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How big a Gun does Anyone Need?
American Thinker ^ | January 17, 2013 | Gary Henderson

Posted on 01/17/2013 8:29:38 PM PST by neverdem

The public discourse suddenly swirls angrily around this issue: How big a gun should people be allowed to own, with how many bullets? Despite all the furor, the question has a very simple answer. But it's the wrong question.

Even those who routinely carry a concealed weapon, and certainly many who don't, wrestle with the question, "How much firepower does anyone need?" Perhaps those who don't own weapons think the answer should be very close to zero. Those who know that many times each year violent attacks are stopped when someone simply shows a weapon understand that self-defense tools are legitimate and necessary, but still worry about where the line should be above that level.

Legislators are hurriedly drafting a variety of bills to answer the question, phrasing them in terms of how evil a weapon looks, whether it automatically chambers the next shell for you, and how many cartridges it can feed. For those more knowledgeable about guns, the real concern is with things far beyond the personal defense category: rocket-propelled grenades, for example, the sort of things jihadists bring to a party at the U.S. embassy.

Here are some simple, foundational ideas to help sort it out.

The first principle is that the federal government has no constitutional say whatsoever in the size or quantity of weapons maintained by the people -- because that very government is the most dangerous person in the room. The Second Amendment has one purpose: to ensure that "we the people" can withstand a tyrannical government, for perhaps the first time in history. The writings of James Madison (Federalist #46), among others, make that abundantly clear...

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: banglist; guncontrol; secondamendment
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To: MasterGunner01

BTW, did anyone know there are no laws regulating or prohibiting flamethrowers? Nothing says “stopping power” like a squirt of 2,200 degree Fahrenheit flaming jellied gasoline.


Just make sure you use clean burning ethanol gas in that.


121 posted on 01/18/2013 1:33:40 PM PST by Idaho_Cowboy (Ride for the Brand. Joshua 24:15)
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To: neverdem

At least as big as the gun being used against me.


122 posted on 01/18/2013 1:34:24 PM PST by crosshairs (All we are saying, is give a high cap piece a chance.)
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To: neverdem
The money quote from the article:

Whether we are discussing salt, tobacco, gasoline, fountain drinks, greasy hamburgers, or guns, much wrong-headed policy today is being driven by the question, "How much does anyone need?" In Venezuela, Soviet Russia, or present-day England, it might be different, but here the correct answer is, "Whatever they want."

Not because we support greed, plundering the rest of the world, or any of the other accusations the left throws at the right, but because of sovereignty. Your sovereignty.

123 posted on 01/18/2013 1:34:24 PM PST by lentulusgracchus
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To: neverdem

124 posted on 01/18/2013 2:12:38 PM PST by Kenton (Finally, a charity worth supporting - Wounded Warrior Project! Donate today.)
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To: Psycho_Bunny
Something interesting that I got curious about skimmed once is how letters of Marque and Reprisal didn’t authorize scopes of firepower.

Congress just assumed private citizens knew where a private citizen could buy canon. No permission was needed to buy it, arm it or fire it. You only needed Congresses permission to fire it at a foreigner.

I like that. Excellent point!

125 posted on 01/18/2013 5:20:31 PM PST by VeniVidiVici (Bathhouse Barry wants YOU to bend over for another four years)
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To: RipSawyer

The only pictures I seen of obama looking happy, he looked very creepy. There is that one on the couch with his pakistani roommate. There is also that one with him giggling like a fag during that karate match on the whitehouse lawn. There isn’t to many others of him as an adult I can recall. Usually he has a very bitter face.


126 posted on 01/18/2013 5:58:54 PM PST by castlegreyskull
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To: RipSawyer

The only pictures I seen of obama looking happy, he looked very creepy. There is that one on the couch with his pakistani roommate. There is also that one with him giggling like a fag during that karate match on the whitehouse lawn. There isn’t to many others of him as an adult I can recall. Usually he has a very bitter face.


127 posted on 01/18/2013 5:59:02 PM PST by castlegreyskull
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To: neverdem
Given the current occupant of the White House, I wish I could bear a 155mm howitzer. I wish I could bear a 81mm mortar. I wish I could bear a W88 nuclear device.

Unfortunately, I could bear a RPG, but can't find one on the underground market.

5.56mm

128 posted on 01/18/2013 6:09:24 PM PST by M Kehoe
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To: null and void

I guess I meant the goverment owns the technology, it is considered a state secret.


129 posted on 01/18/2013 6:09:59 PM PST by castlegreyskull
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To: null and void

He sold it when his job moved from Alaska to Germany.As far as I know,that beast is still up in Alaska waiting.


130 posted on 01/18/2013 7:01:46 PM PST by Farmer Dean (stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
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To: null and void

Sure, but can I assume you know what I meant ?


131 posted on 01/18/2013 8:39:16 PM PST by UCANSEE2 ( If you think I'm crazy, just wait until you talk to my invisible friend.)
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To: Psycho_Bunny

Letters of Marque and Reprisal simply gave the bearer legal standing so as not to be considered a pirate.


132 posted on 01/18/2013 10:13:56 PM PST by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Implementing class warfare by having no class.)
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To: Psycho_Bunny

Letters of Marque and Reprisal simply gave the bearer legal standing so as not to be considered a pirate.


133 posted on 01/18/2013 10:14:33 PM PST by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Implementing class warfare by having no class.)
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To: Idaho_Cowboy
If some idiot from the DoE or EPA wants to check, then it's crispy critter time.
134 posted on 01/18/2013 10:38:04 PM PST by MasterGunner01
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To: reg45

I’m confused...that was my point.


135 posted on 01/19/2013 3:20:56 AM PST by Psycho_Bunny (Thought Puzzle: Describe Islam without using the phrase "mental disorder" more than four times.)
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To: UCANSEE2
Sure, but can I assume you know what I meant ?

I don't see why not, I assumed I knew what you meant.

136 posted on 01/19/2013 7:59:31 AM PST by null and void (Gun confiscation enables tyranny. Don't enable Tyranny)
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To: null and void

Ah.... mutual bliss is so wonderful.


137 posted on 01/19/2013 8:48:09 PM PST by UCANSEE2
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To: UCANSEE2

Urban SUV?


138 posted on 01/21/2013 7:56:48 AM PST by showme_the_Glory (ILLEGAL: prohibited by law. ALIEN: Owing political allegiance to another country or government)
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To: neverdem

What does need have to do with anything? It’s a choice.


139 posted on 01/21/2013 7:58:48 AM PST by OKSooner ("The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen." - Revelation 22:21)
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To: Nailbiter
At the bare minimum whatever the fed govt possesses, since they are buying with my tax dollars. I have the right to be equally armed.

When my moonbat liberal colleagues ask me the inane question I simply respond thusly: If the infantry carries it, the people must have it too, but in greater numbers! That usually sends most of them screaming from the room.

140 posted on 01/22/2013 8:05:36 AM PST by ExSoldier (Stand up and be counted... OR LINE UP AND BE NUMBERED...)
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