Gun Nuts

I have been poking around on the internet, reading some blogs. Most of the ones I read are by right wing gun nuts. I am not quite sure why that is. I believe in the 2nd amendment, but I don't know that I support it more than any of the others. Some of the blogs I run across are rabid and shrill. They tend to put me off. Some of them also cover other aspects of life besides guns and ammo, and some of them are well written and thoughtful. The gun nuts tend to stick together.

They post links to each others blogs, so by just following these links, I am not going to stray far from gun nut territory. But I look at a lot of other web pages besides the gun nut pages, but I haven't found too many blogs that I like that are not written by gun nuts. So I am beginning to suspect that either I am more of a gun nut than I think, or there is something about the way their minds work that attracts me.

As for the 2nd amendment, I think we were screwed when the first firearms law was passed back in 1936, the one that required machineguns to be registered.

One of the slogans that was being passed around not too long ago was "anyone who is willing to give up a little freedom for a little more security deserves neither freedom nor security". Well, that's a very nice slogan, but we all gave up a whole lot of freedom for a little security a long time ago. The last time there was complete freedom on this continent (North America) was several hundred years ago, before the white man showed up with his books and his laws.

There are several facets to the weapons issue. On the personal level there is self defense. There are people who will try to take advantage or dominate other people, and resisting them sometimes comes down to physical force. A handgun can be a great equalizer in situations like this.

Then there is the fear of a police state where the police can come and take anyone away at any time without having to answer to anyone but their lord and master. This is what happened in Germany before and during WWII. I believe most people would agree that this was a bad thing, and if the Jews had had weapons they may not have been slaughtered.

Then there is civil war. This country had one, and by all accounts it was a really bad thing. Bloodiest war this country has ever fought.

Finally there is war with other countries. The 20th century was really bad for this. The revolutionary war was fought with militias raised by the individual states. The U.S. fought WWII with a great national army. The Federal government ran the entire show, the states had little to say about it. I can understand this. In order to mobilise a large enough force to counter the Axis powers in a reasonable amount time, things had to be done quickly. Leaving it up to the individual states to decide what, if anything, should be done, could have taken years, and our world would likely be very different today.

So, just what kind of rights do we want?

I am in favor of individuals owning all of the weapons and military equipment. I don't think the federal government should own anything. If we are going to fight foreign wars, the federal government needs an agreement with each of the individual states as to how much and what kind of a militia they are willing to provide. A small state (population-wise) like Oregon might be required to provide a thousand infantry men, a squad of tanks and maybe a couple of fighter aircraft along with all the support and transportation they would need. I doubt an idea like this will ever make any progress. There are too many states to reach any kind of agreement on doing anything in any kind of timely manner.

What do you do about the jack-booted thugs of a police state? Some people think we are living in a police state now. We have the largest percentage of people locked up in jail of any country in the world. Rumor has it that most of those people are in jail for drug offenses. Look it here, dope dealers, if you don't want to go to jail, you need to do two things: 1) keep a low profile, which can be hard to do if you are stoned all the time, and 2) maintain your standing with the local "family". They are only ones who can protect you. It's a social thing.

On the other hand, law enforcement is getting more money and more firepower and more authority. When are we going to say enough is enough? We may have reached that tipping point already with President Bush. This might be contributing to his extremely low approval ratings.

But what if the tide does not turn? When are you within your rights to fight back against the police? And what would be the most effective way to do that? Waiting till the SWAT team is knocking on your door is probably not a good idea. Maybe being part of an organized militia is your only real defense.

Update December 2016 replaced missing picture.