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Title: Why Did it Have to be ... Guns?
Source:
lneilsmith.org
URL Source: http://www.lneilsmith.org/whyguns.html
Published: Feb 19, 2018
Author: L. Neil Smith
Post Date: 2018-02-19 22:27:06 by Hondo68
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Keywords: walk into hardware store, any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything
Views: 1020
Comments: 9
Over the past 30 years, I've been paid to write almost two million words, every one of which, sooner or later, came back to the issue of guns and gun-ownership. Naturally, I've thought about the issue a lot, and it has always determined the way I vote. People accuse me of being a single-issue writer, a single- issue thinker, and a single- issue voter, but it isn't true. What I've chosen, in a world where there's never enough time and energy, is to focus on the one political issue which most clearly and unmistakably demonstrates what any politician -- or political philosophy -- is made of, right down to the creamy liquid center. Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put. If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you. If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims. What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him? If he doesn't want you to have the means of defending your life, do you want him in a position to control it? If he makes excuses about obeying a law he's sworn to uphold and defend -- the highest law of the land, the Bill of Rights -- do you want to entrust him with anything? If he ignores you, sneers at you, complains about you, or defames you, if he calls you names only he thinks are evil -- like "Constitutionalist" -- when you insist that he account for himself, hasn't he betrayed his oath, isn't he unfit to hold office, and doesn't he really belong in jail? Sure, these are all leading questions. They're the questions that led me to the issue of guns and gun ownership as the clearest and most unmistakable demonstration of what any given politician -- or political philosophy -- is really made of. He may lecture you about the dangerous weirdos out there who shouldn't have a gun -- but what does that have to do with you? Why in the name of John Moses Browning should you be made to suffer for the misdeeds of others? Didn't you lay aside the infantile notion of group punishment when you left public school -- or the military? Isn't it an essentially European notion, anyway -- Prussian, maybe -- and certainly not what America was supposed to be all about? And if there are dangerous weirdos out there, does it make sense to deprive you of the means of protecting yourself from them? Forget about those other people, those dangerous weirdos, this is about you, and it has been, all along. Try it yourself: if a politician won't trust you, why should you trust him? If he's a man -- and you're not -- what does his lack of trust tell you about his real attitude toward women? If "he" happens to be a woman, what makes her so perverse that she's eager to render her fellow women helpless on the mean and seedy streets her policies helped create? Should you believe her when she says she wants to help you by imposing some infantile group health care program on you at the point of the kind of gun she doesn't want you to have? On the other hand -- or the other party -- should you believe anything politicians say who claim they stand for freedom, but drag their feet and make excuses about repealing limits on your right to own and carry weapons? What does this tell you about their real motives for ignoring voters and ramming through one infantile group trade agreement after another with other countries? Makes voting simpler, doesn't it? You don't have to study every issue -- health care, international trade -- all you have to do is use this X-ray machine, this Vulcan mind-meld, to get beyond their empty words and find out how politicians really feel. About you. And that, of course, is why they hate it. And that's why I'm accused of being a single-issue writer, thinker, and voter. But it isn't true, is it?
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#1. To: hondo68 (#0)
All valid points. AND.....,in MY lifetime it was perfectly acceptable to most of that. The exception being buy a machine gun without getting a special government permit. Even that was legal prior to the Kangeroo Court ruling in 1934,where the court didn't notify the defense of the new court date,and just issued a ruling because opposing counsel didn't show up to defend their stance. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
The author states in closing that: “People accuse me of being a single-issue writer, a single-issue thinker, and a single-issue voter.” Then he asks “is it” true that he is “accused of being a single-issue writer, thinker, and voter?” After carefully reading the article and thoroughly considering his question, I must answer: Yes, it is true and he openly admitted it is true. As to the other question the author asks:
Because being a Pavlovian drooler who reflexively worships the created things associated with the 2nd amendment requires less effort than responsibly articulating a worldview that's rooted in logic and reason... Why does 2nd protect 1st?
L. Neil Smith is a well known published author of over two million words, which people pay him to write.. He does not write 'poorly'. --- Gatlin is a poor reader, incapable of understanding the finer points of Smith's rhetoric.
I agree. You'd think that after two million words he'd be a little more coherent. I also agree he's a fanatical, single-issue writer. All that aside, his arguments suck. Nobody believes "anyone should be allowed to buy any weapon". Why is it so oppressive if we insist they be a citizen? Or a non- felon? Or sane? Or old enough for the responsibility? We reasonably regulate the first amendment. I don't see why we can't do the same with the second.
We reasonably regulate the first amendment. I don't see why we can't do the same with the second. ---- misterwhite Hoisted on his own petard,--- misterwhite once again shows his true stripe...
Excellent point ...
Excellent point ... Gatlin Everyone will now hold our breaths while these two fools make up some reasonable infringements...
Hey, asshole, only YOU need to do that....then turn fucking blue and die, to make the world a better place.
#2. To: All (#0)
(Edited)
This was a poorly written article in which the author emphatically stated in the first sentence: “Over the past 30 years, I've been paid to write almost two million words, every one of which, sooner or later, came back to the issue of guns and gun- ownership. Naturally, I've thought about the issue a lot, and it has always determined the way I vote.” [Underline Added].
“Should you believe anything politicians say?’
I answer, Hell NO.
#3. To: hondo68 (#0)
(Edited)
why...?
#4. To: Gatlin, Y'ALL (#2)
This was a poorly written article ----- gatlin
#5. To: Gatlin (#2)
"This was a poorly written article ..."
#6. To: misterwhite, -- a slave to the gun grabbing lobby (#5)
Nobody believes "anyone should be allowed to buy any weapon". Why is it so oppressive if we insist they be a citizen? Or a non- felon? Or sane? Or old enough for the responsibility?
#7. To: misterwhite (#5)
We reasonably regulate the first amendment. I don't see why we can't do the same with the second.
#8. To: Gatlin, misterwhite, with some reasonable infringements... (#7)
misterwhite (#5) --- We reasonably regulate the first amendment. I don't see why we can't do the same with the second.
#9. To: tpaine, misterwhite (#8)
Everyone will now hold our breaths ...
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