Are Baby Boomers the Cause For Harsh Gun Laws?

[Catfishmoon]

Okay... Don't think I am even going to comment on the opening manifesto.

Without boomers there would be no cougars, who wants to live in a world without cougars?

 

[Juniper9mm]

The OP may be upset with his boomer parents, boomer boss or Boomer Esiason:



I don't know.

 

[JustSomeGuy]

Personally, I think it has more to do with urbanization of the population than it does with someone's date of birth/generation. As many others here have said, there are a myriad of things that factor into it, so simply focusing on a single factor as the "cause" is really doing a disservice to the broader topic in general.

 

[Caveman Jim]

It all started with that damn Booo Jee Woogy in the mid 50's!!!!
Then in the 60's-70's drugs, sex and R n R Gen steered many teenaged boomers right into Hell.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Ahem. Boom chica wow wow.

 

[Ura-Ki]

My Parents were both Pre WW-II grade schoolers, and I was born in 68! most of my Cousins are/were boomers, or Gen X's like me! I look at it this way, My Generation had the best of everything, we had the coolest cars, the best music, and the most freedom, it was an awesome time to be alive, we didn't live in fear of the Russians nuking us off the planet, we didn't worry about China, and our border was a pretty far off place you almost never heard about!
We worked hard for everything we had or wanted, credit was a far off concept to us, if we didn't have it, we didn't need it, or if we did, we found a way to make a little extra so we could buy it! We were responsable, no one had a get out of jail card, or a free pass to anything, and our parents beat the snot out of us when we needed it, ( Which was often) so we learned to respect our elders, and we learned to respect each other. Knuckle sammich's were a real and constant, especially if you had a a mouth on you, you were sure to get popped. We settled things "Like Men" and we got along, or we fought until things got broken up, some one was bleading, or some one wasn't getting up, and we learned to solve things with words, and not our fists! Maybe it's time we got back to fists for a while, see how things shake out!

 

[TTSX]

I'm not sure calling a lot of pro gun boomers on this site "the cause for harsh gun laws" is a wise thing. It's certainly not going to win you many friends... Though to be fair, more than a few responders didn't read your post and got mad anyway... dunno, man. Things like this are rarely that simple or direct.

 

[arakboss]

But how do you really feel about boomers?

 

[ilikegunspdx]

There is a gun culture that went from need to want when it comes to Firearms.
If you were born before 1965, chances are you were not required to hunt, and fish for
as your only food source. In about the same time frame the NRA which was a hunting club and saw actually no need to
carry a firearm. Even legislated for tougher laws.
But this would change, and the Boomer age were now becoming adult voters. And people began carrying more and more.
The 2nd Amendment would become a rally cry for freedom.
Millennials, were not even born yet when California started its tough on gun ownership laws. These people were Boomers.

In Oregon and Washington most law makers are well past 60. So it appears that those whom were born from 1950-65 were what would
Become Anti-gun movement. Boomers for the most part.

So who raised GenX and Millennials? Baby Boomers. So why did they fail to teach the values needed?
I will tell you. Boomers and GenX are among the richest generations to exist so far. And wealth came fast.
Boomers bought, homes, boats, cars everything the previous Gen could not have. But unlike previous Boomer age.
Everyone could be rich, because of Plastic. Credit card CEO all whom were boomers Created the Me want, me have Gen.
Too busy wanting to have it was ignored that the laws were now slipping in quietly. And then Boomers hit 40 and 50 and realize they
were blind on their own watch.

You may not agree, but Boomers failed to change the path that they were in control of. I will tell you, Generation Z
Is dominating politics and rights they want. They are doing what Boomers failed to do. This was not over night.
Yet many were asleep at the wheel. And death by a thousand cuts was done. Me, yep. I am a Boomer and I actually fought for
gun rights. But I don't anymore. Why? There are simply too many NOT ON MY WATCH people that let us think when the chip are down
not from my cold dead hands. Hate to break it to some. It was cold and dead 20 years ago. We built this. Not GenZ. They just capitalized
on Boomers being lazy until it was too late.

The causes are IMO:

1) mass shootings

2) politics - anti-gun means D's will vote. So Ds push anti-gun at any opportunity they can whether they believe in it or not cuz they can keep their job and grow their power and $. Social media pushes this hard and it works to train sheeple that guns are bad and guns are to blame.

3) Growth of violence due to lack of prosecution of criminals, laws passed to protect criminals, people believing guns are responsible not the criminals, and the BS belief that criminals are "the oppressed" and the system (laws, police, etc,) is "the oppressor". Socialism/Marxist's way always needs a downtroden or "oppressed" class and an "oppressor" class. Also with this "cops are the only ones that need guns" (ie society will protect you) vs guns give you the ability to protect yourself (individual protects themself and family and country).

4) lack of exposure to kids to guns (I mean really shooting and respecting them). Only exposure for most kids nowadays is movies and video games. Along with that ignorant parents pushing "all guns are bad". Even to the point of no nerf guns.

