Gun Nuts need to separate themselves from Hunters February 17, 2003
"The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." -Vincent Van Gogt
I don't hunt. It's the most inhumane thing to do in the outdoors, after all, when I make time to spend in the shrinking outdoors, with subdivisions encroaching, I want to see natures critters in their native habitat, I like to hear the birds singing and not the sounds of some hunter indiscriminately blasting away especially if I'm on the other side of where he's blasting.
I don't hunt, I own guns.
They are my most valued possessions.
When I was 8, Dad gave me a model 25 Daisy BB gun, it had been passed down two generations, it has gold inlay & a 1925 patent date. When I turned 13, my dad bought my .22 Savage semi-automatic rifle. I loved to rip a full tube magazine of 15 shots as fast as I could pull the trigger. At 15, my Remington 1100 became my next favorite gun; I took up reloading shot shells, hunting dove & quail. I bought a .50 caliber black powder rifle for deer and killed my first at 18. At 21, I bought my first handgun, a Colt Series 70 Gold Cup.
I got a pet bird at 18, a cockatiel who is still with me today some 20 years later. I haven't hunted a bird since. Nor have I hunted deer since the first & last one that I killed in 1983. In fact, I don't anything hunt anymore but I love to shoot. In fact, I fire over a thousand rounds of ammo every month. I guess my ammo inventory in my garage would qualify as an arsenal.
Guns are special to me, like a Boon & Crocket trophy deer to a hunter. Being mechanically inclined, I have a great appreciation for the design of the action, in the exact same manner that someone appreciates a fine watch or a classic car.
So I watch with intent interest when any anti-gun person makes a statement in regards to gun legislation, including anti-gun hunters.
As a law abiding gun owner and human being, I disagree with all gun legislation.
As gun nuts, we must learn to separate ourselves from the hunters, those who would welcome every firearm restriction. Otherwise, we'll be lumped in the "savage" pile, PETA is right. Who needs to hunt today, all you could want is at the grocery store. I read stories about illegal poaching by hunters, hunting accidents, hunters shot by other hunters, cars shot by hunters , don’t get me started on the road signs shot up by hunters. I rarely read about assault rifle & handgun accidents at gun ranges. I read EVERY DAY how someone armed with a handgun saved a life or stopped a criminal in his tracks.
*A ban on military-style, semi-automatic assault weapons. I vehemently disagree. No restrictions whatsoever should be placed on these weapons. If our soldiers can be trusted with M16's or M60 machine guns in Iraq, Korea, Vietnam, they have the right to own and possess these weapons at home they lay down their lives for this very freedom every day. Besides who would use an assault rifle for hunting? The only place is see or use my assault rifle is at the two target ranges that I pay annual membership to belong to. I use my AR15, Russian SKS, AK-47 and "gasp" 50 caliber BMG rifle (man, I love my 50 BMG!)to compete in tactical matches. Once in a while I'll bring out the Browning 1919A7 belt fed for nostalgia’s sake. The only thing we "kill" is paper targets, not defenseless animals that are losing their habitat.
*Restrict handgun purchases to one gun per person per month. Never, when I have spare cash, I buy a new handgun. They are like coins and stamps to me. I want one of every caliber and variation made. I hope to have a complete collection of everything that Glock makes. But I do I think they should restrict hunting ammunition to 10 rounds per person per month. That would keep these moron hunters from indiscriminately blasting away. After all, I hunted with a muzzle loading rifle and all I had was one shot and because I was careful, one shot was all I needed. Hunters just "spray and pray", they blast away at helpless little animals with as many rounds as they have to make up for their lack of hunting skill. If I had my way, all hunting would be done with spears and bows. It was all the Native Americans needed.
*Gun fingerprinting. I have a serious problem with that. It is an immense waste of taxpayer funds. It in no way will help solve crimes, there are millions & millions of guns out there that will never be "finger printed", and as the Justice Department reported, over %80 of all gun crimes are committed with stolen weapons or guns obtained from friends or relatives. If such legislation is enacted, then it will be necessary to serialize shotgun shells & require some kind of paper trail to the ammunition, since the "shot" cannot be finger printed like a bullet can and, in fact, it is nearly impossible to trace or link a shotgun to a shooting death. It in no way affects my right to shoot my assault rifle at the target range since they are all pre-ban.
*Lengthening the waiting period for taking possession of a handgun from three days to 10. That’s fine; I am unaffected since, in Florida, my concealed carry license exempts me from any waiting period, one of the perks in having a FBI background check. I think they should also make the waiting period for purchasing any kind of hunting rifle or shotgun dependant on the hunter demonstrating that he can accurately hit his target under timed pressure. When he can demonstrate that he can humanely kill a poor animal with proper shot placement, then he can complete the purchase of his hunting rifle or shotgun. After all, animals killed by hunters are often never found due to poor shot placement or left to rot in the woods after being harvested only as a trophy. It in no way affects my right to shoot my assault rifle at the target range.
