I keep seeing the taunt, "Obama hasn't taken away your guns" being offered by people

[zipplewrath]

9. Your comparing two groups

There are the advocates, and then there is the administration. There hasn't been an administration that had any real intent, much less plan, to remove existing guns in any large number. Virtually all the political plans of any administration where founded mostly on restricting future weapons purchases, and resales.

Yes, there are organizations and individuals who are supportive of these executive actions that would hope for much more. I'd point out that not one of them has explained how it could possibly be done, especially at the federal level. Prohibition never got rid of the alcohol and it was a consumable. It also had the cooperation of some states.

Guns will "go away" in some sense (although far from completely) in about 2 - 3 generations. All the signs are there.

1) The current population of gun owners is small, and continually shrinking. Another couple of generations and it will be too small to be politically significant.

2) The demographics are moving away from the western european construct towards predominately a South American construct. They have a whole different relationship with an armed populace.

3) The US is becoming more urban/suburban all the time, a demography that puts vastly less emphasis on individual ownership and more on perceived threat.

4) The greatest resistence to major shifts tends to occur just before they happen. The Jim Crow "Laws" actually became encoded long after they were common practice as the South began to see attempts to weaken and undermine those pratices. The greatest activity occured in the decades leading up to the end. We saw similar moves in gay rights where agreesive laws were passed right up until the SC ended it all. We're seeing all of the open carry/stand your ground actions going on which probably portends a major change in about a generation or so.

5) The current generation of 8 year olds and up are going to grow up with these continuous mass shootings and severe gun violence in particular urban settings. As they grow into adulthood, their view will not be of Lexington and Concord, much less plinking cans on the fence or hunting for food. It will be of dead friends and acquaintences. Much like seat belts and drunk driving, the children will grow up and make changes based upon what they see, not what their parents saw.

Everything between now and then, including these executive actions, are just theater for the aging boomers and other current voters.