E.J. Dionne Dreams of the Right Not to Bear Arms

Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne believes that gun ban advocates need to change their tactics.  Writing in a recent Op/Ed:

What's needed is a long-term national effort to change popular attitudes toward handgun ownership. And we need to insist on protecting the rights of Americans who do not want to be anywhere near guns.

Dionne goes on to share the thoughts of a friend who is a "progressive pollster" that people don't spend enough time talking about "accidental deaths" when children get their hands on guns.  Never mind that unintentional firearm deaths are at all time lows.

And crimes committed with firearms have plummeted while sales have increased exponentially.

Dionne uses what he says is the recent change in public attitude on the confederate flag as proof that this can work:

But as long as gun control is a cause linked to ideology and party -- and as long as the National Rifle Association and its allies claim a monopoly on individual-rights arguments -- reasonable steps of this sort will be ground to death by the Washington Obstruction Machine.

That's why the nation needs a public-service offensive on behalf of the health and safety of us all. If you doubt it could succeed, consider how quickly opinion changed on the Confederate flag.

Dionne may have a hard time getting his dream of a public turning against guns based on the results of a Rasmussen Poll released earlier this month found that sixty-eight percent (68%) of Americans would feel safer in a neighborhood where guns are allowed.

Hat tip to Bob Owens at Bearing Arms.