A Nation of Riflemen First Needs Men (MUST READ!)

Where The Only Orthodoxy is Reason ^ | March 4th, 2008 | Jeremy Gayed

[2ndDivisionVet]

Early in World War II, Japan considered invading the mainland of the United States. Admiral Isoroku Yamoto, commander in chief of the Japanese naval forces and architect of the Pearl Harbor bombing, advised against invading. Twenty years prior, Admiral Yamoto had spent a few years in the United States studying at Harvard University. Based on his experience with American culture, Admiral Yamoto reportedly told his government, “I would never invade the United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”

Admiral Yamoto’s observation speaks to the heart of America’s uniqueness. The Admiral observed, in essence, that America was not a nation of subjects, who could be expected to cower and hope for their government to save them. It was a nation of citizens ready, willing, and able to defend their piece of ground against all comers, as a matter of civic duty, personal responsibility, and pride. It was the presence of citizens such as these–not the United States military–that filled his heart with fear.

From the drafting of the Bill of Rights onward, America has placed its faith not in the hands of a cultural, political, or academic elite, or in a standing military, but rather in the hands of armed, self-reliant citizens with the desire and ability to care for themselves. The United States was designed not to be a nation of subejcts, like every other on earth, but a nation of men. A nation of riflemen.

It is unsurprising that the Admiral, coming from the conformist culture of Japan, was impressed by the gritty self-reliance of American culture. Even in the soft confines of Harvard, the social norm of individualism was in sufficient evidence to catch Admiral Yamoto’s attention.

The Admiral’s concern came not just from the individualistic spirit he observed in American culture, but also from the rifles that would fill their capable hands if an invasion was attempted. America at that time, and throughout most of its history, prided itself on being a “nation of riflemen,” where every able-bodied man was, if not a master marksman, at least competent in the use of a longarm.

The concept of a “nation of riflemen” was not the product of some unhealthy cultural obsession with weapons, nor did it arise from any remarkable immediate threat to popular safety. The concept was the natural outgrowth of spirit evident in the very founding of the United States, the spirit that made Americans unique and America great. The rifle is, implicitly, the symbol of the self-reliant American.

Why use a rifle as the symbol of self-reliance? Because no other thing, word, or sign is nearly as fitting. In The Prince, Nicolo Machievelli wrote, “[B]etween an armed and an unarmed man, there is no comparison whatsoever . . . .” An unarmed man is, by definition, a dependent. He is incapable of securing his own safety. He must depend on someone else to defend him against attack, whether from a stray dog, a lone criminal, an organized gang, or a foreign army. He rightly fears any separation from society, because solitude separates him from those who can defend him and singles him out as a target for those who might wish to harm him. He is tied by his interest in self-preservation to whoever assumes the burden of defending him. His need to be defended puts him at the mercy of his defender, and over time, he by neccesity becomes their subject."

An armed man, by contrast, has the means for independence. While he may choose to avail himself of help in securing his own safety, he does not need it. He can, if he chooses, seperate himself from society without fear, confident that he can preserve himself without aid. He can even hunt meat, skins, and furs for his own food and clothes, freeing himself at least in part from the social economy. He is not fundamentally dependent on anyone, and therefore has no need to become subject to another’s demands. Moreover, he has the means to resist anyone who would seek to force him into subjectivity. A rifle, more than any other tool, enables a man who desires self-reliance to attain it.

Just as the spirit of self-reliance is stillborn if the person it inspires is unarmed, a rifle is worse than useless in the hands of someone without the mindset to use it for its intended purpose. It takes a man–a real man, who believes in personal responsibility, in a duty to defend himself, his family, and his friends, who values courage and seeks to posess it–to make a rifleman of the sort whose existence deterred the Japanese from invading the US.

America, sadly, seems to be a nation with a rapidly dwindling population of such men. Biologically male humans continue to be born and to die at normal rates, but men are increasingly scarce. Public schools raise boys to be good little girls by punishing any sign of initiative, assertiveness, decisiveness, aggression, stubborness, or independence of thought–traits essential to a self-reliant man; traits our Founding Fathers had in spades. Attributes found in most boys and that would, if left alone, develop in manhood into a capacity for self-reliance, are shamed and punished out of many of them before they graduate junior high.

On the other side of the age spectrum, the government seeks endlessly to expand entitlement programs such as universal health care, and will likely continue to push until everyone in America is, in one fashion or another, dependent on it for some essential service. Self-reliance is, literally, in danger of becoming outlawed. It is unsurprising that many state governments also seek to outlaw firearms, the symbol of self-reliance. The passion and persistence of the anti-gun movement is inexplicable until understood in the context of the symbolic importance of firearms. It is not firearms these politicians hate with such vehemence–after all, hating a piece of inanimate iron is too silly to be contemplated seriously by intelligent adults–but rather the self-reliance symbolized by firearms. They seek to ban not guns per se, but rather the kind man who neither wants, nor needs, nor can be compelled to accept their vision of a wholly dependent society, guided by the wisdom of an elite few.

