I personally consider myself closer to liberal than conservative on a social scale, but I believe that around humans, violence will occur regardless of how many guns are around, and that guns can be (but aren't always) a way for the weaker to remain on par with the stronger. I also consider them a fairly decent deterrent. So I don't really have that much of a problem with guns in principle, although I think illegal and unregulated gun markets are a serious problem.
Also, I think the whole idea of hunting animals with guns is stupid and unfair as hell.
That being said, I think the whole gun issue isn't really a conservative/liberal divide. Sort of like abortion - although technically conservatives are "pro-life" and liberals are "pro-choice," your political affiliation really has nothing to do with whether or not you think abortion is a morally acceptable choice. There are plenty of pro-choice conservatives and pro-life liberals. Similarly, whether or not you think guns are an appropriate and necessary part of our society is more of a moral decision than a merely political one, and really doesn't have much to do with conservatism and liberalism.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2010 09:21PM by vortexmagus.