Quote Originally Posted by JamesWales View Post
But they would say otherwise, that's the problem. They would say 'effing Democrats wont allow us to protect kids at school gates'..'gun crime is much worse in cities run by effing Democrats', 'effing Democrats want criminals to have guns and us not be able to protect ourselves', 'effing Democrats want to defund the police' etc etc. Just responding with 'well effing Republicans do this' etc doesnt help.

It just makes actually finding a solution harder because views become entrenched along party lines when they shouldn't.

There is clearly common ground that no one wants children killed in schools, and there is probably room for compromise if people realise their second amendment rights are protected, whilst getting real restrictions on the most devastating weapons and perhaps boosting security at schools, i dunno.

What I do know, is it turning into a political slanging match won't help, it will actually likely make things worse. Sensible politicians on both sides need to work on this and try and ignore the radicals (from their perspective) on both sides.
Jimbo, my old mate, this is not specifically directed at you, more the general debate in the last couple of pages on this thread.

Unless you actually live in the US and experience what goes on here, it isn't fair to draw inferences about what is going on. I'll say upfront that I'm a liberal progressive but I'll try to be as balanced as I'm able.

A few local-based observations on Trump Republicanism.

The Republican Party has clearly been hijacked by Trump and his followers. Personally, I don't actually think Trump believes in anything apart from feeding his own ego. He will quite literally do and say anything that he thinks benefits him.

What Trump has done is create a caucus of (normally) well-meaning people who are scared to dissent from what are quite clearly fantasist nonsenses and other marginalized groups who compete to invent ever more crazy conspiracies. I don't think people on here realize quite how bad this has become. Here's an example of how dangerous some of the Trump Republicans are. Trump lost in Arizona, not by a huge margin, but nevertheless a statistically significant one (11k+ votes). The local Republicans, ostensibly to prostrate themselves at Trump's feet, actually formed an armed group at the office of the person in charge of the elections and counts. It was covered on TV live for a few days because the media thought there might be an armed conflict outside the Az Secretary of State's Office (I know this for a fact - two local reporters told me independently). And yes some of them were open carrying assault weapons of the kind associated with mass shootings. Think about that for a second. They were actually trying to intimidate state workers and officials into "fixing" the election while the police stood on and watched. And this is not an isolated incident.

Trump has driven "good" (respectful of laws and the Constitution) Republicans out of their own party. Example - I work with someone who is running to be Arizona Attorney General. She held public office for years as a Republican but is now running as a Democrat because she became unpalatable to her own party. And she's no withering, secret liberal, she just wouldn't bow to Trump.

Trump has also managed to deeply affect the Democratic Party. The senior Arizona Senator (Sinema, a Democrat) acts just like a Republican because she is scared that if she doesn't appeal to some of Trump's base she will lose her reelection fight. Actually, Sinema has something in common with Trump, I've met her a couple of times and I would say she would do or say anything to inflate her hold on power and her ego. Democrats are actually scared to put up election posters and fliers in rural parts of Arizona because of the reprisals they fear.

There is no compromise on any issue with the Trump Republican Party. They aren't interested. That, I think, is why any attempt at gun control will fail (at the moment).