As soon as I saw what the episode was about I shut the television off. Then my wife witched at me for jumping to conclusions, (which I do whenever I see mass media addressing the 2nd Amendment) so I turned it back on. I was pleasantly surprised that by and large it was a balanced show.
The positives: Showing the democratic schmuck for the manipulating a-hole he was willing to break laws and confidences to achieve his goal.
The conversion of the anti-gun Ester.
Working to point out that guns are used to save lives on a daily basis
Switzerland
Low criminal use of firearms in comparison to total numbers and the point that non-criminals shouldn't be punished.
Showing the anti- gun lawyer for the bigoted @$$ that he was when he said that anyone who owned guns but was not a member of his conception of the well regulated militia should be punished.
Joe Montagne's arguments and quotations of the founders that CLEARLY demonstrated their intent to protect firearms ownership as an individual right.
Montagne's character's sticking to his guns despite the personal tragedy and impact. He kept the emotion out of his opinion as much as was practical.
A Pro I think, but not really helpful is that the show portrayed some anti-gun folks as good-intentioned human beings, who while misinformed, are not jack booted thugs. Others, such as the senator, were properly portrayed as the political hacks they are. His comment that he was not accountable to anyone was clearly wrong. Senators are accountable to their constituencies and the people of the United States of America. They are subject to us, not we to them.
Cons:
The registration and licensing restrictions.
THe compromise in the end that would in real life, open us up for a total ban on so-called assault weapons, full-auto/NFA firearms and any ammunition that could mis-defined as armor piercing based on arbitrary definitions.
The missed point that the Constitution of the United States and Bill of Rights, as originally written and not withstanding subsequent amendments and legislation, was an edict handed down by the people to the government instructing it as to what powers and duties were delegated to it BY THE PEOPLE, and ennumerating the RIGHTS of the people that government could not infringe except under extremely limited circumstances. The Cosntitution is NOT intended to limit or empower the people, that is ASSUMED by the founders and stated in the preamble. The Constitution is enforced UPON government itself for the protection of the people from government. That is, in my opinion, a critical issues that is generally skipped over and informs any discussion of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Another missed opportunity was failing to point out thatthe law of the time stipulated that the militia of the 18th and early 19th century was composed of the whole body of men between the ages of x and y and did not require specific training schedules.