*Require annual background checks of those who hold Firearm Owners Identification Cards. If they do require annual checks, they should also test for drugs and alcohol. Especially during hunting season. A large number hunters that I know spend as much time boozing as they do hunting. Check all you want. It in no way affects my right to shoot my assault rifle at the range there is a zero tolerance for drugs and alcohol.
*Increase the cost of a FOID card. They should increase the cost of hunting licenses as well to pay for habitat reconstruction and litter pickup. Nothing pains my eyes more than to see the beer cans, Vienna sausage cans, and the survey ribbon strewed about the woods where I like to enjoy nature’s peace & solitude. I see trees shot to pieces by bored hunters, shotgun shell casings everywhere and the ground all rutted up by their 4 wheel drive trucks and their 4 wheelers. The dog hunters are even worse. Dogs run off every kind of creature, I’ve seen angry hunters shot their hunting dogs for not obeying a command and every year I see abandoned hunting dogs along the roadside. The increased fees would no way affects my right to shoot my assault rifle since we have trash cans and people are required to pick up their brass at the gun range.
*Mandate background checks of people who buy firearms at gun shows. With my CCW permit, I paid for my right to buy my guns unharrassed. Hunters should have to go through a background check every time they buy guns or ammo no matter where they buy from to check for DUI violations and hunting violations. It in no way affects my right to shoot my assault rifle at the gun range.
*State licensing of gun dealers and a state database of gun information. Gun dealers are already licensed, fingerprinted and photographed by the Federal Government; BATF makes regular records inspections at dealer’s places of business as well. Perhaps a higher hunting license fee to pay for the states costs in maintaining this database since hunters have the most right to possess firearms. It will in no way affect my right to shoot my assault rifle at the gun range since I don't need a hunting license to shoot paper.
*Increased penalty for secret compartments in vehicles for weapons. When my handgun is stolen from my vehicle, I want State subsidized insurance that pays %100 for replacing my stolen gun. I also want a state release from liability for what that gun is used for after being stolen. But I seriously doubt criminals would have an interest in an encased hunting rifle or shotgun laid openly on the seat or small pistol case for that matter, you can't tell what's in a gun case right?. It in no way affects my right to shoot my assault rifle at the gun range since I use something other than a gun case for transport my rifle in and I disguise it well and my handgun is always on my person.
Daley's proposals make no sense, just like any other anti-gun proposal. Murder is illegal, domestic abuse is illegal, robbery is illegal but no piece of paper or law book has ever stopped a crime much less a bullet But handguns have and do so everyday. If "assault rifles" were such a problem, we'd hear about it everyday but, in fact, criminals are the problem and legislators do nothing but turn them back out on the street. By keeping crime high, legislators secure & justify their own jobs. According to a world report by UNICEF, the number one killer of children in developed nations is automobiles. And there are far too many of them on the road, and they damage the environment. Why don't we ban them and only allow police and military to operate motor vehicles.
I am a gun nut who doesn’t hunt. Guns mean more than life to me.
(It is with sarcasm that I criticize hunters, I do believe in hunting, I wanted to make a point about the stereotypes imposed on all gun owners, hunters included, so don't flame me over this, I support hunting and I am studying to become a hunter education instructor in Florida)
Outstanding letter! You just described me in the paragraph above. And like you, I quit hunting years ago, but used a one-shot muzzle loader when I did.
It is time to speak plainly for the good citizens and patriots of this nation who believe unbendingly in the Constitution of the United States of America.
Though foreign governments may disarm their subjects, we will not go down that road. We will not disarm and see our freedoms stripped away. The lessons of history are numerous, clear and bloody. A disarmed population inevitably becomes an enslaved population. A disarmed population is without power, reduced to childlike obedience to – and dependent upon – the organs of a parental state.
A disarmed population will lose – either piecemeal or in one sweeping act – those basic rights for which the citizens of America risked their lives and fortunes over 200 years ago. We will not disarm. The right to self protection – the internal directive of every living creature, be it mouse or man – is the most fundamental right of all. It is the right that must be exercised against the predators of the streets, against the predators hidden within agencies of law enforcement, and against the most dangerous predators of all – those to be found in government, whose insidious grasping for power is relentless and never-ending. We will not disarm.
Not in the face of robbers, rapists and murderers who prey upon our families and friends. Nor in the face of police and bureau agents who would turn a blind eye to the Constitution, who would betray the birthright of their countrymen; nor in the face of politicians of the lowest order – those who pander to the ignorant, the weak, the fearful, the naïve; those indebted to a virulent strain of the rich who insulate themselves from the dangers imposed upon other Americans and then preach disarmament. We will not surrender our handguns.
