Old Time Radio at OTRCat!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

*Arm flail* "GUNS!!!" *Arm flail*

For the clever folk who assert that "The Framers had muskets in mind when they wrote the Second Amendment.", I suggest that the Framers had parity in mind. The Government had muskets; the citizenry had muskets. That parity rolled forward through history. Today, the government has amazingly high-powered stuff. So should the citizenry. That is the only way to assure protection from tyranny, which in the historical context of the Second Amendment, is its raison d'etre.

7 comments:

Doom said...

Absolutely! Now, I couldn't afford, and wouldn't really want, a howitzer or tank, I would definitely prefer a fully automatic rifle. Not an M-16 though, more like an Ak-47, or if I could afford it an MP-5... or whatever they are onto now, though with the longer barreled versions, uhrm, in .45 too, thank you very much. You can keep the 9 mm unless that is all that is left. And actually, knowing that situational circumstances might favor one over the other, I would prefer both (and a machine pistol, if 9mm would be fine for that). Hmm, and while I am dreaming, I would like an M-79 (grenade launcher). I wonder if my reloader could handle that ammo? :p That I would "shoot". Some of those guys got pretty good at picking and grinning with those.

The Aardvark said...

This is sounding like the "sitting on Santa's lap" list!

Michael W said...

The particular difficulty I have is that the Second Amendment speaks of "A well regulated militia" as "being necessary to the security of a free state".

With that caveat in mind I consider the majority of the armed citizenry in this nation to be about as "well-regulated" as a case of diarrhea. I wouldn't trust most of these people to be capable of guarding a quart of spoiled milk, much less a free state.

The Aardvark said...

You put a finger on the problem. Police work used to be the citizens' responsibility. You would take the miscreants to a constable or judge when caught. Then people figured out that they could HIRE someone to do the job for them, and now we have the scourge of militarized police forces all ready to spring. The concept of a full-time standing army is foreign to the Constitution; the army exists For The Duration, then goes home. Well, we figured out that we could hire cannon-fodder, while the rest of us stay home, fat and happy. Now they are training to fight Enemies of the Homeland, domestic terrorists in John Deere hats who have the temerity to question the Official Story, who believe the COnstitution and all, and want to cling to their God and their guns.

If you don't play the game by the rules....

Doom said...

I have to disagree, on the majority, Michael. While there are definitely yahoos, not my type but the real kind, in the gun ownership field, that is the exception.

There is something that comes with a gun, the first one. Initially it is a minor reliving of all the movies where a gun made someone seem immortal. After some shooting, and an osmosis like learning of how terrible gun shots are, and often final, something else sets in.

Most men come to have a serious respect for their firearms. And from that grows a respect for freedoms especially the one that allows such a 'terrible' thing to be in the hands of us peons. And further, an understanding of the right to life and what that really means. Then comes the humility of it all. Truly. A gun isn't the way up, but a damned necessary and terrible thing. If there is a deep and abiding beauty to it. And the knowledge that every mass murder that has ever occurred, whether society wide or a local event, could have been curtailed with a $50 pistol and even one bullet, at the right time and in the right hands.

Believe as you like, but I have seen a lot of hotheads come to a much deeper understanding of life, liberty, and such through guns than I have seen in the whole lot of anti-gunners, who would trade all of our freedom for their perceived, and false, safety. Just... Yeah, no.

Oh, and if you know of a gun Santa, Aardvark, I'm ready! I'll even be a good boy for a whole year, mostly!

Jay said...

Can I use this article on my blog? It's short, to the point, & better than a similar one I have planned.

The Aardvark said...

@Jay - Yessir.