the other way around. The fact is you just didn't need a permit in the old days for CCW and in many places open carry.

Not to mention that now some states require you to get a permit just to purchase. The States with restrictive gun laws is getting longer...not shorter. And States like NJ with a ban on HP ammo.

So, I vote more restrictive.
 
what has not gotten more restrictive

from drivers licenses to boarding an airplane almost everything has gotten more restrictive in our lives. I use to fly from Kodiak to Anchorage on Wein Airline with my 45 Colt ACP in my shoulder holster under my jacket. I use to drive 18 wheelers with out special CDL requirments. I use to be able to catch alll the fish and shellfish I wanted to; now I'm very limited to what I can take. I use to be able to allow students to make decisions that now only the parents can make. So CCW laws and other restrictions are just a part of life.
 
So CCW laws and other restrictions are just a part of life.
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Yes, and I know that some view the fact that we have increased states with CCW as less restriction. But I think there is a bigger picture. First, it's great that gun owners fought to have CCW, but they started because they felt a need. Gun owners could see people were questioning why you should be able to carry, but now that we won that part of gun rights we have been getting more restrictions added all the time. Having CCW is good, but just remember there was a time when you could carry without any practical restrictions.

I don't think we should have panic about gun rights, but It seems to me that thinking our gun rights are safe and on the increase is not the way to protect our future rights. There definitely are people ready and willing to take our gun rights away.
 
toybox99615
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from drivers licenses to boarding an airplane almost everything has gotten more restrictive in our lives.
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The takeaway is "our lives", I don't know how old you are. I can say this though, in my life/area gun laws have become more laxed.

I use to fly from Kodiak to Anchorage on Wein Airline with my 45 Colt ACP in my shoulder holster under my jacket.
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The plane is private property, they call the shots. Don't like the rules? find another way there.

I use to drive 18 wheelers with out special CDL requirments.
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Okay, this is actually a good thing that the .gov is mandating some proficiency in operating 18 wheelers. I don't think I need to say why.


I use to be able to catch alll the fish and shellfish I wanted to; now I'm very limited to what I can take.
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In some areas the local populace has extracted so much from their resources that their simply isn't enough left, case in point - have you ever been deer hunting in Florida? (I went two years without seeing a single buck worth shooting. The hunters are shooting at stubs now-a-days!)

This may rub some people here wrong, but sometimes we need big brother telling us what to do. By we I mean other people of course, not any of us. ;)

I use to be able to allow students to make decisions that now only the parents can make.
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This stopped when parents became parents I guess.

So CCW laws and other restrictions are just a part of life.
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I agree.
 
I struggled a little bit with this vote, but decided to take the "last few years" as reflecting on my life in Colorado. As such, things have gotten better here with both preemption and CCW. I'm overall pretty happy with Colorado gun laws, though there's always room for improvement.

Nationwide ... of course things have gotten worse since even the mid 60's until now.

Although I understand why this is legally the case, it still boggles the mind that I can carry a firearm loaded in my car legally in Colorado with or without a CCW, but if I drive that same car to NY I'm committing a felony with a mandatory prison term by having an illegal firearm. That just seems crazy to me, that our country is this polarized.

Some states allow right turns on red, some don't. But the penalty for making a mistake is just a ticket. Some states allow firearms to be carried, some don't. But the penalty for making a mistake can be a mandatory year in jail.
 
Nationwide ... of course things have gotten worse since even the mid 60's until now.
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Yes. I think the voting reflects peoples life experience. I am an old timers so I feel our gun rights have been on a steady decline. I understand some younger folks that think there have been improvements as with CCW. I think to certain extent they are correct, but the problem is that CCW permits are in themselves restrictive compared to earlier years. So, when gun owners felt threatened they rallied and supported CCW permits to established their rights. That's good, but I was looking more overall and I see more and more states lining up for stricter control. Now just to the north of me you have to get a permit for each pistol you purchase, and the permit can take weeks. NJ now has ammo restrictions for HP, and so on. I had a CCW in several states as I moved do to my job, but when I lived in California in 2000 I didn't bother. Just too much hassle. So, I said it before. I think the list of the number of states with increased restrictions is getting longer not shorter.
 
Increasingly more restrictive in my opinion but as an old timer I seen a much different time.

I do hope I'm wrong but as population increases much of it from the third world, handguns will be totally prohibited, long guns only and ammo for those will be tightly controlled. More people=more crime=more laws=less freedom.
 
Let me try to get my point across in as few words as I can. (A new challenge for me) :D

Gun laws have become more restrictive I think, and here is why I think it.

In past years, there was no need for a gun permit. One could open carry, as the law of the land, and not only was it generally accepted, in most areas it was expected. (as part of the culture of said days)

So, over time, the federal, state, and local governments passed laws which all but destroyed the right to carry, and several states banned it altogether. If not banned, public open carry while 'technically' legal, was heavily frowned upon. And by frowned upon I mean fines and other problems.

