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| -Land of the Free |
| An open letter to gun advocates |
| 2016-03-01 |
| Dear gun advocates, That would be I :) Et moi. Me three, though I don't own or carry one. Some of you want pistols to protect yourselves and your families. Some are vigilantes, like George Zimmerman, who want to keep neighborhoods safe. Some are police, some of whom need to use weapons more responsibly. Some shoot defenseless animals for sport. Feral hogs cause half a billion dollars in damage annually in Texas. I don't know what the figures are for other states but a guy brought down a 500-pounder in North Carolina that had destroyed ten acres of crops not too long ago. He used an AR-15 chambered in .308, but you probably never heard about it because he didn't use the gun to shoot up a school or a park. A boy in Alabama killed one that weighed over a thousand pounds with a pistol. He didn't shoot anybody up, either. Charging wild boars aren't "defenseless," by the way. And some own military weapons that can mow down large groups of schoolchildren or moviegoers. Still haven't hit on my own category. Oh, well. Maybe next time. Legal weapons are one shot at a time, not full auto-gettem. "Semi-automatic" means that a round gets chambered after the last one's fired. But "semi-automatic" sure sounds scary, doesn't it? Brrrr! I am writing to this last group. Please, help me understand. That last category is done talking, dearie. They just want blood. It may be a constitutional right to bear arms, but the Constitution said we have the right to bear arms in a militia, those arms being muskets at the time, guns that you could shoot once, taking much time to reload. Not AK-47 weapons. Failed to understand the difference between being a "recruit" and being a volunteer in a self defense force, huh? When the 2nd Amendment was written it was intended to include sufficient ammunition and arms. Including the AK. Please, help me understand. Today's bozo boy shooting up his school cafeteria has nothing to do with the second amendment and everything to do with growing to the ripe old age of 14 playing "Call of Duty" and watching movies like The Matrix. Why these weapons? Are you waiting for a once-rare-but-now-more-frequent mass shooting or another shooting so you can save the day, planning to kill the “bad" guys? How many times might you have that opportunity in life? One can always hope, I suppose. The notion of point defense is lost as well, I guess. Dunno about people with handguns saving the day, but it seems to me that if you can counter a bad guy using a firearm with your own firearm -- even if it is an AK -- and you survive, you can count that as a good thing. The writer assumes nothing but malign beliefs and influences for gun owners and advocates. There's not one ounce of willingness to listen or to see the other side. It's not an 'open letter', it's the usual lecture... Have you listened to police chiefs who say that they don’t want their staff entering an active shooting scene where “bad” shooters and “good” shooters are battling around innocent families and children, unable to discern who is bad or good? Do you think you can shoot your AK-47 and hit only the bad people instead of innocents as well? Shot placement, baby. It's where it's at. And besides, I have yet to read of any encounter in which a civilian on civilian gun fight has lasted for more than two minutes, and I doubt I ever will. Please, help me understand. He's trying real hard not to. The police might mistake you for a “bad” shooter. The might shoot and kill you. The investigators will also need to determine if your bullets killed the innocent. Are you asking to be imprisoned? They may make that mistake indeed, but by the time they arrive, the shooting is over. And if you can hold your fire for a sufficient time to engage only the bad actors, then your only problem should be taking cover and not getting shot. Firing a gun isn't about slapping in the mag and blasting away. You have to discriminate among targets, which in an environment in which only one shooter is shooting, should be easy to do. Dunno how pistol carriers train, but they should already know that their weapon should not be fired until the background is clear, but they also should always scan the background, including their rear, for additional shooters. Maybe you just don’t feel very good about yourself or your life, and you need to boost your confidence and self-esteem by openly carrying a giant weapon, hiding your disappointing body parts and/or your psychological distress. Maybe you really are fearful, thinking that Muslims are taking over this country, and if not Muslims, that perhaps black and brown men and boys are wreaking havoc. Maybe you have been severely traumatized and need help. Decent people don't talk about private parts, or private matters as a means of resolving public policy differences. Overreaching and overbearing statists such as yourself have a large enough bullhorn, that they do with with impunity. In the matter of the right to keep and bear arms, it is a notion that is well outside the polite conversation of firearms. I still don’t understand. Perhaps because you don't want to? Or perhaps you're just dull? Who makes you God? Who makes a person shooting at the rest of us God? Nor does one need to be a god to defend oneself, one's loved one, or the community, nor does one need to be a god to leave other good people alone. Even if you were in a challenging shooting situation, are you the judge or jury? Maybe just a self-defender. Self defense has been a part of English Common Law for so long that I don't believe it was ever passed as a statute; it's a mere matter of common sense. Litigation has always centered on the situation and whether the amount of force used was justifiable... Can you sort out facts in the heat of the moment instead of using our justice system to work through an agreed-upon process for determining innocence, guilt and sentencing? A shooting situation isn't about the law. It is about surviving a hostile shooter. I