Pathological complacency is kinda endemic to the american culture. Ignore the barcode, it means nothing. (It probably took all that guy has just to get outside with the sign!)
No, to me the real issue is the "my way or the highway" demands of both sides of the gun control argument. Asserting that YES, people far away from emergency services with real potential for being harmed in mere seconds by a bear or other large carnivore with little to no chance of getting emergency services kinda really DO have a legitimate need to carry a "man killing" (ahem) grade weapon-- just cannot be fathomed by the extreme "NO GUNS! NO-- THERE IS ***NEVER*** A NEED FOR ONE! EVER!" crowd. Likewise the argument of "No, you literally have police patroling your streets at all hours, and are within easy reach of emergency services, you DO NOT need a firearm." does not sink in with the "BUT MUH RIIIIGHTS!! I WANTS MUH 50 cal submachine guhns!!!" crowd.
Because we have idiots on both sides polarizing the discussion to extremes that are just astoundingly stupid, there will never be such a sensible bit of legislation passed or enforced.
Let us ignore the idea that there are reasons to own a gun besides "I can expect to be attacked at any time!!" - hunting, sport shooting, recreation, etc. Let us also ignore the fact that a lot of people aren't comforted by the "police are patrolling the streets" because they view police as one of the very threats that they want to protect themselves from. We'll focus on an exact situation. The last time I -living in the middle of a city- had a guy trying to break down my door with the loudly-expressed intention of beating me to death it took the police nearly 20 minutes to arrive, and my door was barely hanging on. Had the guy not stopped attacking the door a few times to walk around the house ranting and screaming, or if he'd been smart enough to realize that windows are easier to break, he would have made it into my house long before the police were there to stop him. Had that happened, I - an asthmatic with a bad leg- would have had to evade or defeat six feet of drunk and angry white trash. I keep a gun in the house against the unlikely event that this happens again with a slightly smarter violent idiot.
An issue with the whole 2nd amendment thing is that a lot of people seem to, at least to me, value the 2nd amendment over the other ones. I really don't ever see discussion on this. Like, are any amendments more important than others? IMO yes (1st amendment gang rise up!), but what is the consensus amongst people, and how does that change between demographics?
One of the best things about the US constitution is that it is meant to be flexible, and change over time. We have even gone back on some stuff, i.e. Prohibition. It's not like it would be impossible to go back on some stuff if it turns out that, hey, we were wrong... Albeit some things might be more difficult to go back on.
The 1st Amendment is largely secure, although there are a worrisome amount of people who are advocating "it shouldn't apply to anything
I disagree with". The 3rd, though important, hasn't come up in well over a century and is thus not particularly debated. The 4th is a major battlefield right now, and most 2A supporters are also fighting to preserve it. 5th is only attacked by TV shows that treat "lawyering up" as proof of guilt. 7-10 are non-controversial. Only the 2nd has large groups insisting that "We can interpret it this way and make it vanish entirely without pushing for an amendment we can't get!" or "well, we're just going to ignore it, count on the district courts to back us without question, and hope the Supremes don't step in."
I hate to ask this and expose my naïveté, but was the incel guy I was railing against just a 'mock protester' that was just following orders and parading around with a sign of someone else's design? That is just for politically strategic reasons and not for genuine advocacy?
No. The primary organizing for that protest was "Remember! Lobby day is the 20th this year, so make sure you get out to make your opinion heard!" messages from the major organizations. (I'm in loose contact with several people from Virginia who were involved in the protest). Anyone claiming that these were "paid" or "mock" protestors instead of genuine grassroots action is either sorely misinformed or actively pushing the "all gun-rights people are fascists!" angle.