America still has plenty of rifles, at least for the moment. What she lacks is men–the kind of men in whose hands a rifle is not merely a weapon, but a symbol of freedom, a condemnation of tyranny, and a standing refusal to become a subject. The Constitutional drafters understood that the existence of liberty requires on such men, and drafted the Second Amendment to ensure that they would always remain armed. The drafters never anticipated that the self-reliant man would be outlawed before the rifles were.

[An Old Man]

Sure you can! Find someone who wants to sell one and make an offer. If anyone stands in you way, Sue the crap out of them.

If the cops can have them, so can you.

Semper Fi
An Old MAn,p>

[Cobra64]

This guy really...

I invited one of our new neighbors on for a cup of coffee, and I had a pistol on the kitchen counter next to our kitchen knife block....

"You have guns?!"

"Yes"

"Why?"

Why not?"

"Because they're dangerous."

(Pulling a knife from the block, placed on counter) "No more than this."

"Is it loaded?"

"The knife?"

"No. The gun"

"All guns are loaded ... and the knife is sharp too."

"What happens if it goes off?"

"The knife?"

"No. the gun."

"Guns don't go off."

"Yes they do. All the time."

"Has this one gone off?"

"No."

"I guess it's broken huh?"

"Maybe."

"Do you want to see if we can fix it?"

"How do we do that?"

"Get in the car. We're going to the range."

"That was fun. Can I bring nmy wife next time?"

"Sure"

"Nice looking girls."

"Yes they are. I'll bet they'll never be mugged or raped."

[Billthedrill]

I believe the author goes too far. America is still full of men who could and would step in to fill the breach.

I agree completely. So, for that matter, does al Qaeda in Iraq, if you could find any still around to ask. The kids are all right.

[ryan71]

“You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass.”

Not just Japan but years later the USSR worried about the same thing and I'm sure it was as much of a deterrent as trident Submarines.

[ryan71]

You proved the correct use of a firearm is a perfect means to instill trust, responsibility, and discipline into a young man. I’ve experienced it, myself.

[Dick Bachert]

Some time in the early 80s, I attended a speech by the late Arkady Shevchenko, then the highest ranking Soviet official to defect to the West. He had been their top guy at the UN.

He spoke, interestingly, at KENNESAW COLLEGE — and we all know what Kennesaw is famous for! I’m proud to have played a a small role in helping Mayor Darvin Purdy get that legislation through the Kennesaw City Council.

His talk dealt with the clear intent of the leadership of the old Soviet Union to somehow take America. He mentioned their ICBMs and the nuclear blackmail threat they posed.

Then he broke from his prepared remarks and offered the audience this wisdom:

“The leaders of my country are as AFRAID OF YOUR 200 MILLION PRIVATE FIREARMS as they are of your ICBMs. NEVER GIVE UP YOUR GUNS.”

Frankly — and, while he had to be careful as he was under FBI protection at the time, Shevchenko alluded to this in his remarks — I’m as concerned about some domestic tyrant (say, a Hillary, Barack HUSSEIN Obama or Chuck Schumer) as I am about some foreign enemy.

And it is THAT threat about which the Founding Fathers were concerned that prompted them to leave us the Second Amendment.

The BIG question is: WILL WE KEEP IT?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73SsNFgBO4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg9q9sxJFnA

[Dick Bachert]

Some time in the early 80s, I attended a speech by the late Arkady Shevchenko, then the highest ranking Soviet official to defect to the West. He had been their top guy at the UN.

He spoke, interestingly, at KENNESAW COLLEGE — and we all know what Kennesaw is famous for! I’m proud to have played a a small role in helping Mayor Darvin Purdy get that legislation through the Kennesaw City Council.

His talk dealt with the clear intent of the leadership of the old Soviet Union to somehow take America. He mentioned their ICBMs and the nuclear blackmail threat they posed.

Then he broke from his prepared remarks and offered the audience this wisdom:

“The leaders of my country are as AFRAID OF YOUR 200 MILLION PRIVATE FIREARMS as they are of your ICBMs. NEVER GIVE UP YOUR GUNS.”

Frankly — and, while he had to be careful as he was under FBI protection at the time, Shevchenko alluded to this in his remarks — I’m as concerned about some domestic tyrant (say, a Hillary, Barack HUSSEIN Obama or Chuck Schumer) as I am about some foreign enemy.

