A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government. George Washington
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Thomas Jefferson
The quotes above we're written in a different time and that they didn't take into account the weapons available to us now.
Here's what I know
The bill of rights was designed by a group of men who had recently freed themselves from an oppressive government. They decided that there needed to be a framework provided to this new nation of theirs so that it could never become a government that controls the people, instead being a government that represented the free will of it's own people.
The first was the most important and the one I'm using now, freedom of speech/press. It gives me the right to say how I feel about any subject, and write about it as I see fit. Thanks to this amendment I don't have to be arrested for my opinions. This is freedom.
The second was meant to protect the first. A well regulated militia was a ragtag group of colonial farmers who later returned to their normal lives after the war was done.
"But we have a well regulated militia, it's called the National Guard"
The National Guard is not a well regulated militia, it's an extension of the United States Armed Forces relegated to the state during peacetime. These are contracted soldiers sworn to duty to their government. You don't get tired of it and quit whenever you want, you don't choose not to be deployed.
A militia is a group of armed citizens who organize themselves to enter a combat situation. To their enemy they are usually known as rebels. They are bound by a sense of duty and are under no obligation to participate.
Well regulated meaning organized. In a case of an invasion or an oppressive government who loses popular support, the people themselves would need to organize to defend their own nation.
This is impossible we have the Separation of powers prohibiting one person or group from gaining too much power.
Thank God for this, although it is far from perfect, it's currently one of the best examples of how to protect democracy. We pray this system not only remains but that it's perfected to purge the cancers from our legislative bodies.
But in the event that system were to fail, the people will not be oppressed but will be equipped to be able to restore democracy.
But why do you need an AR-15? Are you saying that you should be allowed to own RPG's and nuclear bombs too?
The British had much better muskets than the colonists but the colonists still had muskets, not swords, not spears nor dueling pistols. No one man needed a cannon.
The modern day musket is a rifle, the most commonly used rifles around the world are self loading rifles fed from detachable magazines. Just as the colonists refrained from using spears and swords to defend their nation, we can not be relegated to muskets in a world of self loading rifles. Automatic weapons are banned and rightfully so. Those weapons are meant to suppress enemy fire and are fired uncontrollably. There is little individual need for that. A weapon that can accurately subdue a target at a decent range and remain effective is enough.
But mass killers are using these same kinds of weapons to kill innocents by the dozens! Don't you care?
It's sickening when the gun community is portrayed as cold-hearted people who prefer tools over human life. If anything is the love of human life and the desire to preserve it that keeps us fervent. History has shown what can happen to defenseless people. We have read about the extermination of entire races and yet ignore the common denominator. These horrendous events are not caused by inanimate objects but by sick human beings. If Adam Lanza found a Glock 17 instead of a Bushmaster, he would not have ditched his plan to execute his mother and slaughter 20 babies. Saying that a semi auto rifle is deadlier than a pistol is like saying a 500 foot fall is deadlier than a 100 foot fall. Your not going to be less dead.
So you think guns in schools are the answer?
I can not imagine my third grade teacher with a Glock. But if she did I wouldn't be petrified, and if she didn't, a taser wouldn't be too bad for her to have. Or at the very least having real (armed and trained) security guards in the school who can respond to a situation effectively. But at least something is being done to be able to stop a psycho from killing me before I even started my life. The police can't be everywhere, we need to stop thinking 911 will have cops magically appear in 60 seconds. Our kids have seen armed guards before, It doesn't give them nightmares, they have seen cops with guns, it's normal. A couple of armed guards at the school will only serve to give kids, parents, and the faculty peace of mind and serve as a deterrent to the crazed madman looking to create as much death as possible while avoiding a shootout.
So everyone should own a gun to defend themselves?
Nope, not everyone is responsible enough to own one. Some will never be able to use it when the time comes. Some are fear stricken or have phobias that just can't be overcome. But because some can't doesn't mean I or any law abiding citizen shouldn't be able to have the power to defend ourselves.
So in a situation like Aurora you will turn it into the OK Corral?
To Piers Morgan: a wild wild west shootout is not more dangerous than a massacre, stop being ridiculous. If a crazed madman stops shooting at defenseless people and begins to aim at me, the guy shooting back at him exclusively, more people get a chance to live. If I have more people firing back at him the chances of him dying instead of innocent people increase even more. THIS IS COMMON SENSE. Mass killers do not want a fight, they want to be infamous, they want headlines and their names remembered. They more often will put a bullet in their own head than let somebody shoot them. Sad part is when these crazy people are stopped, it only ends up in the local evening news. Only when they succeed do they get 24 hour news coverage.