Now, the government in its almighty graciousness, has decided to grant us the "privledge"" to carry a gun, provided we jump through said hoops (that they put in place) and donate to the gods of governments coffers.

Now they are heroes. Isn't your government getting better? Don't we now ALLOW you, through our great and mighty wisdom, to carry now, when it hasn't been legal? (since we originally took that right away)

So we get the illusion that government has loosened restrictions and is becoming better, when in reality, they just loosened up on illegal laws they created to take our constitutional rights away in the first place. Ain't your government so nice? Don't it make you all warm and fuzzy?
 
I don't know that a lot of laws have changed currently or that we have become much more restrictive than in the past, but I feel that the climate has changed and it is pointing towards a possible rough time ahead of us.
Below are just a few of the possible warning signs of trouble ahead.

1. Hillary or Obama in the White House.
2. Serialized Ammo bills currently making the rounds in various states.
3. Bloomberg as a possible running mate for Obama.
4. California and its current lead ammo ban.
5. High prices of metal raising the price of ammo.
6. School shootings on the rise will prompt further gun laws.

I'm sure I've missed lots of other warning signs too.
 
In past years, there was no need for a gun permit. One could open carry, as the law of the land, and not only was it generally accepted, in most areas it was expected. (as part of the culture of said days)
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Exactly my point. I know this is hard to relate to for the younger folks, but things have simply become more restrictive. I think it's important to understand because some would use the attitude of things are better gun wise to their advantage against gun owners.

but I feel that the climate has changed and it is pointing towards a possible rough time ahead of us.Below are just a few of the possible warning signs of trouble ahead.
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Another good point. I have seen more activity recently than in the last few years for change against gun rights.

2. Serialized Ammo bills currently making the rounds in various states.
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I thought it was kind of funny, but the other day I posted a story (link) about a drug dealer that shot a cop in NJ. Along with his other charges they charged him with having HP ammo, which is illegal in NJ.
 
Depends on how you define past years. I remember going through the Montgomery Ward Catalog in the early-mid 60's where you could order pretty much any rifle or pistol through the mail and have it delivered to you. 1968 was one crappy year (good year for cars though!).
 
Depends on where you are. We may have good laws in a lot of places, but the percentage of people we're losing is not good and needs a lot of work.
 
I use to fly from Kodiak to Anchorage on Wein Airline with my 45 Colt ACP in my shoulder holster under my jacket.
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The plane is private property, they call the shots. Don't like the rules? find another way there.
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In principle I agree with you, But... That supposes airline companies or plane owners are free to permit or deny people to carry on their planes. Instead the .gov makes that decision for airlines, and I think that's what he was getting at. Small charter planes, that could be another story, I don't know.

If airlines were really free to set the rules on their own planes, there wouldn't have been such a flap about armed pilots. People would then be free to vote with their wallets by choosing an airline where the pilots were free to protect themselves from cockpit invasion... or not, whichever they chose.
 
The FEDERAL gun laws got REALLY restrictive post 1968, as the Fed.gov got larger and larger, with more and more influence on local matters. It has not followed that trend at State and Local Levels, at least in my State...... in 1986, my state ammended its Constitution to recognize the RTKABA explicitly, right up front, in Art. I-1. Concealed Carry is a reality in a solid majority of states......... I view this a push-back to fed.gov efforts to disarm the country, but that's just me..........
 
restrictive

OK I am probably older than all(83)before WW2 you could buy without restrictions and mail order,remember oswald bought mail order.schools had rifle clubs.in rurul areas kids went to school with rifles/shotguns and went hunting on way home.I lived in city of 60,000 but we had woods and ocean marsh.the courts ruled that it was not a machine gun if it would not fire.you only had to have a part missing.Mass had a permit to carry but easy to get.I had one.no picture no finger prints.
well my bed time 11.15pm bye:rolleyes::confused::D
 
As a young guy after reading some posts from the real old timers (no offense), I would say that yes, you could say it has gotten more restrictive, along with everything else.

I wouldn't have thought so at first, because not too long ago we had an AWB and more and more states are adopting CCWs...but thinking about it, the fact that an AWB passed to begin with is a sign of more restrictive times. And a CCW sounds good on the surface, but it merely turns a right into a privelege.

Also, in Russia, ammo smuggles you.
 
And a CCW sounds good on the surface, but it merely turns a right into a privelege.
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Exactly.

As a young guy after reading some posts from the real old timers (no offense), I would say that yes, you could say it has gotten more restrictive, along with everything else.
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You are a very intelligent clear thinking young man. I always say that to young people that agree with me.:D

No offense taken. Anyway, since Teddy chimed in I yes at 68 I am not so much of an old timer.
 
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