Posted on 02/02/2005 10:45:23 AM PST by freepatriot32
At first glance, the term "gun nut" would appear to be nothing more than an ad hominem against the more enthusiastic weapon owners of this country. However, as one reads the literature espoused by gun nut organizations, the reasoning behind this term becomes startlingly clear. Gun nuts are called as such because they are incontrovertibly insane.
The gun lobby has adopted the same attitude toward politics as Rush Limbaugh: "Don't confuse me with facts, I've got my mind made up!" Gun nuts are so obsessed with opposing gun control laws that no amount of factual evidence against their position will sway them. Some call this "sticking to your guns." I call it "deliberate stupidity."
The National Rifle Association (NRA) claims that a society that owns guns is a safe society. Throughout the pages of gun magazines are various ads which depict Joe Average wielding a hand cannon, defending his helpless family from a masked intruder who has invaded his home in the dead of night. Ignore for a minute that the probability of encountering a burglar dumb enough to enter your house while you are there is incredibly slim and look at the FBI's study on gun violence. In 1993, of 39,595 firearm-related deaths, only 251 were determined to be justifiable homicide. That is less than 1 percent of all firearm deaths for that year. Furthermore, studies in 1994 found that you are much more likely to be murdered by someone you know, not some masked boogey-man with an eye for your wife's jewelry. Suicides, homicides and accidental deaths far outnumber instances where someone has successfully used a firearm to defend themselves or their loved ones. Either these findings have not reached the NRA, or they are deliberately turning a blind eye to them.
Unrestricted ownership of weapons essentially follows the tenets of the classical theory of criminology. This theory is hardly modern, developing in the late 1700s through the works of Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. The core ideas of classical theory are: the decision to commit crime is a rational cost-benefit evaluation and that crime can be prevented through administering certain, severe punishment. Gun nuts believe that if every citizen owned a weapon, potential criminals would be too afraid to commit crimes.
The right wing, not just the gun nuts, has become so enthralled by classical theory that they have completely ignored the mountains of evidence that contradict it. While America fairs better than its developed counterparts around the world in most areas of crime, it tops them all in the category of murder. While you stand a better chance of being robbed in Sydney, Australia than in Los Angeles you are 20 times as likely to be killed in L.A. A rational mugger would prefer to give up and flee should his activity lead to conflict (as murder comes with a much higher cost than mere robbery, while the benefit is relatively minute), but statistics point out that in the U.S., victims that put up a fight are typically killed. This is not rational behavior and all the guns in America haven't changed it.
When the chips are down in the debate on crime, a gun nut will always fall back on the Constitution. Gun nuts love to quote the Second Amendment, or at least they love to quote the second half. In its entirety, the Second Amendment reads, "A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." This does not, in any way, clarify the issue of personal gun ownership. It is vague, leaving one to wonder whether or not gun ownership rights should be extended to the individual without mandatory enrollment in a "well organized militia." Historically, the Supreme Court has ruled that states have the right to enact gun control laws, as was determined by United States v. Cruikshank in 1876. The NRA has conveniently ignored the first half of the Second Amendment, typically printing only the second half. Former Chief Justice Warren Burger denounced the NRA's editing of the Second Amendment as a "fraud."
Owning an arsenal is not a "way of life," it is a mental disorder. It is an unjustifiable paranoia that leads to thousands of unjustified deaths every year. Let's put this in perspective. Annually, about 17,000 people die of illicit drug use (illegal), 0 people die of marijuana use (also illegal), 20,000 people die of sexual behaviors (not illegal, but frowned upon), while some 29,000 die in a firearm related incident, 1 percent of which result in a "bad guy" eating a lead sandwich.
I'm not suggesting that people stop owning weapons or that the NRA disband and start crusading for rights that don't kill anyone, like smoking pot for example. What I want is an end to the lies that the gun nuts want so badly to believe in. I want them to face the fact that they are much more likely to kill their wife and children than defend them. I want them to realize that the only crime wave in this country is in homicide, a crime inextricably linked with firearms. Perhaps when gun nuts stop living in Charlton Heston's movies they will pursue a safer, more reasonable route to gun ownership and use.
Guy came into our house at 6 in the evening one night, my roommate knifed the bastard.
And don't forget the growing number of home invasion robberies in England since their defacto ban on all firearms. The simple fact is that "the badguys" figure that they can bust in armed with knives and clubs, and cow the residents.
This guy makes so many false assumptions, and uses discredited "facts" over and over again...
He's so enamored with drug use... Well many of those "acquaintance murders" are rival drug dealers or dealers and their clients... Acquaintances are just that... People who know each other.
Mark
Yes I have a major problem with registration.Becasue it was tryed in germany when hitler got into power and it was such a reasonable law.Why would any jew have a problem with just registering his or her gun? flash forward 6 years
If a cops job is harder because we are not registering our guns then tough t**ty it beat the holy hell out of the alternative.
Man, you just GOTTA stop capping people on the tollway.
I'm antisocial............sue me!
Dang....you mean they haven't zotted that little puke yet? I reckon the "big-tent" moderators voted to keep him around.
1. It doesn't have to be a Federal program. Rifles were registered in NYC in the 70s...David Dinkins was elected and those gun owners were told to turn in their guns or give proof they had been taken from the city. San Francisco will have a ballot initiative soon, outlawing handguns. With those two examples, you can see that we don't "feel" that way but THINK that way.
2. Maryland spent a BUTTLOAD of money on a ballistic registration program...not one crime solved. One day that list will be used by the People's Republic...you watch.
3. Canada spent an even BIGGER buttload of money on their program...not one crime solved.
4. California registered "assault weapons". Watch and see what happens with that.
Jeez, have we determined the half-life of Kellerman study fallout? That piece of garbage is a proven prime example of creative manipulation of statistics, but it keeps repeating like a bad burrito.
victims that put up a fight are typically killed
Which is it brainiac???
By all means at least try to make him see the light. that is, AFTER you get some contact info so we can make his life he!!!!!
Because in some cities and states it has already happened. Chicago, NYC, DC, possibly San Fran for all guns, and California statewide for so called "assault weapons".
Travis, could you send this freeper some of you pics???
Forced registration, then decided it would be a felony if you didnt turn em in.
Nah, cant happen here /sarc
Registration precedes confiscation. It's happened in california and New Jersey already. I'm sure there are people that have honorable intentions about registration, but at this point in the game, gun owners trust has been violated too many times.
Could you post the details behind your "million mom march" posting. When did it take place, where did it take place, and any URLs for source information? Thanks.
hehehehe... the ninny author of this "article" would probably wet his pants if he ever went shooting with FReepers (or took a peek in their closets or under their beds!!)
Stay Safe, Stay Armed, etc...
Information regarding this action, including this photo, were acquired from a man named Hille, who was the Bezirks-Oberwachtmeister of the Gendarmerie at the time. Hille apparently gave the five photos (there were originally seven) to the company lawyer of a textile firm in Kunert, Czechoslovakia, where he worked as a doorman after the war. The Czech government confiscated the photos from the lawyer in 1946 and they subsequently became public. That the photos indeed show the shooting of Jews in connection with the liquidation of the ghetto was also confirmed by a statement of Gendarmerie-Gebietsfuehrer Josef Paur in 1961.
Source: Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes, Warsaw, Poland."
Does anyone know the spelling of "never again" in Hebrew?
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