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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: neverdem

“Big enough” is whatever is appropriate to protect my land and my family. The range of predators and varmints goes from rabbits to #400 hogs. Sometimes I must work while armed because of coyotes and bears. The needs vary, so the weapons vary. None of it is the government’s business.


21 posted on 01/17/2013 8:56:38 PM PST by Carry_Okie (GunWalker: Arming "a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as well funded")
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To: neverdem

Just what is the implication here?..

my answer: Bigger than your women are used to, little man.


22 posted on 01/17/2013 8:57:38 PM PST by glock rocks (Pro Deo et Constitutione - Libertas aut Mors)
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To: neverdem

Rule of thumb: 1 caliber larger than the largest the government has supplied to drug cartels.


23 posted on 01/17/2013 8:59:56 PM PST by mnehring
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To: neverdem
I think this guy used to post on FR:

I'll take one of these.

24 posted on 01/17/2013 9:00:41 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: mylife

Forget 500 HP. My 2011 Sonata has a speedometer with a160 mph top. Don’t know if it will do 160, but it’s done 130 with some pedal still left. Any 19 year old male has access to cars that go past 120. What’s more dangerous, some 40 year old good citizen with a mini 14 and AR locked in his gun closet or a 19 year old male on a Sat nite behind the wheel of a Hyundai Veloster with a 1.6 turbo?


25 posted on 01/17/2013 9:01:52 PM PST by xkaydet65
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To: neverdem

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.


26 posted on 01/17/2013 9:02:48 PM PST by MasterGunner01
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To: neverdem
What type of firearm, what caliber, what features, how many rounds in the magazine... I don't know, depends on the situation.

What I absolutely must have is the freedom to make that choice myself. Without that, we have tyranny.

27 posted on 01/17/2013 9:02:53 PM PST by ThunderSleeps (Stop obama now! Stop the hussein - insane agenda!)
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To: xkaydet65

I hear that those Sonatas have plenty of engine.
Problem is they run out of suspension at those speeds, and then...

BLAMMO!


28 posted on 01/17/2013 9:04:16 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: neverdem

Any firearm I can carry will still weigh a damn sight less than any cop I could carry.


29 posted on 01/17/2013 9:04:27 PM PST by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: ThunderSleeps
What I absolutely must have is the freedom to make that choice myself.

Agreed. Hat tip.

30 posted on 01/17/2013 9:05:26 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Rebelbase

20mm anti tank Lahti


31 posted on 01/17/2013 9:06:41 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: neverdem

I wonder if anyone has every come out of a firefight or self defensive shooting situation thinking: “I wish I hadn’t had so many rounds of ammunition.”


32 posted on 01/17/2013 9:07:09 PM PST by Washi (Socialism is Slavery)
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To: mylife

Although I feel offended by the “Damn Skippy!” reference ... I don’t really know your motive.

Nonetheless I agree it is not the bill of “needs”, it is the bill of “rights”.


33 posted on 01/17/2013 9:07:27 PM PST by doc1019
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To: Washi

every = ever


34 posted on 01/17/2013 9:07:41 PM PST by Washi (Socialism is Slavery)
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To: mylife

“when a cigar band will suffice?”

I prefer the pull tabs on beer cans. they don’t tear nor rust. :-)


35 posted on 01/17/2013 9:09:25 PM PST by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Learn three chords and you, too, can be a Rock Star!)
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To: MasterGunner01

jellied gasoline? how’s that on toast?


36 posted on 01/17/2013 9:10:53 PM PST by fabian (" And a new day will dawn for those who stand long, and the forests will echo in laughter")
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To: spel_grammer_an_punct_polise

By God! Thar’s a reasonable solution that No one could be offended by!


37 posted on 01/17/2013 9:14:48 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: doc1019

No offense meant.
It was merely a SoCal colloquialism.


38 posted on 01/17/2013 9:16:48 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife

Diggit


39 posted on 01/17/2013 9:18:49 PM PST by doc1019
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To: neverdem

How big are the guns that the bad guys are carrying?

That big.


40 posted on 01/17/2013 9:18:49 PM PST by lurk
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