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The loss of our Second Amendment right is only one manifestation of that phenomenon.

I must be missing something.

I live in Texas, and I've bought six guns in three years. Any gun I wanted to buy, I bought and, because I have a CCW, I took the gun home with me right away.

For all the frenetics here, Tom DeLay and John Dingell will never allow a AWB to get out of the House.

Well I have tried several times to buy guns in the last few years and been prevented from doing so.

The first time was a Marlin lever action which I saw in a shop in Alabama. I was nearly 70 miles from home and when there was a delay, I just let it go because I didn't want to drive back to get it.

I have a spotless record. Have never been charged with any crime much less been convicted yet I get a delay nearly everytime I try to buy a gun. If I am away from home I no longer even try, so yes the damned law has caused a hell of a lot of inconvenience to me.

I must be missing something.

You don't live in California. I realize you're making the point that Texans have defended their rights and they enjoy the freedoms they've secured. But it's not so good in many other areas of the USA.

When they came for the trade unionists and socialists, I said nothing because I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the homosexuals and the gypsies, I said nothing because I was neither. When they came for the Jews, I said nothing because I was not a Jew. When they came for the Catholics, I said nothing because I was not a Catholic. And when they came for me, there was nobody to say anything for me. --Rev. Martin Niemoller

While you may not agree with each group of people pastor Niemoller felt guilty for not defending, that is exactly the point: you certainly wouldn't have agreed with the German solution to the "problems" they posed to German society. The same goes for weapons laws in this country.

Restrictive firearms laws aren't a problem in Texas? You're OK. California is a long way away. You're not a 50BMG shooter? No problem, nothing to worry about today. You're not an assault-weapon enthusiast? No problem, you've got your handgun. The problem is that each new generation of laws becomes more and more restrictive. Even those who live in Texas should be concerned with what is happening in blue states!

We stood by while laws were passed that slowly eroded our freedoms. The .50BMG ban proposal is in Congress again. All of this adds up to serious reduction in 2nd. amendment freedoms nationally, and especially in high-density population areas of the West (left) coast and the Northeast.

I think the NRA's "America's First Freedom" campaign is right on the mark. It's taken me a while to come to this conclusion, but 2nd amendment rights secure the 1st and all others.

What you are missing is that in order for you to exercise your God given Second Amendment Right, you have to have a license FRom a government agency.

No license, no "legal" carry.

Pray tell, where is it stated that the government has the authority to license a God given right?

Government "assumed" the authority, and have never relenquished it. And, since the legal system is mostly designed to protect the government FRom the people, it is unlikely that We the People will ever (except in Vermont) be able to FReely exercise our Second Amendment Rights.

The law once was that if you misused a weapon (and got caught), you got punished for your action. Clean. Neat. Cut and dry. Break the law, go to jail. Deeds have consequences. "Commit the crime, do the time."

Now, just the mere ownership of a weapon is a crime and is grounds for incarceration, if you get caught with it and do not have permission FRom the government to carry. That, of course, assumes you can get permission in the first place.

I don't believe in CCW, and refuse to accede to the government's demand that I register as a gun owner. It is none of their damn business whether I own weapons for my and my family's self-protection or not.

If I should misues one of my weapons, I must be prepared to bear the consequences of my actions. Just carrying a weapon does not, IMHO, constitute "misuse."

Consequently, I ignore the CCW laws.