By Molly Ivins
Let me start this discussion by pointing out that I am not antigun. I’m pro-knife.
Consider the merits of the knife.
In the first place, you have catch up with someone in order to stab him. A general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness. We'd turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don't ricochet. And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives. 
As a civil libertarian, I of course support the Second Amendment. And I believe it means exactly what it says: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Fourteen-year-old boys are not part of a well-regulated militia. Members of wacky religious cults are not part of a well-regulated militia. Permitting unregulated citizens to have guns is destroying the security of this free state.
I am intrigued by the arguments of those who claim to follow the judicial doctrine of original intent. How do they know it was the dearest wish of Thomas Jefferson's heart that teenage drug dealers should cruise the cities of this nation perforating their fellow citizens with assault rifles? Channeling?
There is more hooey spread about the Second Amendment. It says quite clearly that guns are for those who form part of a well-regulated militia, i.e., the armed forces including the National Guard. The reasons for keeping them away from everyone else get clearer by the day.
The comparison most often used is that of the automobile, another lethal object that is regularly used to
wreak great carnage. Obviously, this society is full of people who haven't got enough common sense to use an automobile properly. But we haven't outlawed cars yet.
We do, however, license them and their owners, restrict their use to presumably sane and sober adults and keep track of who sells them to whom. At a minimum, we should do the same with guns.
In truth, there is no rational argument for guns in this society. This is no longer a frontier nation in which people hunt their own food. It is a crowded, overwhelmingly urban country in which letting people have access to guns is a continuing disaster.
Those who want guns – whether for target shooting, hunting or potting rattlesnakes (get a hoe) – should be subject to the same restrictions placed on gun owners in England – a nation in which liberty has survived nicely without an armed populace.
The argument that "guns don't kill people" is patent nonsense. Anyone who has ever worked in a cop shop knows how many family arguments end in murder because there was a gun in the house. Did the gun kill someone? No. But if there had been no gun, no one would have died. At least not without a good footrace first. Guns do kill. Unlike cars, that is all they do.
Michael Crichton makes an interesting argument about technology in his thriller Jurassic Park. He points out that power without discipline is making this society into a wreckage. By the time someone who studies the martial arts becomes a master – literally able to kill with bare hands – that person has also undergone years of training and discipline. But any fool can pick up a gun and kill with it.
For years, I used to enjoy taunting my gun-nut friends about their psychosexual hang-ups – always in a spirit of good cheer, you understand. But letting the noisy minority in the National Rifle Association force us to allow this carnage to continue is just plain insane.
I do think gun nuts have a power hang-up. I don't know what is missing in their psyches that they need to feel they have to have the power to kill. But no sane society would allow this to continue.
Ban the damn things. Ban them all.
You want protection? Get a dog.
Fort Worth Telegram. March 9, 1993
10 comments:
Catholic Diocese of Brownsville removes priest over sexual misconduct with a minor accusation
In this case a dog will not help.
BOLA DE MENSOS "LAWSUIT", THEY ARE THE RICHES GANGS IN THE WORLD!
Be careful if you want to buy from Temu BIG RAQUETA bigger than el valle del rio grande serious...
congress investigating this company from China.
Catholic Diocese of Brownsville removes priest over sexual misconduct with a minor accusation
Where did the church find this person? at a homeless shelter? sleeping on the streets? living under the bridge on hwy 77?
Oh, he was referred by the Pope. so sorrry!!!
Charlotte, a stingray with no male companion, is pregnant in her mountain aquarium
beware!
Molly got a dog because nobody would fuck her except the dog. Places with the most gun control have the most crime. The same people who want to take your guns don't want to enforce the laws. Republicans make it worse by not allowing abortion to control the overbreeding of inner city criminals.
I will continue to defend the gun. The gun is just a tool. How a person uses it depends on the individual.I do however believe our country is on the right path. Parents are being made responsible for their children’s actions. We are also bringing to light mental illness. Great! These are two key factors in reducing mass killings. Now its time to make sure our prosecutors become tough on crime and request stiff penalties. We have been too easy on crime in this nation. We have refused to face the facts and in turn blame the gun. For those that continue to want to disarm the population please take note that this will never happen. But there is always an alternative for gun haters. You can always move to North Korea where citizens are not allowed to own guns. Please say hello to Kim Jong Un for me. I'm sure you will all love it there.
She is a fake reporter like you.
February 14, 2024 at 12:45 PM
Y tu mama la mamona fake teenager dresses like one y tu con los de color joto!
February 14, 2024 at 10:08 AM
PENDEJO you don't even know what a gun looks like mamon...
Too much *st.upid here to unpack, I'll say this though, this lady does not get to choose how I defend myself or my family. Her fear of firearms means nothing to the safety of my family. Quite frankly f**k hers and your feelings if legal and responsible gun ownership scare you. The idea that "someone is coming to save you" is flawed and will get you killed in the real world, a world she obviously knows nothing about.
I can only laugh at her notion that ONLY Armed Forces should be able to possess firearms, for that is the VERY REASON "dearest Thomas Jefferson" wrote the Second Amendment. Guns are not solely for hunting or for protection, they are aids to the common man. Aids to keep government in check. Guns are for the people to KEEP TYRANICAL GOVERNMENTS from being able to strip free men and women of their rights. Lady thinks she knows better than our Founders, the founders who had just won a war against....a TYRANICAL GOVERNMENT. But don't tell her that because facts and her do not go together well.
Post a Comment