Duplicitous Bastards
These are they who insist on their right to easily buy guns, to own as many guns as they wish. They who insist that mass shootings should be dealt with by prosecution. They who vehemently oppose any addressment of the question of who should be permitted to own guns. They who would only treat the symptoms of gun violence; who dare not look to science for the causes. They who think their Second Amendment rights are more important than the lives of mass shooting victims.
When it comes to voting rights, these same they are those who would make it difficult if not impossible for millions to vote whom they think might vote differently from them. They who think that not everyone has the right to vote. They who fear that the right to vote might fall into the wrong hands. They who think it far better to suppress the votes of many rather than take a chance that the one vote might fall into the wrong hands. They who think laws and prosecution are not the answer for voter fraud. They who deny the absence of voter fraud.
True enough, voters don’t have a Second Amendment giving them the constitutional right to vote (This isn’t the Constitution’s only flaw). Gun owners didn’t have one either before Justice Scalia performed his magic trick in Heller, and then bullied the Court into going along with him. Today, in this the 21st Century, in a democracy, the right to vote is a far more important right than the right to own an assault weapon, a gun.
I can understand the need for a limited right to own some firearms. No one wants to take away your grandpappy’s treasured .410 shotgun that used to feed the family way back when. What I cannot understand is the peculiar attraction of assault style weapons with large magazine capacities. I’ve long suspected that the attraction for those kinds of guns is best described as a kind of fetish. If you need an AR-15 to hunt rabbits, then you’re too bad of a shot to be handling any kind of gun. If you need a semi-automatic weapon with a large magazine when target shooting, then you need to take some professional training in target shooting. You don’t just rip off a flurry of rounds. The point of target shooting isn’t to engage in some Red Dawn fantasy, it’s to learn how to control your breathing and control your muscles. Target shooting is something best done with a bolt action single shot rifle that enforces self-discipline. Target shooting done right is an exhausting exercise regimen. When I look at a many of these NRA gun fanatics on Fox Noise talking head shows I don’t see a lot of physically fit, self-disciplined specimens. I just see a lot of fat old farts who think an AR-15 will bring back their lost youth.
ThornyOpinion
@OpinionThorny
Proposal: You can only purchase a gun one time every two years. It can only be a Tuesday in November. You must go and wait in line. There is only one place in your county. You must have multiple forms of ID. No one can give you water while you wait.
9:50 AM · Mar 24, 2021
Hard for me to read the comments with the adds on top of them that won’t go away.
But let me suggest that beginning an argument with the assumption that those who disagree with you are duplicitous bastards isn’t likely to get you very far in winning them over. which might be a problem since they are the majority and this is supposedly a democracy.
i don’t like guns much myself, and i would hate to be accused of believing that my “right” to own even an “assault weapon” is more important than the lives of the victims of mass shootings… or even the victim on an accidental one-on-one shooting. But the opponents of gun “regulation” do have at least a colourable argument. One that might be worth actually thinking about.
Cob,
60% of Americans favor stricter gun regulations. That’s a clear majority.
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/20/771278167/poll-number-of-americans-who-favor-stricter-gun-laws-continues-to-grow
EMichael
I liked your other comment better. The gun nuts have a majority in a majority of states and that’s what counts.
I think one of their problems is that they are afraid of “the” majority.
It’s really easy for good people to get worked up into an emotional state of pity and decency and put down their defenses against an enemy who has neither.
even I worry about your willingness to force forty percent of the people (or one percent, or one person) to do what you want, however they feel about it.
In either case it’s not productive to argue with them or you.
Are you illiterate or do you choose to be ignorant? Becasue if its not a choice I can at least respect that but when you choose ignorance it makes it impossible to have any respect for your opinions, especially when its based on feelings instead of facts. The fact of the matter is there are less than 13000 gun murders per year.
There are nearly 40000 traffic deaths per year but we arent banning cars. Now I can understand you saying well driving is a necessity so lets discuss another source of unnecessary deaths, abortion… 3,000,000 babies murdered yearly, and we can all agree that every one of those is preventable. So your crocodile tears aren’t fooling anyone except yourself. As for voting needing an ID I am going to go ahead and call out your racism for what it is, you dont think minorities are smart enough to get an ID. Maybe you’re ok with non-citizens voting in our elections, but with the Russia Russia Russia crap I’ll go out on a limb and say you aren’t. Anyhow the obvious facts remain, every single democrat policy is designed to weaken and ultimately destroy the republic we live in, so if you aren’t illiterate I’d recommend doing at least a little bit of research and you’ll find that virtually every issue plaguing the US is a direct result of a left wing policy.