 

[gmerkt]

My opinion, the original post is mostly piffle and balderdash.

The main driver of greater legal restriction is an ever-expanding population. The more crowded up societies get, the greater the outcry for limitations.

And this:

The 1950's saw many HUGE and long lasting changes, the quantum shift from Rural to Urban living,

There are many other, smaller contributing factors. But laziness and excessive wealth of Baby Boomers is far down the list. If anything, later generations have been more contributory to expanding gun control. The old men in Washington largely respond to political pressure from constituencies. Not to mention that when Boomers were in their prime, it was even older men in Washington who were pulling the levers.

If you were born before 1965, chances are you were not required to hunt, and fish for
as your only food source.

Oh boy. It's a very well-known fact that the number of Americans who take part in hunting has been declining for decades.

Decline in Hunting Threatens Conservation Funding

The decline has stifled license sales and other forms of funding for state wildlife agencies.

cnr.ncsu.edu

Note, one reason for this decline is the aging-out of Boomers. Also note that 90% of hunters are white; a part of the US population that is also in decline. State and federal wildlife officials are concerned by the drop in program revenues that the decrease in (legal) hunting activity is causing.

required to hunt, and fish for
as your only food source.

I don't know that many people of any generation live their life this way today. It's easier to get SNAP assistance and eat frozen crap from Walmart.

Finally, we might compare other western societies and how they've evolved with respect to firearm regulation during the same period. You cannot point to a single other one that has allowed guns freely in the hands of its citizens as the US. Some of these started taking firearms away from citizens way before the Boomer era.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Finally, we might compare other western societies and how they've evolved with respect to firearm regulation during the same period. You cannot point to a single other one that has allowed guns freely in the hands of its citizens as the US. Some of these started taking firearms away from citizens way before the Boomer era.

Closest would be the Czech Republic but even then, they don't have as flexible laws as we apparently do.

 

[Koda]

The main driver of greater legal restriction is an ever-expanding population. The more crowded up societies get, the greater the outcry for limitations.

This and the fact that humans are generally lazy and the vast majority dont want to take responsibility for their personal safety, they want govt programs. Society has always had a slight natural liberal bias and it gets worse with population growth.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Boomer likes guns

 

[L84Cabo]

Me, yep. I am a Boomer and I actually fought for
gun rights. But I don't anymore. Why? There are simply too many NOT ON MY WATCH people that let us think when the chip are down
not from my cold dead hands. Hate to break it to some. It was cold and dead 20 years ago. We built this.

And this is the real reason for harsh gun laws...people of many generations giving up the fight because, "Whaaaaaaa! It's too hard!" and "Whaaaaa...the war is over and we lost it 20 years ago!" And, "Whaaaa! I'm going to go whine about how hard it is on a gun forum."

The utter stupidity of this line of thinking is astounding because it completely overlooks so many relevant facts. Like first and foremost, the fight for gun rights will NEVER end. Because as long as there are humans walking this earth, there will be humans who want to control other humans and subjugate their rights in order to obtain greater power and dominance. And all that needs to happen for evil to prevail is for good men to do NOTHING. Imagine if our founding fathers rolled over and gave up because, "whaaaaa...it's too hard!"

And this ridiculous line of thinking completely overlooks the real progress that has been made. In 1986 there was just a small handful of states that allowed concealed carry. Now the MAJORITY of states are permit-less constitutional carry. THE MAJORITY OF STATES do not require a permit to carry in! And EVERY state is a minimum of "shall issue" due to Bruen. Let that sink in. California...the most antigun state in the union is now shall issue. Places like Los Angeles and San Francisco who haven't issued permits in decades are now issuing permits.

We've made a hell of a lot of progress since the mid 80's. There have been huge wins. Is it perfect? Nope. Are the tyrants still tyrant-ing? Yup. And they always will. The fight will NEVER be over. Unless we choose to give up and go whine about it on gun forums.

 

[ma96782]

Perhaps, it has to do with.......what they learned in school?



Aloha, Mark

 

[Diamondback]

Blame the Communist infiltration of our education system, and a populace as a whole regardless of generations too lazy or stupid to understand the Founders' intent and stand up and fight to KEEP the great gift they left us.

 

[Nosferatu]

While we're at it, let's get them on the hook for bad fuel mileage, male pattern baldness and cancer in lab rats.

 

[Juniper9mm]

Boomer likes guns

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Right again @ilikegunspdx

 

[hongkong2]

It all started with that damn Booo Jee Woogy in the mid 50's!!!!
Then in the 60's-70's drugs, sex and R n R Gen steered many teenaged boomers right into Hell.

Here's proof!

 

[Diamondback]

While we're at it, let's get them on the hook for bad fuel mileage, male pattern baldness and cancer in lab rats.

And halitosis and ingrown toenails.