would rather let the legal industry sort out my culpability in a gunfight after the threat is abated -- after I have used a firearm to quell a threat. A shooting situation is one that any reasonable person tries to avoid. Sometimes they're thrust upon us and we have to react quickly, having been reminded in the past of the aphorism, "when seconds count, the police are minutes away." We can always sort out guilt. If we're still alive... I, for one, am extremely frightened of you because you hold my and my family’s lives in your hands when you carry your weapons of mass destruction around our schools, parks and churches. "Weapons of mass destruction" are chemical, biological, and radiological (i.e., atomic weapons). You don't get a permit to lug an AK-47 around in public. It has quite a bit of symbology around some violent factions, kind of a magic totem. See, for instance, Hezbollah's flag, which features a disembodied arm waving an AK-47. Tiny children find your weapons, thinking they are toys, forever ruining or ending their own or others’ lives. Who gave you the right to endanger so many people? Frightened, are you? I have a solution. Get a gun, learn to use it and then train to use it in a gunfight. That children find guns toys are the fault of parents who refused to put in effort to teach their children about the utility and safe use of a firearm. Whenever someone is losing an argument it's time to invoke "the children". That's justification for all sorts of nefarious nonsense that would never stand the light of cold reason and common sense. Yup, he invoked the children. He's lost, and he doesn't know it. Please help us all understand your thinking, feelings or logic. And then, maybe we can have a safe and honest conversation about your fear, your anger and your obsession with power, control and violence. "Honest conversation." With the idea that gun owners are angry, obsessed with power and control that you have expressed, without even knowing an individual gun owner, I very much doubt any honesty is on the agenda. I suspect yet another lecture about firearms is. And that won't be honest. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #21 I Pray everyone get's there one day, jvalentour |
| Posted by: newc 2016-03-01 13:19 |
| #20 An,er, "interesting" screed, but mostly due to the ignorance shown by the author, who, presumably, prescribes psychotropics (i.e. Ritalin) to teenagers which were, also interestingly, not mentioned. When I was a kid, it was not unusual to see a teen carrying a cased .22 on a public bus. But that was pre-video games and the now not uncommon FUBAR of the family. |
| Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspiracy 2016-03-01 12:49 |
| #19 It isn't a question or lecture, it is an application. David Hackett Fischer's books Paul Revere's Ride and Washington's Crossing are excellent sources of who and what was expected of the Militia, and how their kit different regionally. Able bodied men were expected to be in the militia, and to arm and equip themselves. Private individuals and organizations equipped themselves with cannons. Benjamin Franklin was able to square the circle in Quaker Pennsylvania to allow a militia to form. There is a story about how a captured frontiersman would entertain the British by shooting coins at 200 yards. Tiny Children *snort* come up with that one within two glasses of whine? And yes, I am a bit disappoint with certain aspects of my body, such as I cannot shoot lightning from my eyes and fireballs from my arse. "How come you people arming against mass shootings and acts of bad guys are so dangerous?" Wow. One would think a qualified psychotherapist would have a better grasp of their own thought processes. This op/ed is dribble. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2016-03-01 12:15 |
| #18 Why these weapons? Are you waiting for a once-rare-but-now-more-frequent mass shooting or another shooting so you can save the day, planning to kill the “bad" guys? How many times might you have that opportunity in life? One can always hope, I suppose. Dear Sunshine. You're probably not old enough to remember the LA Riots though you're aware of the Baltimore and others recently. Here's an example why you got to be prepared just like for earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes. When government fails, the militia in one form or another is there. Those 'Korean' store owners weren't looted. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-03-01 11:51 |
| #17 C'mon, you guys. Take it easy on her. She lives in a bubble where she is fed a steady diet of the New York Times and CNN. She's never been off the pavement. She drives her Volvo between her nice little suburban home and her nice little cushy job in academia. She's probably a very nice lady but she has never faced any kind of a challenge where she had to respond physically. She's never had a real man challenge her intellectually or in any other way. There just isn't much that you can expect from her. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2016-03-01 11:46 |
| #16 Mea culpa...yep, the coffee hadn't kicked in yet this morning. Muzzle loaders, less Ferguson's breach loader. (Ferguson would 'buy the farm' at King's Mountain) |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-03-01 11:43 |
| #15 "Please note - when talking about musket loaders...". P2K, I agree with you. But just one thing, you probably meant 'muzzle loaders', not 'musket loaders'. I presume this, and write in case you wish to or are able to correct that. Maybe a kind mod? Bugs me at the same level as clips and magazines; both exist, but are often mis-used/mis-applied. Small minded of me, but I apologize, and can't fix it. Darth; strongly agree. A question; how many guns ARE there in the USA? I am guesstimating / SWAGing 400 million plus. I haven't found any good numbers for 2014 and 2015, and so extrapolated from 2013 data, which is suspect in and of itself in any event. I could be WAAAY low, and hope so. Your estimate may vary. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2016-03-01 11:31 |
