Happiness is a warm gun: ‘Totalitarianism with a human face’(Why are so many Americans buying guns?)

The Hill ^ | May 1, 2012 | Bernie Quigley

[SampleMan]

I had all the hunting guns that I needed by the time I was 16 years old ( .22, 12ga, .25-06).

Every weapon I’ve bought since has been for personal protection, militia obligations, or community organizing.

[Sarajevo]

I bought a lot of gear from Cabela’s when I was in the Army. They sold good stuff.

[the invisib1e hand]

the comments are cool. i couldn’t get past the 1st paragraph of the article.

[elcid1970]

The .223 works just fine on feral pigs from all reports. Would love to go hunting them, but youtube vids will have to do for now.

When the writer said our populace outside academaniaca is evenly divided between liberal & conservative, that proved in an instant he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

It’s coming to Civil War II but I predict it will be far shorter and far bloodier than the original. And the good guys will win.

[rlmorel]

"...Comments?"

Yeah. Who cut off Bernie's nuts?

[Steamburg]

“...Comments?”

Yeah. Who cut off Bernie’s nuts?

---

That would imply he ever had a pair.

[rlmorel]

I don’t know who this guy is, never heard of him. But after reading the last three paragraphs, I know exactly who he is:

A pompous bag of hot air who likes listening to himself speak.

I am not anti-intellectual. But when the description “Intellectual” is applied as pejorative, it could be applied to this guy.

[GenXteacher]

Well, when the occupant in the White House likes gun control, and the presumptuous, er, presumptive nominee is somebody that signed an assault weapons ban himself, then its time to buy lots of guns and ammo.

[Chode]

anybody that has to ask that question, will NEVER understand the answer...

[jonrick46]

Why is it that no one is talking about the proposed United Nations firearms treaty? If enacted, and ratified by our DemonRAT controlled Senate, it would:

1. Enact tougher licensing requirements, creating additional bureaucratic red tape for legal firearms ownership.

2. Confiscate and destroy all “unauthorized” civilian firearms (exempting those owned by our government of course).

3. Ban the trade, sale and private ownership of all semi-automatic weapons (any that have magazines even though they still operate in the same one trigger pull – one single “bang” manner as revolvers, a simple fact the ant-gun media never seem to grasp).

4. Create an international gun registry, clearly setting the stage for full-scale gun confiscation.

5. Override our national sovereignty, and in the process, providing license for the federal government to assert preemptive powers over state regulatory powers guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment in addition to our Second Amendment rights.

To oppose this effort, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kans.) has introduced legislation to prevent any arms treaty from infringing the right to keep and bear arms in this country. The Second Amendment Sovereignty Act, S. 2205, introduced March 19, 2012, would prohibit the administration from using “the voice, vote, and influence of the United States, in connection with negotiations for a United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, to restrict in any way the rights of United States citizens under the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, or to otherwise regulate domestic manufacture, assembly, possession, use, transfer, or purchase of firearms, ammunition, or related items, including small arms, light weapons, or related materials.”

I encourage my fellow FRiends to voice their support of Senator Moran’s bill to their state senators.

[familyop]

"But the AR is not a hunting gun. It is a war weapon and a lot of people are buying them."

So were semiautomatic versions of M-14s, M-1s and Springfields. There were also the rifles of our former enemies. Every generation of enthusiasts has 'em. They just happen to hold a fascination for more city folks now.

Soldier's rifles are not the most practical self-defense weapons in most cases, but they might do well enough in some of the rare rural incidents. Shotguns would be better in most cases, IMO, with plenty of training and practice. All kinds of loads for those.

My first M-16 at Ft. Leonard Wood had an AR-15 part, IIRC (maybe a marking on the lower receiver?). And yeah, it was full auto. It fired more dependably than the second one that I was issued there (probably an M-16 with some newer guts). ...then an M-203 and others at home units afterward.

