Saturday, January 19, 2013

Speak up against ignorance and misconception.


Freedom doesn't come from the barrel of a gun. It stems from a mutual agreement among people.

The next time your Congressman, Senator, State Representative, or any elected official says otherwise,

Call them on it!

There is a difference between a “loophole,” a technical term that derives its name from the narrow slits in castle towers of the Middle Ages, and a giant gaping hole in legislation that allows roughly half of all gun sales to be conducted without a background check.

"Good guys with guns" did not deter John Hinckley
Call them on it!

There is a difference between a legitimate, gun safety organization that advocates for all owners of such weapons to use them responsibly, and an organization that calls for guns in the hands of virtually everyone, anyplace, anywhere. The percentage of Americans who believe that all gun sales should be subject to a background check is the same across party lines. With little margin, nearly 90 percent of Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters support universal background checks. Oh, and among NRA members, it's nearly 90 percent, too! Can the same be said by NRA leadership?

Call them on it!

Even Antonin Scalia does not believe that the Second Amendment should serve as anything more than an adjunct to law enforcement. If you raise your gun at a police officer, a U.S. Marshall, or any other “Jack-booted thug,” no one is going to pry a gun from your cold, dead hands. Instead, your corpse will still be warm when the forensics team arrives on the scene.

Call them on it!

If Ford makes a faulty car, the purchaser of said car can sue the manufacturer for selling shoddy product. If Cerberus Capital Management manufacturers a faulty gun, the purchaser of said gun has no legal recourse against the manufacturer. Why?

Call them on it!

Trying to overthrow one's government, against the will of the majority, through violent means does not make one a person into a patriot. It makes him a terrorist.

Call them on it!

Elected officials should be able to make decisions based on the consensus of a majority, not out fear of assassination. People should have the right to go to work, or school, or any public place without having to worry about guns or bombs going off.

Call them on it!

Inanimate objects, be they guns, swords, or toasters are not human beings, and thus, not entitled to “rights.” Only people are entitled to human rights. It is self-evident.

Call them on it!

Every time Wayne LaPierre opens his mouth at a press conference or on TV news, he turns himself into a strawman. LaPierre figuratively puts his own fallacious logic in the cross, and invites anybody with good reason to figuratively shoot him down.

Yes, figuratively. Only someone with a severe case of schizophrenia would take such rhetoric literally. And how do you stop a schizophrenic from going on a shooting spree? Is it with concealed carry permits, powerful handguns, and hollow-point bullets?

No, no, and no. The correct answer is thirty milligrams of Thorazine, give or take.

Call them on it!

Tanks, fighter jets, and nuclear missiles are all prohibited from civilian use. Yet these are all “arms.” Why are they restricted, or to put it differently, “infringed?” Because they don't belong to you if you are not in a militia!

The list is endless. There is much more to be said. This conversation must go on. And go on it shall. This time, we as a people, as a nation, must not let a small band of dangerous extremists and trade industry lobbyists enable the next mass murderer. We are capable of being better people. We can do this. But only if we speak. 

2 comments:

  1. I was just thinking, and commenting, about people saying they wanted to keep their assault rifles in case the government tried to... I don't know. Oppress them or something.

    So I had to remind them that the government has tanks, jets, aerial drones, laser-guided bombs, and that assault rifles just didn't really match up. If you want to go up against your own military, at least in the US, those are hardly the ultimate weapons.

    Iraq had plenty of assault rifles. The Taliban, too. It's not nearly enough. There is no practical reason to have them. Pistols are more than enough for home defense.

    For which we should be glad. If our citizens could defeat our own military, we wouldn't need them to protect us.

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  2. Well said. Even if one accepts the mythology that the Second Amendment exits in order to commit treason willy-nilly, one must admit that a domestic attack against the U.S. military would be over very, very quickly.

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