Middle Ground'

Brokaw: Gun Conversations Become 'Emotional' Between Gun Owners and People Saying There's 'Reasonable Middle Ground' - Breitbart:

"... It it’s impossible to have a conversation on what kind of firearms can be purchased because it becomes emotionally-charged between gun owners “who are protected by the NRA, and other people who are saying, ‘There ought to be a more reasonable middle ground.'” 

There is no "middle ground" 

The gun-control folks are asking the gun owners to relinquish their Constitutional rights ... but the gun-control folks have nothing to give in return.

 Brokaw stated there should be a national conversation on the amount of mass shootings in the US. He added: “...Stan McChrystal, who led our forces in Afghanistan and Iraq said, we ought not to be selling these kinds of weapons to the American civilian population. They’re designed to do one thing, which is to kill people .... "

Brokaw fails to note here that these same weapons are used in a defensive mode, to protect people against intruders whose goal is ... not to play Parcheesi with the folks whose home they have just broken into.

Nor does he pay attention to the 'other uses' to which these firearms are used.  My experience is that a lot of people are using the same firearms in Competition (see: Three Gun) and also for other legal purposes.

Brokaw dissimulates:

Because it immediately becomes so emotional between the gun owners of America, who are protected by the NRA, and other people who are saying, ‘There ought to be a more reasonable middle ground.’ I’m a gun owner. I’ve got a closet full of them in Montana. I don’t have one of those AR-15s. I don’t need them. Because I’m not going to be shooting that kind of thing. But almost all my friends out there now have that kind of a weapon.” 

 He confuses his readers when he accuses the defense of the Second Amendment with "emotion".

Americans don't reference the Second Amendment to protect their rights to keep and bear arms.  It's already out there, and has been for two hundred years.  It's not an "emotional" appeal; it is the right of Americans to protect them selves, their family and homes, and their nation against intruders, charlatans and people who would undermine our Constitution.

And if Tom Brokaw doesn't respect and revere our Constitution, he will never understand why Americans cleave to ".. their God and their Guns".

Because this is what stands between Americans, and those would undermine our country.

 Brokaw concluded by saying, “I don’t know what we do…in keeping our citizens safe unless we begin to lock down those kinds of gatherings. Because they have become targets for opportunity for these kinds of maniacs, as we’ve seen in too many other places.”

Maniacs will prevail, unless we acknowledge our individual right protect and defend ourselves and our fellow citizens.