And it is THAT threat about which the Founding Fathers were concerned that prompted them to leave us the Second Amendment.

The BIG question is: WILL WE KEEP IT?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73SsNFgBO4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg9q9sxJFnA

[brushcop]

Couldn't agree with you more. BTW 2nd Div., one of our sons is a rifleman, US Army Infantry (CIB), served in (you'll like this) 1st Cav (5yrs), 2ID and now in 3ID. He was partially homeschooled, hmmmmmm, ya reckon?? Now SSG, he leads other young men. An Eagle Scout, he did it right, lots of backpacking, canoeing, camping, served him well in Iraq (2X), well, not so much the canoeing!

The article is excellent.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I would disagree on a minor point. Despite nostalgia and the belief in the manliness of our ancestors, the truth of the matter is that the vast majority of them could not hit the broad side of a barn.

This is not to insult them, but to point out that the American public, today, is vastly more dangerous when armed than were our ancestors. And there are strong reasons.

To begin with, the very reason for the founding of the National Rifle Association in 1871 was the dismay at the lack of marksmanship of soldiers in the Civil War. Yet it remained a small organization for many years.

Marksmanship was not significantly better in the US forces in World War I, the military having lost institutional knowledge when skeletonized between wars.

Only between the wars did the NRA finally start to get some traction in the rest of America. Still slow going well into World War II.

But WWII changed everything. For America became permanently gun conscious, as well as having a flood of veterans from the war joining the NRA, followed by Korean War veterans and a constant stream of veterans from our large, standing army.

The ranks of the NRA swelled, and in the Boy Scouts and the schools, modern American gun culture finally found its footing.

Where before, guns were just props in the movie industry, they were now stars. Not just in the US, where guns became ubiquitous in the movies, but internationally, where much of the world thought America was divided between big city gangsters and frontier cowboys.

Guns became more than tools, they became a symbol of masculinity and Americanism. It was common knowledge, however inaccurate, that Americans loved their guns and were usually armed.

But more than that, the typical gun owner needed to learn gun culture, to know how to use his weapon, if need be.

And gun culture is the key to handling a gun effectively.

Americans are finally learning how to be marksmen. And thus we finally assert the rights given to us by our ancestors. They may have not been able to hit a bullseye, but they understood the importance of needing to.

[Sender]

A lot of those independent men (and women) who can still use a rifle are right here on FR...does that make us a cyber-militia?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

And, as he grew up in a Twin Cities suburb, my son talked up the fun he was having with the rifle to his buds...
I had three or four kids come over on Saturday to "shoot the gun," and their dads came too. And I may has irritated a few families by offering to take the whole gang to the gun shows held at the Fairgrounds, north of St. Paul. We did this anyway, and I discovered the dads loved the idea...some had just a faint connection to firearms and after a morning looking at 150 tables, they were hooked. I felt like Johnny Appleseed...

[stevie_d_64]

Another good catch!!!

The negative nancy type responses to his essay at the link are pretty telling as well, seemingly to consentrate on semantics rather than substance...

[Shooter 2.5]

There are only four million National Rifle Association members out of eighty million gun owners.

We few, we happy few. We band of brothers.

[Shooter 2.5]

Funny you would say that. I was invited a couple of months ago. My son earned his rifleman’s badge last time.

http://www.appleseedinfo.org/

[spanalot]

shwartzkoff said that the US had the biggest army and the the second biggest was in Pa on opening day of deer season.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

I’ve got a Ruger just begging for some new parts!

I realize it's a commitment, but if you aren't already familiar with basic metalwork(filing, fitting, old school case hardening, spring making...) you should consider learning. There's very few parts in a modern firearm that can't be reproduced with knowledge and a reasonably easy to assemble collection of hand tools.

There will come a time when parts are impossible to acquire and knowing how to manufacture your own replacement parts might make the difference between a rifle and a boat anchor.

They can disarm a man, but if he knows how to work metal, he won't stay disarmed unless he chooses to be.

[Tirian]

bump for later read

[redgolum]

For later read

[papertyger]

I agree completely. So, for that matter, does al Qaeda in Iraq, if you could find any still around to ask. The kids are all right.

Hear, hear! The popular culture in America is most definitely feminine in orientation, but it is far from being the only, or even the most important, culture. It exists only at the sufferance of the culture of men the author laments, and that culture of men follows a biological, not social, imperative.

[compound w]

When I was growing up, boys (and sometimes girls) learned how to fight on playgrounds and even at school. There were opportunities to develop a rebellious spirit, a healthy sense of opposition to authority.

Today’s schools squeeze that spirit out of our young men. Parents (and especially dads) need to work harder to instill that kind of freedom-loving, libertarian spirit into children.