[George W. Bush]

Wombat101: And as for P, I guess when I come around to his house, heave a brick through his window, p*ss on his front lawn, club him to death with a golf club, violate his wife and burn his house down (just after I kick his dog in the nuts),I can simply walk into the courthouse and explain my actions away with his patented "Because I want to" defense of personal justification, assert that all those silly laws passed by constitutional process don't apply to me, and leave a free man (not that I would do it, but you get the idea).

Peisistratus: Frankly, I've seen your type. They're called "hoplophobes". You fear what you would do with a gun and project that on others.

Funny how they always seem to be the ones fantasizing about violence when they can't intimidate or browbeat people into agreeing with them. Then they whine that no one wants a fair debate with them.

[Wombat101]

Ummm, you missed the part where the man said he should be able to do anything he wants, despite the law, if he feels like it.

The hypothetical I set up for him was a practical demonstration of just how stupid that premise was. That is he could arbitarily abrogate the law if he feels like it and expects to get away with it, why shouldn't someone with more sinister intent be able to do the same? What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Somehow, he feels that he's justified in this belief (that he's the final arbitor of what is and isn't legal), but that such distinction should only be reserved for him (predicated on the justification "because I want to"), and by extention, anyone he wishes to grace with a similar power.

[Wombat101]

As for the hoplophobe comment, that hardly merits a response.

In it's literal translation, it means "fear of the shield" (from hoplos, the shield carried by a Greek soldier, i.e. Hoplite"). However, I get the impression that what it's being construed to mean, is one who fears a soldier, or more accurately, the implement of military force (i.e. a weapon).

Funny, but I don't remember any fear of weapons when I served in the Naval reserve (as an aviation ordnanceman, no less!), nor do I remember fearing the three generations of Wombats who were all Marines before me. In that regard, what do I have to fear from a man who owns a firearm (solely to prove an obscure point!) and who insists he will not use it? Is he trying to imply that, somehow, while in possession of that firearm he has no intention of using that he's the defender of my rights?

Laughable.