Gun ownership isn't the same thing as being anti-gun control. The majority of people, many of them gun owners and haling from both "parties", would like to see some basic restrictions on how quick and easy it is to buy a gun.
I would support good training requirements for gun control.
You can get long guns in Europe, just that there isn't a gun culture and proper training is required. That's how it should be. I staunchly and vehemently oppose California and New York state zeitgeist on "gun control". I would not support California-style restrictions on arms that cuts citizens with a thousand paper cuts and infringes upon fundamental rights. Absolutely stupid laws that are designed for appeasing out-of-touch voter base than actually preventing crime.
This really needs to be written / said better. It is not as easy as just thinking to yourself, I want a gun, walking into a gun store, grabbing it off a shelf, swiping a card at a self-checkout machine and walking out with a new gun in hand.
This is not the case at all.
There are states with a wait period, there are background checks, there are forms that if you lie on it is considered a felony, the person selling the gun can say no at any moment, if you are being a total creep, chances are they will not sell you a gun. In some states you cannot buy certain firearms before you're 21.
Gun control is a complicated subject. I think the anti-gun / gun control crowd should really step into a gun store and learn first hand what the experience really is when buying a firearm. They don't need to buy anything, but I guarantee the person who sells the gun will be happy to answer any and all questions they have. They literally have to know the process in order to sell guns! You have to be licensed to sell guns in a gun store.
This heavily depends on what the proposed restrictions actually are - and people never seem to actually know what the current restrictions are either.
Ask for Universal Background Checks, and people say "sure". Make a national registry of firearms and criminalize loaning a rifle to a friend for a hunting trip or giving your guns to a neighbor for safekeeping while you're recovering from depression? A lot of people have now completely checked out, and it's the same damn policy. So yes, perhaps most gun owners, when polled, support "some basic restrictions on how quick and easy it is to buy a gun". But that doesn't mean they want to ban all private transfers, which is what the policy proposals always seem to be. (Guess what? Every single sale from a firearms dealer, which includes just about everyone at a gun show, requires a federal background check! And now a defacto 3+day waiting period for people under 21!)
Not to mention the absolute lunacy of "a 15 inch rifle barrel means 10 years in prison", and THAT one has been federal law for quite a few decades.