| #14 All I know is, if a supposed psychotherapist talked to me in this manner, they would be tasting my boot through their rectum. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2016-03-01 10:25 |
| #13 Proco, they have gutted the armed forces but they have created large paramilitary forces attached to all the Federal agencies. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2016-03-01 09:57 |
| #12 Please note - when talking about musket loaders 1 - they were the same standard arms of the small standing federal army. And the British army at the time. There were also individuals and units who armed themselves with the state of the art, American-made long rifles. These long rifles, though slower to reload than muskets -- and remember that the machine gun at the time was a three-line musket unit where each line shot, dropped back to reload, then stepped forward to shoot again (yes, I know you know, but the metaphor just occurred to me) -- were unthinkably precise at the impossible distance of 300 yards, enabling the Americans to reach out and kill British officers without British troops being able to shoot back. So there was an expectation that some of the volunteer militia units would be snipers carrying their own guns. Incidentally, I found Chris Kyle's book on the subject very informative. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2016-03-01 09:56 |
| #11 And they'll have fun with no power, blockades preventing food, water systems cut off. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2016-03-01 09:44 |
| #10 You think 3 million guns are going to be collected? By whom? You've gutted the armed forces. They barely held on in Iraq and Afghanistan till the locals decided to cooperate. The national guard and sheriffs are composed of "We the People". They'll be lucky to hold their own just in the established gun free urban areas (not including the hoods where they already fear to tread). |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-03-01 09:40 |
| #9 Does not matter. Once Hillary appoints 3 justices, the second amendment is done, it will be "reinterpreted." Trump has consequences. |
| Posted by: Jack Tojo6075 2016-03-01 09:23 |
| #8 Go home vermin and tell your masters that we will not be enslaved by the likes of them or you. Tell them you should be beaten for speaking to your betters. An armed person is a citizen, everyone else is a slave. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2016-03-01 09:03 |
| #7 It may be a constitutional right to bear arms, but the Constitution said we have the right to bear arms in a militia, those arms being muskets at the time, guns that you could shoot once, taking much time to reload. Not AK-47 weapons. For your education which you do not want (you just want our guns) - 10 U.S. Code § 311 - Militia: composition and classes (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard. (b) The classes of the militia are— (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2)the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia. Please note - when talking about musket loaders 1 - they were the same standard arms of the small standing federal army. The militia formation was to assemble right on the flanks of the literally standing army in the field armed with the same functional weapon. They would do that in 1812 and 1861. The regular army traded in the musket or variation thereof in the late 19th Century. The militia needed to upgrade as well. 2 - At the same time as the newly minted musket armed militia, neither were there any 'Press' institutions, just the technology for the free flow of information. So, taking your logic, I want to grab all those modern institutions and organizations concerned with 'news'. Let's get back to when someone had to hand press the paper at night to sell those pieces of paper in the morning. No big conglomerates to manipulate the financial books to cover propaganda that masquerades as 'news'. Either your word sells on its own or it dies literally in the market place of ideas. So how about some principles rather than just power cause you wanna to impose your gun grabbing agenda. You get the guns and we get your lying Big Brother propaganda machine. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-03-01 08:11 |
| #6 This one is probably a refugee from the "workers paradise" of the liberal northeast. Posted by Nguard Not all have found refuge in Tennessee. A great many have moved further south to Georgia. Lacking simple courtesies, they're easy to spot. Rather than use the car park, they park their BMW's along side red painted curbs blocking sidewalk entrances as they pick up their dry cleaning. Knowing they are really not welcome, most speak in low tones, not wishing to give away their refugee dialect. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-03-01 07:57 |
| #5 Sadly, there are a lot of these non-thinking train wrecks running around loose in Tennessee. Not enough to form a critical mass, but their numbers are increasing. This one is probably a refugee from the "workers paradise" of the liberal northeast. |
| Posted by: Nguard 2016-03-01 07:39 |
| #4 Back in the day of the musket, the average gun owner had a piece roughly equivalent to the standard Infantry weapon of the time. Today,an AK or AR15 or some variant of these...is roughly equivalent to the standard Infantry weapon of the time (the present). |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2016-03-01 07:01 |
| #3 She is definitely not yer typical Tennessean. Most everyone I know here is a gun owner. Many carry. Last I looked about 1 in 10 adults have a carry permit. If she knew this I wonder if she would ever leave her house? |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2016-03-01 04:29 |
| #2 Now I sound like Newc. |
| Posted by: jvalentour 2016-03-01 00:37 |
| #1 Who the f*ck is this psychotherapist in Nashville? What an insulting commentary. Does she actually expect a dialogue with this type of insults? Perhaps she is the one who requires therapy. |
| Posted by: jvalentour 2016-03-01 00:36 |