wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Thanks for all those interesting comments. How would you folks respond to a new "Progressive Gun Owners Association"? Strongly pro-gun rights, but with a center/left tilt? Respond here or directly to me at Ricochet@usa.net Thanks New York metro!

I really enjoyed listening to Mr. Feldman's unique insider view on firearms culture. Feldman's perspective was enlightening and not reactionary, which I found refreshing.

Leonard, I think you might be interested to check out my friend Kyle Cassidy's (a Philadelphia photographer) book, "Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in their Homes". Kyle also takes a very middle-of-the-road approach to the firearms issue, in an attempt to depict a true cross-section of Americans who own guns and in doing so shatters the "NRA stereotype". In light of the discussion with Mr. Feldman, Cassidy's book is very much on topic, as "Armed America" contains photos and short interviews with some of the very people who are most interested in the 2nd amendment, for *personal* and not necessarily political reasons.

simply put,only a bodyguard may protect you from harm,other than that you have maybe 10 minutes of some serious personal self defense kung fu before the police arrive.
I`ll have my snubnose thankyou,whether or not I can fetch it in time is another matter,but i`ll take my chance.
To be armed is a natural right of man,always will be,2nd ammendment or not.
Mr Feldman was spot on.

Richard Feldman is a center of the road gun guy. Pro-gun but willing to listen. As for all of you that want to be disarmed, go ahead. You can live without a gun if you want. Just don't tell me I can't have one or a collection if I want to. All you anti-gun people don't realize you are being protected by those that have chosen to be armed. If you don't believe it, put a sign in your yard that say's, No guns in this house !

Arm the homeless.

They need self-protection.

No one has a better justification for hunting.

And target practice builds self-esteem.

This was a guest who could have actually handled a real interview; and, God (Lenny) forbid, listener calls!

Instead we got the WNYC version of Larry King (minus the audience participation).

A pity.

I think that our nation would be better served if law-abiding citizens would learn martial arts rather than own guns for self-defense. Many martial arts teach their students self-discipline and respect as well as provide physical exercise and stress reduction. I believe that many of the social and health problems (e.g: obesity, compulsive behaviors, stress-related disorders, etc.) in our society would be ameliorated if we turned to martial arts rather than firearms for self-defense.

This guest is a typical apologist for the gun lobby. I believe in the right to bear arms, but let's be real here. The chances of the average gun owner ever having to use his weapon in self defense are minuscule at best. You have a better chance of shooting your spouse when she sticks her key in the door at 3am then you do any intruder.

In the 1950s or 1960s, as an NRA member, I purchased surplus military arms (a 1903A3 rifle and an M1 carbine.) from the government through the NRA. Is this program still in effect?

The other problem in some European is that the laws regarding when you can use force even when a person has broken into your home is ridiculous. You have to actually talk to them first, inform them that you are contacting the police, tell them to cease and desist. And if after all that, they attack you (with lethal force) you still have to exercise restraint and cannot use lethal force but can try to restrain the person and even then you can only attack certain parts of their body.

Well, the guest seems to be going beyond even the right to have a gun, but the right to carry that gun (concealed) on the street. This makes me a little uneasy... I come from a country where people regularly did so for a long time (most people carried knives rather than guns however), but when we have a society where trained police officers will still gun somebody down for reaching for a wallet, I can't help but wondered what a bunch of twitchy, stress-worn New Yorkers would do as a whole if they were all fully armed.

I mean, if somebody breaks into your house, it's clear that they shouldn't be there... but on the street, someone might jump the gun (no pun intended).

When the interviewee says the murder rate won't be affected if there are fewer guns, he is talking nonsense. Britain has strict gun control laws and they have a fraction of the murder rate, adjusted for population, that we have in the U.S.

I really am ignorant about gun control, but it seems to me that the second ammendment was put in place so that a non-policed populace could protect itseft -- from other colonists, from the British. But since we've long had a police force, shouldn't the 2nd ammendment have atrophied and been removed from our Bill of Rights?

I support the Second Amendment, but I do not support the NRA. I think this guest's interpretation is exactly right on assessing their behavior and attitudes. They have a cult-like atmosphere and have really developed this sick obsession with weapons and death... in one case, at an NRA rally, they even went so far as to make fun of a Columbine victim's parent. I don't care what the ideological differences are. YOU DON'T DO THAT.