Iraq and Gun Control

For most I've my life, I've been extremely in favor of very strict gun control. The self-defense argument has never made much sense, as it seems like a gun would only escalate an already-tense situation and possibly turn a mugging into a homicide. I'm a vegetarian, so hunting holds little appeal. And the idea of militias of drunken rednecks fighting off the United States Army as some kind of insurrection against an oppressive government seemed ridiculous.

That is, it did seem ridiculous, until the aftermath of our invasion of Iraq. A few thousand insurgents, hidden amongst a population of 28 million, and armed with small arms, RPGs and IEDs, have fought the US Army to a standstill. So I'm sure that the government is much more afraid of an armed domestic populace now than they were 5 years ago.

So I'm all for law-abiding, sane people being allowed to own guns (and you can make an IED out of pretty much anything.... that's why they're called improvised). I am, however, for hugely increased sentences for crimes committed with a gun; we can make room in prisons by decriminalizing drugs, which is a post for another day. I'm also in favor of efforts to curb dangerous business practices by gunmakers , such as lawsuits for flooding the market with guns they knew would wind up on black markets.