Emboldened by Betty McCollum’s plaintive cry for a “dialog”, I met my DFLer friend, AVERY LIBRELLE. \u00a0Avery was just coming out of point-chanting practice at the Union building in downtown Saint Paul; we decided to have a dialog over a drink or two at the St. Paul Hotel.<\/p>\n
MITCH: \u00a0OK, a dialog about guns. \u00a0OK, I’ll start by pre-empting one inevitable strawman; there\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>gun controls that actually reduce crime. \u00a0They include keeping guns out of the hands of felons, and ramping up the sentences for gun crimes. \u00a0They’re the measures the “Gun Lobby”, including but not limited to the NRA, have worked for. \u00a0And they’ve worked.<\/p>\n LIBRELLE: \u00a0The NRA is a terrorist group<\/a>.<\/p>\n MITCH: \u00a0Um…well, no. \u00a0It’s an industry and hobby group that does some lobbying.<\/p>\n LIBRELLE: \u00a0They are owned by the gun industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n MITCH: \u00a0The firearms industry certainly donates money to the NRA, since they are the biggest, baddest group fighting for their right to do business. \u00a0They have the right to do that. \u00a0But the NRA has always been one of America’s biggest grass-roots organizations. \u00a0And it’s only getting bigger; it’s up 500,000 in the past six weeks<\/a>. \u00a0And that’s people who pay $35, at least, for a year; not a ton of money, but not inconsiderable in these tough times, either. \u00a0And that’s up from 3 million in 1990.<\/p>\n LIBRELLE: \u00a0Guns are out of control!
\nMITCH:\u00a0\u00a0Er, no. \u00a0Violent crime is steadily falling<\/a>, even as the number of guns in society approaches one for every American. \u00a0Gun crimes are down nearly 50% in the past 20 years<\/a>, along with crime in general. \u00a0And the NRA worked with sensible politicians on both sides of the aisle to make that happen. \u00a0 \u00a0In other words, the NRA has always supported gun controls that actually work – by attacking criminals, not the law-abiding.
\nLIBRELLE: \u00a0But mass shootings are out of control!<\/p>\n