Hi “Ed” Billybob:
The military is a wonderful organization to be a part of for a while. You really have to have a thick skin because when a part of it, because there are way more Billybobs with an opinion like yours than others who think. Many of us leave after a few years to pursue a normal life and many of the Billybobs are forced out because the military has enough Billybobs peeling potatoes in the mess hall. Longevity in the military requires some degree of intellect besides potato peeling. A little over two years and I was a sergeant in the Corps and their was a full court press for me to stay.
If you noticed I separated your comment. It is true there are an approximate 13,000 murders per year relating to the misuse of bullet-spewing-weapons. And that is the most on-the-topic part of your comment relating to the author’s post. The rest is a “whataboutism,” and a deflection to the topic. A tactic used to move away from the subject. In the case of the author, he is discussing the political requirement of unnecessary impediments to voting and the lack of political impediments to insure the safe ownership of bullet-spewing-weapons.
Most of the black Americans I hung around with were smarter than you believe you are in your commentary. They realize that once you are registered to vote, you should not have to show an ID to vote and that ID can come in many forms including a utility bill with your address on it showing you are a resident of the township within a particular county located in a state a part of the United States. Just a one time registration is needed as long as you live at that address. And the other requirement, to be able to vote in a township hall, church, VFW building, etc. near their residence.
Now watch for the connection Ken made.
Not so hard to make the connection, now was it?
If you wander up to another post on Angry Bear, you will find a C&P, I put up. In it you will find an excellent history of the NRA and how it has morphed into something completely different than when I was a member. It will die eventually and you and I will have laws and rules put upon us due to the ignorance of a few like yourself who refuse to see the need for law.
To wit today, you are making stuff up and deflecting. Go away.
Run,
Your last sentence was perfect.
EM:
Thank you. Ken made an excellent and difficult analogy (perhaps a better word?) between the two points he made. It would have taken me a while to word it properly. On another topic, we have dropped the cache which should allow for better commenting. Ron identified an issue with it, and we had it fixed.
So illiteracy it is. I’m sorry your intellect is non-existant, just like your morality. Maybe an english course should be in order, but either way you should definitely stop eating the crayons, sarge.
As far as gun proponents wanting to make it difficult or impossible for actual US citizens to vote; that’s about as assinine as your grammar. But the fact remains, election integrity is just as important, if not moreso, as all of our rights regardless if its freedom of speech, gun ownership, or to be secure in our possessions and so on. And to say that the American gun owner is some sort of bigot that wants to suppress (or oppress) other Americans from their duty to be informed and vote based on facts is not only dishonest but offensive to what it means to be an American. Additionally to feign disgust and moral outrage at those of us that support the 2A and electoral security by people that have no morals whatsoever is laughable at best.
Ed
I’d have supported some of your arguments if you hadn’t gone off into an insane rant about “virtually every issue plaguing the US is a direct result of left wing politics.”
I fear I might need a gun to protect myself from people like you.
I don’t think it is possible in America, or even wise, to take everyone’s guns away. And I understand how even “reasonable” restrictions on who can buy a gun could easily be turned to the advantage of a would-be tyranny (currently more likely to come from the Right than the Left). But the Right and the Left are pushing each other toward no possible solution to any of the real problems that face the people of this country. The rhetoric of insanity does not help.
That’s exactly what we are doing, right and left. As for my argument/opinion about left leaning policies causing the majority of the US’s ills, I stand by that as I have spent many hours in research and debate with those facts; point to a problem and I can usually point to a policy that has caused it. The biggest, or root, cause of those are the fact that we’ve taken the American ideal of equality of opportunity and replaced it with an idea we can legislate equality of outcome. Unfortunately we can’t legislate people to be ‘good’, its something that starts at home and is passed down to our children and once a generation drops that ball it’s difficult, maybe impossible, to get back.
Oh, and as far as having a fear that you may need a gun to protect yourself from people like me, you should probably concern yourself more with your brethren on the left. You all are the ones that have been burning your cities down for the past year for no reason other than to destroy.
Ed
not much point in continuing this discussion. You have your view of things, which I regard as wrong beyond reasonable doubt. As no doubt you regard mine.