Posted on 12/19/2012 5:34:54 AM PST by Jerrybob
Most people would agree: ours is a nation deeply divided; probably no more bitterly divisive issue than firearms and gun rights.
The Declaration of Independence says “…that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men…” Governments are actually supposed to protect and enhance a person’s rights, not take away rights from citizens or make the exercise of that right more difficult. Isn’t this the land of the free and the home of the brave?
The gun owner who says “My firearm has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy’s car” is correct!
If an alien were to land in America, he would probably ask “Why all the guns?” and “Why so many restrictions on legitimate gun owners?”
In the wake of the most recent horrific shootings, it’s certainly time to propose meaningful measures. But a meaningful measure must not make the lawful ownership of firearms more onerous.
These are not meaningful measures:
Banning “assault weapons” – a measure that outlaws certain long guns that have scary features – accomplishes absolutely nothing.
Five day waiting periods – accomplishes nothing.
Gun free zones – insane. Think about it: We say “children are our most precious possessions” and then put them in buildings with no protections other than “lock downs?” Hunters call this “sitting ducks”.
Banning high-capacity magazines – meaningless. A determined shooter could wipe out a whole school without a high-capacity magazine.
What would be a meaningful measure?
How about truly draconian punishments for people who commit crimes with firearms? Many states have automatic 2-year added-on prison terms for felonies committed with a firearm. Why not automatic 10-year add-ons for felonies committed with a firearm? How about the death penalty? How about death by firearm? How about swift and sure justice for people who commit heinous crimes with firearms rather than years of endless appeal?
What about an automatic suspension (not life-time) denial of a person’s right to possess a firearm if they are under the care of a licensed psychiatrist and if that psychiatrist has that person on certain mind-influencing drugs?
It would also be helpful if firearms were not portrayed by those in the media as evil, dangerous things, set to explode like hand grenades if you bump them. This is ludicrous.
And it would also be helpful if those in the media reported incidents where a firearm was used to save a life and stop crime. This actually happens.
And if those in the media could refrain from characterizing gun owners as Southern, red-necked Neanderthals – that would help too,
The busybodies are against what they call “the culture of violence.” The possession of firearms, the gun culture, the right of self-defense, and the thought that individuals can make up their own mind as to what is in their own best interest.
Make no mistake, they want all of it to be illegal because what they want to control is our beliefs, not our actions. There is no culture of violence amongst the Gunfolk.
We are almost without exception peaceful and considerate people, wanting to live our lives free from the meddling of others, and taking upon ourselves the responsibility to see that they are afforded that same privilege.
Niether one of those so-called assault weapons will shoot any differently than a Ruger Mini-14 Ranch Rifle. They are just semi-automatic rifles.
Anyone care to comment on registration and Romans chapter 13, especially in light of the fact that most of us know where it leads to(1940s Germany).
I would disagree that “gun control” is as much divisive, as instead it is “opportunistic”.
That is, gun control is an article of faith on the left, and will remain so, but except for a relatively tiny number of agitators for whom gun control is a full time job, the bulk of the left has been so fiercely slapped down in the past decades that they had shut up about the issue, seeing it as a “loser” that could cost them political power.
It, along with several other issues, like capital punishment, have long been back-burnered for this reason.
This means that other issues that matter much more to the left, like socialized medicine and abortion, are far more “divisive”, because while their efforts at gun control are based in gradualism, methodically taking away rights, socialized medicine and abortion are full scale attacks.
And no gradualism is involved at all. Leftists all come together and commit all their resources to tyrannically forcing these things on an unwilling people. And the left is indifferent or even supportive of the harm these things cause.
But now, once again there is an opportunistic moment to reengage gun control. And no mistaking it, if they manage to make any inroads at all, they will double and redouble their efforts. Because it truly is an article of faith with them, and they are indifferent, or even supportive, of people being harmed in the process.
I am an American. I pledge to honor the Founders and those that came after them and fought to defend their ideas. In addition, I pledge:
To never be helpless in the face of a growing government
To maintain arms to guarantee the preceding promise
To join others to effect the preservation of freedom BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY
To kill or die if necessary so that the gift of freedom may be given to succeeding generations as it was given to me.
To recognize the Constitution as the highest law of the land, superior to the shifting electoral whims of oppression.
To further recognize that the rights recognized in the Bill of Rights are naturally endowed to all and not granted by any government.
This I swear and affirm.
A child is safer around my firearm than in the womb.
****Banning high-capacity magazines – meaningless. A determined shooter could wipe out a whole school without a high-capacity magazine. ****
Jared Loughner used a 32 round magazine in his pistol in AZ. I believe most of the dead and wounded were hit within the first 10 rounds. Giffords first, then someone wounded next, then Judge Roll dead with shot #3.
A ban on 32 round mags would not have prevented it. It is just an excuse to get a gun control hook into the public.
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