But even if one child's life can be saved it will be worth enacting a gun ban.
A 15 year old boy defends himself and his little sister from two home invaders, one robber received multiple gunshot wounds. The boy used his dad's AR-15.
Statistics in these situations are impossible. Why? Because the crime was stopped. If the above was 15 year old boy shot, 12 year old sister raped and killed, and house robbed, reporters would be there for weeks with coverage of the teddy bear and candle memorial. But you would have statistics. All I can give you in these situations is potential outcomes because the crime was not allowed to be committed. And as far as assault rifles go an AR-15 is a .22 rifle on steroids, but it's manageable and accurate and has the potential to kill like any other gun. By the way the kid's dad is a cop, his first instinct was not call daddy, he protected himself then called daddy once he's safe. He's an example to follow.
So do nothing is what your saying?
How the hell people come to that conclusion. YES SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE. The fact is these killings and the violence that plagues this nation and many other countries is the fault of 3 things. Moral decay and the death of individual responsibility, poverty/social injustice, and a neglected mental health system. These problems don't need a band-aid or knee jerk legislation, they require real work. We will have to take a deep look at ourselves as a nation and judge ourselves on what we've been doing these last 50 years. And start fixing this.
For starters let's stop using overcrowded prisons as mental health facilities. Let's get real help for the mentally ill, supervise them and give them the care and attention they need. Neglect is the reason they crave infamy and commit these horrors.
Let's stop wasting time filling our jail cells with petty criminals and marking kids arrest records with trivial offenses causing more joblessness, and instead use the space to keep actual killers rapists and child molesters in there longer.
Removing funds from failing schools before analyzing the underlying causes of these failures that always start at home is another problem causing dropouts and joblessness (future criminals). Also handing out aid to the poor without any oversight that they are on a path to financial independence keeping them perpetually dependent and poor for generations multiply this crime and violence epidemic.
A war on drugs that targets the users and low level street peddlers with a blind eye towards the growers and major distributors. On average it takes 28 grams on cocaine and baking soda (crack) to get a person five years, it takes nearly 500 grams in pure coke to equal that sentence. So the jails are stuffed with Leroy's and Jamal's who are only going to be freed and go back to doing the same thing, but nearly impossible to catch Pablo cause not only is Pablo not charged as heavily for all the coke and potential crack he was caught with, but the money he makes selling wholesale to Leroy and Jamal means he can get a team of lawyers and bribe his way out of it. Our inner cities are chock full of poor unguided youth looking for a quick buck, so Pablo finding a replacement street dealer is as simple as a couple of phone calls. Add money guns and drugs in the street dealers hands and they're out there, selling dope, defending their turf, robbing rivals, recruiting kids, and killing each other left and right. By the way, they got the gun from a guy who knows a guy who stole it from some guy. Worse Pablo can get them guns by the truckload from across the border if need be. Backgrounds checks and bans are the last thing in their minds, they're getting money they'll say and that's all that matters. Oh right, the icing on the cake, they turn on a radio and have a soundtrack glorifying all they do.
I CAN TYPE ALL NIGHT about all the reasons and possible solutions but the government knows they are too hard to handle, and all the proposals and ideas will die in the bickering rooms. It's easier to blame the scary looking tool.
Surrendering civil rights to make ourselves feel better will not solve the problem. Criminals and homicidal maniacs are by nature not going to abide by the law. Those criminals will continue to arm themselves just as homicidal manics are going to devise horrible ways to hurt people. We need to attack the causes of these crimes, the causes of these sick people choosing to commit these horrors and those who we can't stop, we can't throw our hands up in hopelessness, we can not wait for the cavalry while 20 kids are shot dead, we can not stupidly think guns disappear cause you made them illegal to own, BUT WE NEED TO ACCEPT REALITY and be prepared to defend ourselves if the need ever arises. Our rights keep this country free, it has provided this false sense of security that we enjoy due to the fact that it deters those who threaten our freedom. It's one of the foundations of our independence and freedom from all oppressors foreign and domestic. Before thinking our ridding ourselves of these rights, study the past.
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| Armenian Genocide 1915-23 |
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| Holocaust 1933-45 |
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| Bangladesh 1971 |
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| Cambodia 1975-79 |
I apologize the the graphic nature of these images, but that's realities of the modern world and what happens when a government has absolute power.
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
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