Okay, I am really not going to say much in this post, considering on this Christmas Eve, 2012 I have just killed a twelve pack of Samuel Adams Boston Lager. All I have to say is that we really have lost our collective mind. Killings in Aurora, CO. Killings in Newtown, CT. Killings in Webster, NY. How much of this are we going to have to put up with before we as a collective community will say “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?”
Now, I am not going to take the left-wing line that all guns should be regulated, nor I will take the right-wing line that all guns should be free, but fer crying out loud…can’t we reach a compromise?
I have no problem whatsoever with someone saying that they would like a handgun or a shotgun in the house for personal protection. In our violent times, we unfortunately have to deal with this. But do we really need a semi-automatic AR-15 or an AK-47 knockoff? There is only one use for an AR-15 or an AK-47…to kill people. These were weapons created to be used in war, plain and simple.
There are some people who are so totally enslaved to the “Second Amendment” that they cannot read the real reason that it was created.
As passed by the Congress and ratified by the States in 1791:
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
This was written 221 years ago. We didn’t have automatic and/or semi-automatic weapons then…it was pretty much single shot muskets.
But those were different times…America was trying to shake off the yoke of religious repression from England…and the Brits didn’t want to give up what they thought was their “possession.” So they had to be able to arm the common citizen to defend what they established, to defend the new republic. And they had to use the weapons that were available for the period.
Fast forward to 2012…who in the hell are we defending against? We have one of the most technologically advanced military forces that we can deploy at a moment’s notice. Do we really need to allow the right-wing to constantly hammer us with the Second Amendment just to satisfy some pathological need to justify owning semi/automatic weapons in the off chance that someone will land on our shores and wage war against our great nation?
Question: Would have that stopped 9/11?
Answer: Nope.
9/11 happened because of a charismatic leader who had the ability to sway men’s minds into performing suicide acts. They had no will whatsoever. In the hands of a master manipulator, they became weapons. They were willing to commit suicide because someone warped their minds into believing that they were going to paradise. Just a 21st century version of the kamikaze bombers, but they had no regard for the lives of the others who became nothing more than cannon fodder to their “path to paradise.
After 9/11, the NRA stepped up their efforts to prevent any kind of regulation for assault weapons. It was a panic move by a fringe element that was convinced that the end of days was near, But it wasn’t. Because of learning about new security screening procedures (and we have to thank the Israeli government for that) it is safer to fly in American airspace than ever before. But it doesn’t address the problem of assault weapons.
I don’t have a solution for the assault weapon problem. Like I said before, I have no problem with someone owning a weapon for personal protection. I have no problem with someone owning a shotgun or a high-powered rifle for hunting (we as a species have fucked up the balance of nature so much that it is up to us to restore that balance.) But what hunter NEEDS an assault weapon for hunting? Many people that I know who do hunt deride these Second Amendment nutjobs. They take the sport of hunting and piss on it.
So, Dean Bear's position on assault weapons…in the hands of private citizens, no. In the hands of trained professionals (police and the military…) yes.
Now I don’t want to paint all the members of the NRA with a big brush of tar, most of the membership are hard-working middle-class people who hunt, and teach responsible gun ownership. It’s just people like Wayne LaPierre (Executive Vice President of the NRA) and David Keene (President of the NRA) who use politics and money to advance their agenda (on behalf of gun manufacturers) who are the stumbling blocks in any kind of real reform.
I’m going to close out with a quote from Dennis Miller:
"Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong."
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