Fickle wounding machines, IMO. Raindrops beat 5.56 mm rounds like bald-headed stepchildren. But they're okay for keeping foreign enemies very busy up to 300 meters (for the few who could hit 300 very often). Whole lotta commies carrying their buddies going on. Those rounds don't like leaves much, either, or any heavy cover.

All of that complaining said, the M-16 is a great weapon, if you keep it real clean. Don't even get me started on the M-60 (carried one many miles one year while playing Army).

Maybe I should get a semiautomatic, "sporter" version of one of our enemies' weapons from the time that I was in the Guard (incl. end of Cold War). It would be a tinkering/ballistics challenge like...learning to play the fiddle poorly. Or maybe I could be a poser, grow some dreadlocks, put on some shades, and walk around naked with that commie weapon just for styles' sake. ;-) [Joke. I don't even do drugs. Hate 'em. They're for slaves. But silliness, yeah.]

Or on second thought, maybe when the civilian fake commando craze is over. They'll be pretty darned cheap then. Maybe even re-barreling them will be cheap, after so many fools have overheated the bores by firing as fast as goons through whole mags. Heh.

BTW, full auto rifles are hardly ever useful selected on full auto. Some rare instances at extremely close range in jungle or urban, maybe (but not peacetime urban). Firing full auto bursts with enough accuracy is somewhat like firing a shotgun but a little more time-consuming to get good at.

If government-employed people want to throw S at the F after being unable to deal with being laid off, I'll just watch from up here, in the peaceful middle of nowhere. Maybe they'll lose some weight and get real, that is, those very few who would even learn to make good use of cover.

Firearms are okay. I like to watch the Youtube monkeys burn those barrels up and argue over brand names. ;-) And yeah, I might even go out, from time to time, to ring a silhouette or three with firearms technology from around a 100 years ago. [It's really only the math and physical problems that I enjoy once in a great while. The actual range thing is too boring after having fired many 10s of thousands of rounds and done so many other things for so many hours on ranges.]

The economy will probably get much worse, but that won't bring violence to every home, in my opinion. It will mean that many more people will get very poor, and maybe more of 'em will get religion. Poverty eventually has a way of making people want to be good. See the Great Depression. Oh, yeah, there'll be more from the robbers losing their government incomes, pensions, or what have you. But they'll eventually start being good, too, one way or the other. ;-)

[stephenjohnbanker]

yep

[theBuckwheat]

The four precious metals for this regime: gold, silver, brass and lead.

[RedMDer]

[familyop]

"Why is it that no one is talking about the proposed United Nations firearms treaty?...I encourage my fellow FRiends to voice their support of Senator Moran’s bill to their state senators."

Best advice today. Everyone should read, consider and act on your comment #30.

[2ndDivisionVet]

"My first M-16 at Ft. Leonard Wood..."

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie, One Three With Pride, Drill Sergeant!

[lentulusgracchus]

The one in Kearny, Nebraska is quite impressive, all things considered.

Been there, shopped that in 2002 or 2004. They had a huge business coming in off the Interstate to run by their displays and counters. License plates from all over. Me, I was from Texas.

They noticed, because now there's a Cabela's in north Houston, and another I drive by over in Baton Rouge, on my way to my sister's place in New Orleans. Yup, they know how to fish for business!

[SVTCobra03]

Soldier's rifles are not the most practical self-defense weapons in most cases, but they might do well enough in some of the rare rural incidents.

Then why does the US military use M4's for close quarters combat?

[lentulusgracchus]

Override our national sovereignty, and in the process, providing license for the federal government to assert preemptive powers over state regulatory powers guaranteed by the Tenth Amendment in addition to our Second Amendment rights.

The hell it would.

You can't abrogate whole sections of the Constitution by treaty. Every L1 student knows that.

And in case Obozo thinks he can make it stick, he has got a super-ugly education coming to him.

"Experience keeps a dear school, but a fool will learn in no other." -- Franklin

That includes Harvard-educated, or should I say "passed-through", hothouse babies like Obozo.

[2ndDivisionVet]

What Good Can a Handgun Do Against An Army?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/2312894/posts