Ahem; “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
You ever get the impression that liberals just kind of having a reading disorder and skip over the operative word there?
I just can’t wait to here the logic of how the Constitution protects gay marriage (which is arguably true, I’ll admit), yet doesn’t guarantee the right to bear arms.
Some other things California might consider within the power of the government despite the Constitution:
A (presumably bitter) gun-toting (and presumably clinging) “posse” in Ohio captured a wanted man (Fox would be the ones to cover it) over the weekend.
But I though guns were bad and made people want to kill each other and stuff. Oh, wait. No I didn’t. Because I have a brain. And I’ve actually seen, touched, held, and fired a gun without either a) hurting someone or b) screaming like a little girl and trying to get as far away from the scary gun as possible. Although as guns go, they weren’t very big or loud or powerful, just small small-caliber rifles, a pellet gun, and (*blush with embarrassment at counting this as a gun*) a BB gun.
Last night I heard this politician
Talking ’bout his brand new mission
Liked his plans, but they
Came undone when he got
Around to God and guns
I don’t know how he grew up
But it sure wasn’t down
At the hunting club
Cause if it was he’d
Understand just a little bit
More about the working man
God and guns
Keep us strong
That’s what this country
Was founded on
Well, we might as well give up and run
If we let ‘em take our God and guns
Yeah, out here in my neck of the woods
Where God is great and guns are good
You really can’t know that much about ‘em
If you think we’re better off without ‘em
Well, there was a time – we ain’t forgot
You could rest all night
With your doors unlocked
But there ain’t nobody safe no more
So you say your prayers and
You thank the Lord
For that peacemaker
In the dresser drawer
God and guns (God and guns)
Keep us strong
That’s what this country (Lord)
Was founded on
Well, we might as well give up and run,
If we let ‘em take our God and guns.
Yeah, we might as well give up and run,
If we let ‘em take our God and guns!
Yeah
Oh
God and guns
Don’t let ‘em take
Don’t you let ‘em take
Don’t let ‘em take
Our God and guns
Oh God and guns
Ye keep us strong
That’s what this country (Lord)
Was founded on
Well we might as well give up and run,
If we let ‘em take our God and guns!
I went to Chicago over the weekend. My church and many sister churches were part of the ICMC (International Campus Ministry Conference), where a bunch of college students get together and fellowship and learn stuff. On Friday, we had the HOPE “day of service” called “Lots of Change.” Basically, most of the students at the ICMC went around a rough Chicago neighborhood called Englewood and picked up a lot of trash.
Afterwards, we all met up at Sherman Park, had lunch, and listened to a few of the people who organized/sponsored Lots of Change give speeches. It was great and I got to hang out with some friends I haven’t seen in years, but there were two or three things that ticked me off (although this wasn’t a surprise; it is Chicago).
An Illinois state senator got up and gave a short speech. In it, he quoted MLK and, later, read a bit from one of the Corinthean books (he just said “Corintheans” without a number – and I think without a chapter or verse). Anyway, when he mentioned Corintheans, a bunch of students cheered a bit (we weren’t expecting a secular speaker to read from the Bible). He then destroyed any rapport he’d gained with us with a snide remark along these lines “So Corintheans gets applause and MLK doesn’t?”
That’s right, Mr. Senator. MLK was definitely a great guy and a historic figure, but there are two reasons we would honor Corintheans more than him.
Everyone and his dog quotes MLK. This is not a bad thing, but if people applauded every time MLK was quoted, we’d probably need new hands (evidenced by the fact that the speaker before him also quoted MLK).
Any true Christian would not put MLK on the same level as the apostles. And I really, really doubt MLK would put himself on the same level as them. He was a great orator and all, but the apostles had the explicit approval of the Lord.
At some point, Chicago’s mayor Richard Daley gave a speech. First of all, let me say that I’m automatically suspicious of anyone who’s held a position like mayor for over twenty years – be they hardcore conservative or super-green-hippie liberal. But more specifically, he brought two political issues into his speech that had no business there.
