aaargh ... spent 10 minutes writing out a reply to WVBill and then hit the wrong button ... long thought out reply became toast!
Bill, as a citizen of a country that is leading the way for the US anti-gun crowd, I feel somewhat qualified toi debate with you.
Firstly ... I'm not sure what kiddieporn has to do with anything except throwing a red herring out to see who bites. But I can sure tell you about the slippery slope. First off ... I am an NRA member even though it has no specific value to me ... as a non-citizen I have no rights and certainly no second amendment rights. Gotta wait a long time before I can buy a gun and I wonder whether the "right" will still exist by then. Let me tell you what can easily happen: in the late 70's the libbies passed a law making just about all guns illegal ... automatics, some semi-automatics, military weapons, etc ... and handguns. I lost 90% of my collection (I started a collection while in the military overseas) because they suddenly became illegal. And no recompense when they were confiscated. I managed to retain a couple of handguns by joining a range. I had to be a member to qualify for a license, prove that I knew how to handle a weapon, and once I got that, then I had to apply for a travel permit. This allowed me to transport from home directly to the range I belonged to - only! If I wanted to use it for a competition elsewhere, I had to apply for a special one-time permit. Some years in the future the government started making some noises about the only weapons they hadn't regulated ... rifles, shotguns, varmint guns and the like. So now, years later ... (as of Jan 1, I believe) every single gun of any persuation must be registered and licensed. I think the current fee is about $75 year. AND ... most of the gun possessing public are currently criminals since the government has been incredibly slow in precessing the million of applications that they've forced the gun owners, under penalty of jail, to submit.
nibble, nibble, nibble ...
think it'll end there?
Me, personally, now I kind of doubt it. Take a look at Britain and Australia. Where guns were once common, now they're illegal ... crime is up, violent crimes are way up, home invasions by armed criminals have increased ten-fold and more.
Me ... I kinda like that Second Amendment and hope that you manage to stave off th efruitcakes for awhile yet.
too bad that common sense ain't