Posted on 06/13/2011 11:52:36 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
Here's the problem:
As Governor, Mitt Romney banned guns.
Governor Mitt Romney has signed into law a permanent assault weapons ban that he says will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on these guns.
"Deadly assault weapons have no place in Massachusetts," Romney said, at a bill signing ceremony on July 1 with legislators, sportsmen's groups and gun safety advocates. "These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people."
Like the federal assault weapons ban, the state ban, put in place in 1998, was scheduled to expire in September. The new law ensures these deadly weapons, including AK-47s, UZIs and Mac-10 rifles, are permanently prohibited in Massachusetts no matter what happens on the federal level.
http://www.iberkshires.com/story.php?story_id=14812
I'm thinking that perhaps NRA members, and anyone else who cares about the protection of our Right to Keep and Bear Arms, might want to ask Mr. Keene how much money he and/or the organizations he represents have received from Mr. Romney and his closest allies.
Because, the way I see it, such considerations are the only thing that can explain why the head of the nation's largest gun organization would be shilling for someone who banned exactly the sort of weapons that in 1775 the British went to Lexington and Concord to seize.
I said that patriotic, conservative men should try to enlist in the military, how can you find fault with that, regardless of the pool of manpower that you think we need.
The fact that we are accepting females, and moms in huge numbers as we shoot for 50% and even grandmothers, is evidence that we could improve our enlistment quality and that we are short of quality enlistment material.
Even that has little to do with my point, patriotic, conservative men, should try to enlist to serve their nation.
Interesting, informative post. Thanks.
My concern is that I think you and Occupied Ga are, at least to some extent, talking past each other.
Is the modern military accepting older people? Absolutely. I have no problem with people in their 30s enlisting and I think if they can do the job they should be encouraged. I've seen 42-year-old PFCs and E4s, though the age limits have been dialed back a bit for people without prior service since due to our current economic situation we now have an abundance of younger people talking to recruiters. It's also quite possible that a person in his 30s, 40s, or even 50s who has a useful military-related skill is going to be able to work as a civilian DOD employee or as a contractor if that person can't qualify to wear the uniform, and that's a good thing, too.
The modern military is very, very different from the military in which my father served. There was a day that the United States needed large numbers of people to combat or to deter traditional battlefield operations against such enemies as the Germans, the Japanese, and the Soviet Union. Even as late as Korea and Vietnam, we were dealing with fairly large unit operations in proxy wars, knowing full well that a proxy war could spill over and erupt in full-scale combat in Europe if things went seriously wrong, and that would lead to a nuclear option if it couldn't be quickly contained. We needed to not only fight the North Koreans and North Vietnamese but also be prepared to fight in Europe against the Soviets and in the Pacific against a full-scale Chinese assault.
By contrast, today's military, even at the “point-of-the-spear” level, is largely dealing with groups with names like “brigade combat teams” and is heavily involved in counterinsurgency work. The company or battalion level is the main place at which key combat decisions get made today, and commanders need forces numbered in the dozens, hundreds, or thousands to carry out their commands, not huge World War II-era armies of tens or hundreds of thousands of people.
Furthermore, many positions that once required uniformed servicemembers can now be filled with civilian employees or by contractors, often (NOT ALWAYS!) resulting in better quality at lower cost. Who would you rather have as an instructor in the Military Police School? A young 23-year-old E5 or a retired master sergeant who did 20 years in uniform and now that he's retired, wants to do the same thing as a civilian employee that he did as a uniformed MP, and at the same time he's working off-post as a reserve officer in a local police department having obtained his civilian law enforcement certification? Both bring benefits; the value of recent combat experience in a young instructor can never be minimized. But we also need to remember that time in the chair counts, and older experienced personnel who are beyond the age that they can serve effectively overseas can be a tremendous force multiplier when used in training or garrison environments.