He spoke very passionately against the U.S. gun industry. He specifically mentioned an NRA rider on the Obamacare bill that prevents a gun owner’s insurance from going up or something if he accidentally shoots his neighbor’s kid.
He talked about how we need to stop the warmongers.
Let me first say that if that rider he mentioned is what he made it out to be, then I agree with him that it shouldn’t have been passed. That said, he had no business attacking the gun industry.
I’m sure he utilizes many guns indirectly. He’s a mayor! He’s got bodyguards, and there’s a large police force in his city. What does he think they use to defend folks? Archery?
Guns are no more evil than the Internet, or pencils, or hammers, or any other tool. And a mayor who’s probably (albeit unintentionally) helped the illegal gun industry a lot (by supporting gun bans) shouldn’t be criticizing the legitimate gun industry.
It isn’t the wisest thing to mention any political issue when you’re talking to folks from all over the country – and even some other countries. The majority of the guys staying in my hotel room were pretty ticked off by his comments.
When he talked about warmongers, I’m assuming he meant proponents of our military presence in the Middle East (he complained that we spend billions of dollars on our military overseas, but can’t spend the money to help people in Chicago’s low-class neighborhoods) or perhaps Republicans in general, since that is one of the Dem’s nicknames for the GOP.
I may not fully agree with the military’s actions, but you cannot deny the good we have done in Iraq, at least. You cannot honestly compare cleaning up trash to saving many lives from terrorism/militant fascism.
No one who spends their city’s money on “green” stuff has any right to complain about how the nation’s money is spent on the military (he was touted for his environmentalism, among other things, when he was introduced). Even if I thought “climate change” was a threat, I’d consider other things much more important (at least immediately so).
Maybe you ought to focus less on funneling money into the areas and more on convincing those who need help to help themselves. I’m not saying we shouldn’t do stuff like what we did at Lots of Change, but anything you do to help them like that is just a quick fix; a remedy for the symptoms. There were several people who came out and watched us pick up trash. They were nice and polite and all (and they thanked us, too), but why weren’t they cleaning up? This trash we picked up was usually on or near the sidewalk; a lot of it was in people’s own front yards! They just don’t care enough to clean it up. Until you fix that, the trash will just build up again. This principle transfers to more serious things, too. You could confiscate all the guns in Englewood (which had well over 100 homicides this past year), but until you get a stronger police presence (only so much police is good), or eliminate the desire to kill each other, or loosen gun control laws (enabling folks to defend themselves – the laws obviously aren’t stopping the violence), or some combination thereof, you’ll continue to have violence and they’ll just get replacements.
Apparently, my brother and Frank J. have the same birthday, June 4th. Unfortunately for Frank, my brother’s the only person in my family who is apathetic concerning politics (the rest of us being hard-line conservatives). That’s not so bad, but just to annoy the rest of us, he wears an Obama shirt.
Also, June 4th is apparently National Gun Safety Day. At first glance, it might seem a day liberals would celebrate. After all, since they’re so scared of guns, what could be better than promoting gun safety? But after that thought, logic and brain power kicks in and you realize that they’re probably more terrified of National Gun Safety Day than they are of the guns themselves. Why? Because the words “gun” and “safe” aren’t supposed to go together in their minds. If people start thinking guns are safe, which they are, (provided you keep them away from criminals, idiots, lunatics, children, and monkeys) then people will be even less gung-ho about the whole tearing-apart-the-second-amendment-and-using-it-for-kitty-litter-thing.
Congress sent Obama a bill that does some fancy stuff with credit card management yesterday. Judging by the overwhelming Democrat support, I’m inclined not to like this bill. However, it’s like not liking a particular flavor of Kool-Aid – I still love the sugar!
You know how every cloud has a silver lining? Well, this one’s pretty obvious. A rider on this bill will allow people who can legally carry to legally carry on national parks. I actually don’t really care one way or another about that. In terms of problems that need solving, how many people actually get killed or seriously injured in ways that guns could prevent in national parks? And in terms of the Constitution, I think the government has a right to prohibit guns on government property. That’s why I’m not so opposed to gun bans in schools. I don’t like them, but I do think they’re legal. Anywhere else, and you’ll be walking on the fightin’ side of me, but if the government wants to control weapons on its own turf, that’s tolerable by me. That said, the more places guns are legal, the better! Even if there’s no direct benefit to having guns in parks, it could crack the door a bit more for Concealed Carry on Campus and the like.
