And keep the change you filthy animal.
Although it's been buried on most major news sources, the U.S. Supreme Court has taken up the constitutionality of handgun bans in cities. SCOTUS has avoided this particular subject for most part since 1939, but they have picked a particularly sharp instance to counter. D.C. has one of the highest murder rates in the country, a very poor minority population, and one of the strictest handgun bans in the country. Should the ban be overturned in D.C., similar challenges are expected nationwide in quick succession. If it is upheld, stronger regulation in cities will follow. I imagine the candidates are going to be asked to weigh in on this one very shortly, and polls will shift on this issue. Prepare the spin machines.
I tend to think gun culture in the U.S. need to go strongly one way or the other. Either you arm your populace, make it part of the national identity in such a way that it's understood in every situation that a large number of the individuals around you are armed and trained, or you remove guns from society as a whole. Yes, this would mean a repealing of the second amendment, and a major change in domestic policy. But the "in between" state we're in is the worst state to be in - the availability of guns is very high, but the ability of a legal citizen to obtain one is restricted. That situation maximizes death in basically every case, which really defeats the purpose.
I tend to think gun culture in the U.S. need to go strongly one way or the other. Either you arm your populace, make it part of the national identity in such a way that it's understood in every situation that a large number of the individuals around you are armed and trained, or you remove guns from society as a whole. Yes, this would mean a repealing of the second amendment, and a major change in domestic policy. But the "in between" state we're in is the worst state to be in - the availability of guns is very high, but the ability of a legal citizen to obtain one is restricted. That situation maximizes death in basically every case, which really defeats the purpose.