What should "enlightened" mean in this case: 'in step with the platform of the post-1992 DNC"? Gun control advocacy used to march under the GOP banner (the Reagan Administration passed some very strong anti-gun legislation), and before them it was the Black Panthers who brought gun-politics into the modern era, pledging to change the system either "by the ballot or by the bullet" - then suddenly Bill Clinton was elected, and gun-politics realigned overnight for no real reason. Barring a fantastical shift in the laws of physics, violence will remain a relevant reality, and the fundamental question is, who gets access? Sure, I've met icky gun-nuts whom I'd rather not be permitted to have them, and I wouldn't want to own one myself, but the police and military are largely the same caliber of dillholes who picked on me in high school, and the idea that they get to have weapons that in some cases I'm not even legally permitted to know about does NOT make me feel safe, let alone free.