On a related note, it turns out that NCSU students are not allowed to bring their own bows on campus because of risks. Really? So how many kids were killed by arrows to make that necessary? I’m hardly going to fight this much, mostly because of the bow & arrow obsolescence, but the only thing this ban does is make the Archery class harder for students who have their own bows, particularly if they’re unnaturally tall or short. But I’m neither and I don’t own a bow, so what do I care?
Sorry the picture is so small, limitations of the site. Text details below (and you can change it yourself!).
FRONT: Dear President Obama, Congrats, but:
I’m a Jesus-loving, Bible-reading, Rush-
listening, abortion-hating, Reagan-missing,
“green”-disproving, porkulus-disliking, gun-
owning, knife-wearing, America-supporting…
BACK:
terrorist-opposing, 9/11-remembering,
marriage-protecting, black-befriending,
ACORN-disapproving conservative,
“bitterly clinging” to my guns and religion, and that ain’t gonna “change!”
RIGHT SHOULDER:
Christian.
Conservative.
Republican.
Let me start this off by saying that I would never kill anyone. I probably wouldn’t even carry a gun. If I did, it’d be unloaded and for show only (who’s going to mug you if they see a pistol?).
That said, I am totally against gun bans. Some laws are necessary. For example, I think the government’s well within its rights to deny guns to ex-cons. That makes sense, regardless of whether it actually makes a difference. Also, having tests for safety, proficiency, and mental stability also make sense. And while I don’t totally support this, I do see the benefit to outlawing the firing of guns except in defense. If everyone’s allowed to shoot guns whenever they want, accidents are going to happen. But outlawing guns, or concealed carry of guns (in general), has two MAJOR problems with it.
First, it is illegal to do so (ban guns, not concealed carry). As everyone knows, the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America states that we have the right to bear arms. Any move to outlaw such arms shows blatant disregard for the law of the land.
Second, it is stupidity incarnate. As the saying goes, “If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns.” The whole idea behind gun control is to keep people from getting shot, right? If I want to go commit a shooting murder, do you think I’ll think twice about owning a gun illegally? On the other hand, if I think the people around my target may have guns themselves, I will think twice about the shooting. I saw a bumper sticker on Facebook that made an excellent point. When was the last time you saw a sign in front of a house declaring it to be gun-free? Never, I bet. Why is that? Because that sign would translate to criminals as “Rob, Shoot, Rape, Murder, Plunder, & Pillage Me, Please! As long as you bring a gun, you’ll be fine!”
People often trumpet school shootings like Columbine and Virginia Tech as prime examples of why gun control is a good thing. Tell me something; was it legal for either of those shooters to own guns? To bring them on campus? To fire them? No? Whatever do you mean?! It’s illegal, they couldn’t possibly do those things! People, outlawing something is not the same as getting rid of it.
Then people say that they don’t want everyone on the street walking around with a gun. Guess what? Neither do gun enthusiasts! Being against gun bans and gun control is not the same as wanting them to be sold at the local Hess station. And even if it was that legal, do you really think everyone would buy a gun?
I’ll adapt an IMAO analogy here. We’ll lower the level we’re talking about. Imagine a playground full of kids (about age 12 or so). Now imagine one of those kids is malicious and has a knife. Now imagine that half of the other kids has a knife. Do you think the first kid is going to try anything?
Let’s imagine a different scenario. In this one, the teacher has prohibited knives, but the malicious one managed to sneak one onto the playground. Will he think twice this time?
I’m not saying we should allow knives on playgrounds or anything, but you get the gist of it.
And after all this debate with theories and hypothesis, it’s always good to abandon Socrates’ lack of a scientific mind and look at the world around us and examine cause-and-effect.
