Monday, February 04, 2008

Losing our Guns

On one of the forums I browse, I recently saw this following passage in the member's signature:
At Thermopylae 1,000,000 Persians lost 20,000 yet failed to disarm just 300 Spartans. 80,000,000 lawful Americans would resist even harder. That we promise.
I would like to think so, but unfortunately I don't think there will be anyone we would be able to fight against. The process to take our guns away has been and will continue to be an ongoing process.

I think the only way we will be able to keep our rights to own guns is through helping those who aren't hard set against guns to understand our Constitutionally established rights (arguably), electing politicians whom will protect our rights, and through fighting every piece of anti-gun legislation that comes up for vote.

These kinds of "quotes" do no service to preserving our rights. The issue is not to fight if we have to, but whom will we be fighting?

3 comments:

bobn said...

I've always thought that the argument that we need guns to fight a tyrannical government were kind of off the mark, in that if it comes down to that, things have really really gone badly wrong.

But it's not a bad idea to have the government know that we *could* - as several places on the net point out, the biggest killers of human beings in the 20th centuries were typically governments killing their own people - after disarming them of course. See here for one.

I think you and I are similarly confused on our politics - my blog . I can't bring myself to vote for any of these clowns. I stilll find myself left-leaning, but it's getting harder to justify.

Anonymous said...

I have had a few defining moments in life. One was 13 years ago when I stood toe to toe with a bad guy with a 9mm and all I had was a socket wrench in my hand. (And he racked the action to make sure I knew he was serious).

I questioned for the next 12.5 years whether I was willing to carry a gun. My reasoning was simple:
1. Am I willing to shoot a person to defend my life? Until recently, I had said no.
2. Does carrying a gun somehow disturb the cosmic forces, making it more likely that trouble might find me? Until recently I thought maybe.

That all changed. I watched some videos on Google showing gun confiscation following hurricane Katrina, where law abiding citizens were forcibly disarmed by the same men who had sworn to protect them. Here we had armed mobs roaming the streets of New Orleans, and police and national guard have the task of taking away everyone's guns.

Then, the Heller case before the Supreme Court illustrated just how ridiculous the gun laws have become in some areas. I mean, really, your gun must be unloaded and disassembled? And now, after the Heller decision, you can assemble your gun as soon as their is a perceived threat.

And here is the most ridiculous part. Dick Heller still can't get his handgun registered. Any gun fed from the bottom is classified as a machine gun. You know, any 4th grader can tell you what is and is not a machine gun.

I tend to be right-leaning, but the facts are clear. Politicians from either side of the isle are more than glad to do their part to disarm you. And up to this point, we have gone along. The government has decided that this gun or that gun must go, and people voluntarily give them up (especially in California). This whole "pry it from my cold dead fingers" needs to be carefully rethought.

The question in my mind is how important are your and my civil rights? If I was faced with voting for a candidate who was pro-abortion but also pro-second amendment (I mean really pro-second amendment), would I be willing to hold my nose and vote for him?

Alternately, if you were looking at a candidate who was, say, anti gay rights (pick your favorite "right") but would defend the second amendment...well would you?

Anonymous said...

Hi again Joe,

Our civil rights are important to me. I've learned that if I don't become a "one-issue" voter, I'll never be able to choose anyone that'll have a chance to be where one needs to be to make a difference.

I am pro-choice, but first I am pro-2nd Amendment. And I know that makes many of my conservative friends bristle. But that's just how I feel. On a separate note, I am spiritual, but I'm not religious. To me it's all an issue of precedence. Without our country and individual ability to protect itself and ourselves, from within and without, not a whole lot else matters.