We will not surrender our hunting arms. And we will not surrender our firearms of military pattern or utility, nor their proper furnishings, nor the right to buy, to sell, or to manufacture such items. Firearms of military utility, which serve well and nobly in times of social disturbance as tools of defense for the law abiding, serve also in the quiet role of prevention, against both the criminal and the tyrannical. An armed citizenry – the well regulated militia of the Second Amendment, properly armed with military firearms – is a powerful deterrant, on both conscious and subconcious levels, to those inclined towards governmental usurpations.
An armed citizenry stands as a constant reminder to those in power that, though they may violate our rights temporarily, they will not do so endlessly and without consequence. And should Americans again be confronted with the necessity of – may God forbid it – throwing off the chains of a tyrannical and suffocating regime, firearms designed to answer the particular demands of warfare will provide the swiftest and most decisive means to this end. Any law which prohibits or limits a citizen’s possession of firearms of military utility or their proper furnishings, provides an open window through which a corrupt government will crawl to steal away the remainder of our firearms and our liberties.
Any law which prohibits or limits a citizen’s possession of firearms of military utility or their proper furnishings, being directly contrary to the letter and spirit of the Second Amendment, is inimical to the Constitution, to the United States of America, and to it’s citizens. Now – today – we are witnessing the perilous times foreseen by the architects of the Constitution. These are times when our government is demanding – in the guise of measures for the common good – the relinquishment of several rights guaranteed to Americans in the Constitution, foremost among which is the right to keep and bear arms for our own defense. These are times when our government has abdicated its primary responsibility -- to provide for the security of its citizens. Swift and sure punishment of outlaws is absent, and in its place is offered the false remedy of disarming of the law-abiding. Where this unconstitutional action has been given the force of law it has failed to provide relief and has produced greater social discord. This discord in turn now serves as the false basis for the demand that we give up other rights, and for the demand for more police, more agents of bureaucratic control to enforce the revocation of these rights. Legislators, justices and law officers must bear in mind that the foundation of their duties is to uphold the fundamental law of the land – the Constitution.
They must bear in mind that the unconstitutional act of disarming one’s fellow citizens will also disarm one’s parents, spouse, brothers, sisters, children and children’s children. They must bear in mind that there are good citizens who – taking heed of George Washington’s belief that arms are the liberty teeth of the people – will not passively allow these teeth to be torn out. There are good citizens who – taking heed of Benjamin Franklin’s admonition that those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety – will surrender not one of their rights. Those who eat away at our right to own and use firearms are feeding on the roots of a plant over two centuries old, a plant whose blossom is the most free, most powerful nation ever to exist on the face of this planet. The right to keep and bear arms is the taproot of this plant.
All other rights were won at the point of a gun and will endure only at the point of a gun. Could they speak, millions upon millions of this world’s dead souls would testify to this truth. Millions upon millions of the living can so testify today. Now – today – is a critical moment in our history. Will we Americans passively lie down before a government disdainful of it’s best citizens? Or will we again declare: WE are the government, government functions at our behest, and it may not rescind our sacred rights? Will we place our faith in public servants who behave like our masters? Or will we place our faith in the words and deeds of the daring, far-seeing men and women whose blood, sweat and tears brought forth this great nation? Will we believe those who assure us that the police officer will shield us from the criminal? Or will we believe our eyes and ears, presented every day with news of our unarmed neighbors falling prey in their homes, on our streets, in our places of work and play? Will we bow our heads to cowards and fools who will not learn and do not understand the lessons of human history? Or will we stand straight and assume the daily tasks and risks that liberty entails? Will we ignore even the lessons of this present era – which has seen the cruel oppression of millions on the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and South America – and believe that the continent of North America is immune to such political disease? Or will we wisely accept the realities of the world, wisely listen to and make use of the precautions provided by our ancestors? Will we be deceived by SHAMELESS LIARS who say that disarmament equals safety, helplessness equals strength, patriotism equals criminality? Or will we mark the words of our forefathers, who wrote in plain language: The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed? Let us make known: We will choose the latter option in every case.
Legislators: Do your duty to your country. Uphold the Constitution as you swore to do. Do not shame yourselves by knocking loose the mighty keystone of this great republic – the right to bear arms.
Justices: Do your duty to country. Examine the origins of our right to weaponry and uphold the letter and spirit of the Constitution.
Lawmen: Do your duty to your country. Do not be misguided and misused. Your task is to serve and protect – not to oppress, to disarm and to make helpless your countrymen. To the blind, the ignorant, the apathetic, the safe and sheltered, these may seem to be concerns of another age. They are not. They are as vital as they ever have been through history. For times may change but human nature does not. And it is to protect forever against the evil in human nature that the Founding Fathers set aside certain rights as inviolable.
For these reasons we must now make known: We will not passively take the path that leads to tyranny. We will not go down that road.
WE WILL NOT DISARM.
wish I'd said that...