Kennesaw, Georgia. “Gun Town, USA.” When it passed an ordinance requiring the majority of head-of-households to own and maintain firearms (unanimously, might I add) in 1982, it was ridiculed. But guess what? There is virtually no violent crime in Kennesaw anymore. The one fatal gun indident was an accident caused by and only involving out-of-towners, and the one murder was done with a knife. Meanwhile, crime climbed in Morton Grove, Illinois, where guns were outlawed until just last year. The populations shifted, too. Kennesaw grew and nearly quadrupled since ’90; Morton Grove grew by a mere 99 people (less than 1/2 of a percent). I don’t even know if that counts as growth, since the U.S. grew by 50,000,000 (roughly 20%). So technically, you could say Morton Grove shrunk by roughly 19% (I know, the numbers don’t really match up, but the point remains the same).
Another thing liberals bring up is all the accidental deaths by guns. These happen for a few reasons. First, maybe the gun owner wasn’t careful enough. That’s a decent argument for putting some restrictions on ownership, but not for outlawing guns. Second, kids these days aren’t taught to respect guns. You can tell them “guns are bad” all you want, but for a certain time in their childhood, guns are going to seem cool. And all they learn about them is from movies and TV, where death is a matter of jokes and impermanence. Plus, the only guns they’re ever exposed to are toys.
Whether or not you actually want your kid shooting a gun is your choice. But you should teach them about guns, and respect thereof. The kid in A Christmas Story might have shot his eye out, but I’ll bet he was careful with guns the rest of his life! I got my first and (so far) only gun when I was eight. It was a Daisy BB gun. I’ve fired my dad’s rifle a few times and I used a small rifle a couple of times in Riflery at camp. Little Johnny, on the other hand, has never touched a gun in his life. If me and Johnny separately find guns in a trash can, or in a woman’s open purse (this actually happened, as I recall), who do you think is more likely to kill someone?
It’s like hiding cars from your kids their entire lives because crashes kill people. Then they find a car one day and run into a tree. Now who’s fault is that?
One last thing to you gun control enthusiasts. Guess who agrees with you? Mao, Hitler, Stalin. The original reason for bearing arms, anyway, is to overthrow the government should it ever become too oppressive. Naturally, it makes sense for people who are about to enforce wildly…provocative measures to remove guns from the populace first. Let’s see…what other world leader likes gun control…can we remember? Yes We Can!
Chicago
Posted by guffyconservative on 08/02/2010
I went to Chicago over the weekend. My church and many sister churches were part of the ICMC (International Campus Ministry Conference), where a bunch of college students get together and fellowship and learn stuff. On Friday, we had the HOPE “day of service” called “Lots of Change.” Basically, most of the students at the ICMC went around a rough Chicago neighborhood called Englewood and picked up a lot of trash.
Afterwards, we all met up at Sherman Park, had lunch, and listened to a few of the people who organized/sponsored Lots of Change give speeches. It was great and I got to hang out with some friends I haven’t seen in years, but there were two or three things that ticked me off (although this wasn’t a surprise; it is Chicago).
An Illinois state senator got up and gave a short speech. In it, he quoted MLK and, later, read a bit from one of the Corinthean books (he just said “Corintheans” without a number – and I think without a chapter or verse). Anyway, when he mentioned Corintheans, a bunch of students cheered a bit (we weren’t expecting a secular speaker to read from the Bible). He then destroyed any rapport he’d gained with us with a snide remark along these lines “So Corintheans gets applause and MLK doesn’t?”
That’s right, Mr. Senator. MLK was definitely a great guy and a historic figure, but there are two reasons we would honor Corintheans more than him.
At some point, Chicago’s mayor Richard Daley gave a speech. First of all, let me say that I’m automatically suspicious of anyone who’s held a position like mayor for over twenty years – be they hardcore conservative or super-green-hippie liberal. But more specifically, he brought two political issues into his speech that had no business there.
Let me first say that if that rider he mentioned is what he made it out to be, then I agree with him that it shouldn’t have been passed. That said, he had no business attacking the gun industry.
