By now, "shotgun Joe" Biden's ridiculous remarks about firing a double-barrel shotgun into the air to scare away intruders are old news. However...one thing that occurred to me is that his statement, no matter how ignorant and ill-informed, represents a fundamental (and positive, for our side) shift in the position of the anti-gun left.
Prior to this, it was considered heresy on the part of the anti-gun left to admit that guns had ANY self-defense purpose whatsoever. Guns are bad; guns are evil; only the police and army should have them; a gun in a private home is 10X more likely to be used against its owner than against an intruder; we are safer if we hide in a closet and call 911; blah blah blah....
Bidens remarks are really the first time that I have ever heard an anti-gun liberal admit on national media that self-defense is a legitimate reason to keep a firearm in one's home. While the "tactics" that he suggests we use leave a great deal to be desired, he did publicly suggest that arming oneself with a firearm in response to a perceived threat is an appropriate thing to do. This suggests to me that the center of the debate has fundamentally shifted in our favor.
Prior to this, it was considered heresy on the part of the anti-gun left to admit that guns had ANY self-defense purpose whatsoever. Guns are bad; guns are evil; only the police and army should have them; a gun in a private home is 10X more likely to be used against its owner than against an intruder; we are safer if we hide in a closet and call 911; blah blah blah....
Bidens remarks are really the first time that I have ever heard an anti-gun liberal admit on national media that self-defense is a legitimate reason to keep a firearm in one's home. While the "tactics" that he suggests we use leave a great deal to be desired, he did publicly suggest that arming oneself with a firearm in response to a perceived threat is an appropriate thing to do. This suggests to me that the center of the debate has fundamentally shifted in our favor.
