Obama says that Americans should not be allowed to own rifles, which he calls weapons of war. He has it exactly backwards.
In government hands, rifles are indeed weapons of war. By contrast, in civilian hands rifles are an extremely effective deterrent against tyranny – and they make the possibility of war almost implausible .
“[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation…(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
–James Madison, The Federalist Papers, No. 46
“No Free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
– Thomas Jefferson, Proposal Virginia Constitution, 1 T. Jefferson Papers, 334,[C.J. Boyd, Ed., 1950]
” … to disarm the people – that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.“
– George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 380
“And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress … to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms…. “
–Samuel Adams
That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
Right now the NRA is offering lifetime memberships for $300, that is a $700 savings. This offer stands until April 16.
https://membership.nrahq.org/forms/signup.asp?campaignid=cheaperthandirttv
Thank for the quality post, I noted a similar position at: http://97.76.105.250/honesty/what-our-politicians-and-the-news-leave-out-on-gun-control/
The key point there was that the media is constantly driving the debate toward hunting and home defense. They then press the clip size issue and the general fear of the way the gun looks. The fact is writing legislation restricting access to lifeless objects with the “hope” influencing social change is tragically flawed and ignorant.
Current efforts on gun control have nothing to do with public safety. These action restrict the population’s ability to challenge tyrannical government actions. It’s about control.
“These action restrict the population’s ability to challenge tyrannical government actions. ”
Or you could vote them out rather than shoot them up. The USA has never gahad a tyrannical government and never will have. You’re just using it as an excuse I’m afraid to keep your guns and keep history alive, ie the man bravely defending his homestead. Live the myth.
Andy
Do you have any idea what a deterrent is?
Do banks have armed guards because they want a shootout, or because they don’t want a shootout? You have the mind of a three year old.
“The USA has never gahad a tyrannical government…”
Yep. And there is a reason why we have never gahad one Andy.
Home invasions and violent crime are unheard of where I live, and all because we are heavily armed. I would not dare try and enter one of my neighbors homes uninvited, and neither will anyone else.
Sure Andy, that’s why freed slaves weren’t allowed to own firearms in the South. They were kept “in check” by the KKK, an arm of the Democrat-controlled south after the war.
That is one reason why the NRA was created.
Roosevelt put 150,000+ Americans of Japanese descent in internment camps. Nah, that’s not tyrannical. Nixon wished he could have banned guns. These days dumbasses like Joe Biden and other Liberal dopes think double barrel shotguns is adequate for self defense.
The government is currently arming a civilian paramilitary force which has never been done before in our history. The DHS is buying up ammo so that Americans cannot have access to it. The government, both civilian and military, is performing urban training exercises to arrest and detain Americans. This can no longer be passed off as conspiracy theory, it is happening. Why is the government doing all these things?
As we’ve been changing the world’s dirty diapers for the last 100 years paid for by our blood and treasure, many or most Americans tend not to trust government officials or those assuring us “tyranny cannot happen here”. So when people like you come along and want to decide what’s best for me, I’m going to pounce.
Question: is confiscating 40% (or any amount) of one’s bank deposits a tyrannical act?
Go back to sleep now……
The biggest challenge a prosperous and free nation faces is complacency. I am always amused by the “… it will never happen here” statements. That statement is challenged by the fact that no one ever thought the following would happen:
• Government leadership openly talking about an armed civilian government force, equipped to the same level as our military… this statement was made by then Senator Obama during his 2008 campaign…. That will never happen… today various non-combatant government departments and agencies are buying arms at levels never seen before in the history of our country and the executive branch is aggressively working to limit 2nd amendment rights. Banning access to an inanimate object while playing on the pain and suffering from the actions of the mentally deranged does not increase your safety, it only restricts your ability to respond.
• Government takeovers of private businesses and property…. That will never happen… The government took control of General Motors under the guise of protecting jobs. They claimed to be saving over a million jobs but the General Account Office estimated it affected approximate 40,000 jobs. Oh, when the government seized GM all of the bond holders, those with the most protected investments, retirement funds and the like, lost 90% (Wall Street Journal) of their investments contrary to over two hundred years of contract and bankruptcy law. The government failed to “protect” its citizens but instead demonstrated extreme favoritism to unions. Now they refuse to sell the controlling interest in the company even though after injecting over $50 Billion. Note of the $50 Billion, over $25 Billion has been lost to an overall drop in stock value.
• Government control of the means of production… a basic definition of Socialism… that will never happen. The federal government is trying to mandating, through the National Labor Relations Board, where legal profitable corporations can work, if and where they can expand, and who they must hire. The government relented after Boeing agreed to pay the unions more. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/business/labor-board-drops-case-against-boeing.html?
• Seizure of private assets… that will never happen… yet the federal government is considering taking over the 401k assets of private citizens. “This brings us back to that juicy apple hanging from the tree of our life’s work. Nationalizing the personal retirement accounts would allow our government to borrow even more from its largest debtor (U.S. citizens) without further devaluing the currency. While this may seem far-fetched, as international pressure mounts to maintain the value of the dollar, you will hear more about this. Read more: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/politics-blue-collar/2013/feb/3/your-401k-about-be-nationalized/
In the words of our forefathers, the government is a necessary evil. We just like previous generation need to vigilant because freedom is not free and we are never more than one generation away for the tyranny you say … can never happen.
Sorry for grammar flaws… typing on a tablet just seems messy
I’m sorely tempted to sign up even though I am not an American, just for the principle of it.
Nowadays though if you wanted to defeat the government just cut off their waste disposal, their electricity and internet … the lack of twitter would bring them to their knees 🙂
Andy
“North Korea says it has ordered artillery and rocket units into “combat posture” to prepare to target US bases in Hawaii, Guam and the US mainland. ”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21935342
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW15CGAiscw&feature=player_embedded
Hmmm… I watched the video. I went and looked up the data they stated….
Tell me again why I should depend solely on the ability to vote to keep politicians in line?