Posted on 01/08/2009 8:06:14 AM PST by cll
Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation... Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. -- Federalist Papers, #46 at 243-244.
Congress shall never disarm any citizen unless such as are or have been in actual rebellion.
Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant.
Whenever there is an interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done and not less readily by a powerful and interested Party, than by a prince.
Stability in government is essential to national character and to the advantages annexed to it, as well as to that repose and confidence in the minds of the people, which are among the chief blessings of civil society.
I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
The right of the people to keep and bear...arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country... I Annals of Congress 434 (June 8, 1789).
An armed and trained militia is the firmest bulwark of republics -- that without standing armies their liberty can never be in danger, nor with large ones safe... -- First Inaugural Address, Saturday, March 4, 1809.
I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents. -- As he disapproved of an attempt to appropriate $15,000 for French refugees. 4 Annals of Congress 179 (1794).
Ping
Tyrants almost always appeal to the poor, and the poor to them. Intolerable distant government is rarely an improvement over unpleasant local government.
Rahm Emanual: 'You hate to waste a crisis'.
Thanks! It was my first thought when Rahm Emanuel was proclaiming “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste” back in November.
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the
populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to
safety) by menacing it with an endless series of
hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
- H. L. Mencken
At least Chavez had the US to blame. Will Obama try to blame bush forever. What or who will they blame for a terrorist attack?
So much for those (who have served their time) convicted of felonies, even those that aren't crimes of violence.
End result?
- Those convicted of felonies who want guns despite the law -- have them.
- Those convicted of felonies who want to go straight and be law-abiding -- don't have them.
- Everyone else? Waiting periods, background checks, restrictions on purchases, denials depending upon residency (in Moron Grove you can't; Kennesaw you can), and other future harassments...
A system only a Demonrat should love, but a lot of Pubbies bought into the "Tough on Criminals" line -- misled by the similarity to "Tough on Crime" slogan.
It ought to be really simple, the way it used to be: if you commit a crime with a gun you do really, really hard time. Period.
We don't have that. Guess why?
It's all about the gun.
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