I'm not going to go down the road of debating women in the military. I know too many female colonels and senior NCOs to think women can't serve effectively, and if things go well, I will shortly have a woman in my family report for basic training who hopes to be career military as an Army officer following initial service as an enlisted Army medic. But that's an issue on which people have strongly held convictions and I very much respect the convictions of those who believe, often on religious grounds, that there's no role for women in the military other than nurses. I don't agree, and neither does the Department of Defense, but I'm not going to argue against people who have sincere convictions on this issue.
You wrote: “Interesting, informative post. Thanks.”
Thanks for your thanks!
Nope you are incorrect by a wide margin, GOA has its place just as the NRA does. Both Organizations have major issues and chase the almight dollar.
Soon an organization will come into exsistance outside of Washington DC with a promise to members the only time it will be in DC is when it is required at the Supreme Court, kinda of like the ACLU for the 2nd Amendment. The NRA will be at the cocktial parties and country clubs wondering what happen..... and with no small amount of disgust fight it.
What you don’t like is industry professionals like me, that run medium sized corporations calling out the NRA when it makes blatant mistakes. I will call out any organization or person when they are screwing up and the NRA is doing such a thing right now and has done on numerous occasions, more so lately. The NRA Business Support Programs are preditory in pricing, most of the industry rejects them. the current NRA=eyewash
There is a whole lot more to this industry than what you saw as a retail consumer at the NRA convention. The NRA in some ways is like a Plantation owner, about 1850 in NC or Virginia having a converstaion about Slavery with a Northerner, a Brit or a Canadian. Yes it may be legal or make some since but you’re kinda barking up the wrong tree with the prevailing winds and even touting some wins in Congress and at the Supreme Court, How did that turn out? I believe the NRA is on a parallel path with a similar end result.
The NRA is slowing losing support with the consumers, and industry folks, like me who see and understand what and where the NRA is selling the 2nd Amend short and keeping the fight alive, kinda like the NAACP and on a sour note atune to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, with Keene getting elected. Keep waving the NRA flag, it is good exercise and it might keep your close neighbor cool on a hot day!
I’m not going to wade through that looking for a point.
You just can't keep from the insults can you?
Your lashing out and nastiness, and anger, tells me that something is going on between you and military service.
“The Second Amendment Foundation seems to me the most important and effective gun rights group in recent times.”
I hear you, but the SAF got on my bad side by claiming I had joined their organization (when I had NOT), then trying to bill me for dues based on that false claim. That is attempted thievery so I resolved to have nothing to do with them in the future!
JC
I'd ask you to show a single example of any of the above, but it's obvious that you're one of the egotists who feel that anyone who disagrees with them is either "angry" or "lashing out" or just like your fellow democrats it's a cheap rhetorical trick. Either way, I've decided that you're not worth communicating with. Your inability to do anything but attack me personally indicates that you don't have anything going on intellectually, but who cares. I'm bored with you. Find someone else to bore or maybe go get a job or finish your high school degree whatever.
“Thanks for making my point.”
You’re a big fan of the NRA; I’m not gonna change that. I’m not a big fan of the NRA (the RlNO gun rights group); you’re not gonna change that. Onward and upward.
At post 100 you were already sounding a little angry, at 111 it was clear that you were lashing out, at 130 you were calling me “dishonest” by 133 you were attacking the idea of military service itself.
You have been posting at me in some personal manner as though my being a believer that all patriotic men should try to serve our nation in the military is a personal insult to you. I don’t know you, or care about you, my relationship to or view on military service should not be something that you take as a personal attack but it clearly is, you should deal with that yourself and leave me out of it.
The NRA has never stood for Liberty. It was organized by Yankee generals to make sure young people could shoot for them, not necessarily for their own Liberty.
“The National Rifle Association has been in support of workable, enforceable gun control legislation since its very inception in 1871.” - NRA Vice President Franklin L. Orth(And that’s the problem. You should join Gun Owners of America, the ‘no compromise’ gun lobby.)
It will take more than a few election cycles to fix this mess if it can be fixed. It will take that tiny minority developing the resolve to do what will be required. It’s time to stop hunkering down for the apocalypse and to start thinking Normandy.
Don’t understand? Start here:
http://willowtown.com/promo/quotes.htm
LOL! I love it.
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