When he talked about warmongers, I’m assuming he meant proponents of our military presence in the Middle East (he complained that we spend billions of dollars on our military overseas, but can’t spend the money to help people in Chicago’s low-class neighborhoods) or perhaps Republicans in general, since that is one of the Dem’s nicknames for the GOP.
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Posted in Christianity, College/NCSU, Gun Control, HOPE, ICMC, Spending | Tagged: "Corintheans", "Lots, (albeit, (although, (as, (enabling, (evidenced, (he, (Passed), -, 1, 100, 2, 3, A, about, accidentally, actions, again, against, agree, all, along, also, among, an, and, any, anyone, anything, Anyway, Apostles, applauded, applause, approval, archery, Are, areas, aren't, around, assuming, at, attacking, automatically, bad, bans), Basically, be, been, before, Bible, bill, billions, bit, bodyguards, books, brought, build, bunch, business, but, by, called, came, campus, can't, cannot, care, change, chapter, cheered, chicago, Chicago's, Chicago). An, christian, church, churches, city, city's, clean, cleaning, climate, college, combination, comments. When, compare, complain, complained, Conference), confiscate, conservative, consider, continue, control, convincing, Corinthean, could, countries, Country, criticizing, Daley, day, defend, definitely, dems, deny, desire, destroyed, did, do, does, doesn't?" That's, dog, dollars, Don't, done, doubt.", Each, East, eliminate, Englewood, enough, environmentalism, even, Every, everyone, Evil, expecting, explicit, fact, fascism, fellowship, few, figure, First, fix;, focus, folks?, for, force, Friday, friends, from, front, fully, funneling, gained, gave, general, get, Gets, give, Going, good, gop, Got, great, green, guffy, guffyconservative, gun, guns, guy, guys, had, hammers, hands, hang, hardcore, has, Have, haven't, he'd, he's, held, help, helped, him, himself, his, historic, homicides, honestly, honor, hope, hotel, how, I, I'm, I'd, ICMC, if, illegal, illinois, immediately, important, in, indirectly., Industry, insurance, international, Internet, into, introduced)., Iraq, is, Isn't, issue, issues, It, Just, kid., kill, large, later, laws, learn, least, legitimate, less, let, level, liberal, Like, lines, listened, lives, loosen, Lord. At, lot, low-class, lunch., Made, majority, many, may, Maybe, mayor, Me!, meant, mention, mentioned, met, middle, military, military's, Ministry, mlk, money, More, most, Mr., much, My, nations, near, need, neighbor's, neighborhood, neighborhoods), new, nice, nicknames, No, not, NRA, number, obamacare, obviously, of, off, on, one, Only, or, orator, organized/sponsored, Other, ought, our, out, over, overseas, own, owner's, park, part, passionately, past, pencils, people, peoples', perhaps, pick, picked, point, police, polite, political, position, presence, pretty, prevents, principle, Probably, proponents, put, quick, Quoted, quotes, rapport, Read, really, reasons), remark, remedy, replacements., republicans, Richard, rider, right, room, rough, said, same, saving, Say, saying, secular, seen, Senator, serious, service, several, Sherman, shoots, short, shouldn't, sidewalk;, since, sister, snide, so, Some, something, speaker, specifically, speech, Speeches, spend, spends, spent, spoke, state, staying, stop, stopping, stronger, students, stuff, super-green-hippie, supporting, sure, surprise, suspicious, symptoms., talked, talking, terrorism/militant, than, thanked, that, the, their, them, themselves, then, there, There's, thereof, these, they, they'll, thing, things, think, This, those, thought, threat, three, ticked, time, to, together, too, tool., touted, transfers, trash, trash. Afterwards, true, twenty, two, u.s., unintentionally), Until, Up, us, use, usually, utilizes, verse)., very, Violence, warmongers, warmongers. Let, Was, Wasn't, watched, we, we'd, We'll, weekend., went, Were, weren't, what, when, where, which, who, who's, why, will, wisest, With, without, would, yards!, year, years, you, you'll, you're | 2 Comments »