What is it about guns that makes liberals want to ban them?
Posted by William Kapeles on July 16, 2007
Friends, I’ve been looking at my regular diet of internet sites that discuss conservatism, liberalism, guns, anti-guns, laws, politics, news, etc. One common theme has emerged: Conservative sites proclaim that liberals want to ban, legislate, and regulate every aspect of our lives, and the liberal sites say the same thing (in different words).
The rub, however, is that in order for the liberals to have the freedom to blab their stupidity to the masses, someone somewhere died while carrying a firearm for this country. Guns are freedom. Is this not apparent?
I ask the above question because I constantly run into people, even in sleepy Casper, WY, that believe guns are inherently evil and should not be available for public use and ownership. The mere fact that I own a gunshop and make my living by powder and ball frightens many people. What has this country come to?
Without the firearms that the Constitution guarantees us we would not have the power to control our government. That is a simple fact. Every society that does not have the freedom of weapon ownership (and that’s all of them outside of the US) has higher taxes, less representation, and less worldly power.
So what is so evil about firearms that would make a lot of people in the US want to ban them? I want to hear your ideas. I can parrot Rush, Ann Coulter, the NRA, etc., but I want to hear what you people think.
My own belief is that liberal people (aka democrats) are largely city dwellers, and thus exposed to the gangs, the crime, the “powerlessness of poverty” which I read as the “laziness of people who make excuses.” The only use of guns that they have ever been exposed to is the drive-by shootings in their neighborhoods. They know nothing about the use of weapons for hunting, carrying them for personal defense, and the personal ownership required to protect yourself from the government.
Following a gradual build-up of liberal animosity to weapons beginning in approximately 1970, the left has pushed for the total removal of guns from the US population. I find this astounding. Was it not the power of the gun that integrated the University of Alabama? Was it not the power of the gun (or the threat of it) that stayed the USSR’s ambition? Is it not the power of the gun that ultimately enforces all our laws?
So my take on the liberal hatred of firearms is that the people are uninformed, uneducated, and uncaring about their responsibilities as Americans. They simply want everything their way, without cost, and without accountability.
Let’s hear some other views on this.
opit said
Sigh. Where are you finding all these ‘liberals’? The word means people who want the government to keep its nose out of their nether regions BTW.
William Kapeles said
Opit,
Thank you for your comment. While you are correct in the dictionary definition of “liberal,” I think you would be hard pressed to demonstrate that the majority of people who define themselves as “liberal” or “democrat” (they are almost synonymous anymore) do not advocate larger government in general along with higher taxes, more regulation, etc. While the word has traditionally meant “favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties” (courtesy dictionary.com), the modern appellation of the word “liberal” denotes a person who believes that personal freedom is not generally good and that they know what is best for everyone. As that applies to guns – liberals of the modern variety believe that guns are not necessary for the indiividual to own for any reason, and that they should be done away with. This is directly counter to the traditional dictionary definition of “liberal.” I think the semantics of pop culture have bypassed your usage of the term “liberal.” Perhaps I should replace the word with “democrat” as well. Regardless, thank you for the read.
opit said
Teasing a bit. I am well aware that there is no respect for accuracy in the use of language. Even a lady who thinks of herself as Liberal/Democrat is p.o.’d with lack of respect for qualified gun owners and blanket legislation.
Anything of such nature needs to be kept from casual use or stupid things happen : between children and domestic disputes as aggravating factors. That is not to say clubs, etc. should not have armories. Why should they be kept at home ?
It is not the ‘fault’ of putative ‘Liberals’ that the government has gone nuts on legislation of various types – in fact, the Republicans are doing so and blaming ‘Liberal Democrats’. I can’t help people buying into that bumpf.
You might note I don’t have an axe to grind here : most Americans tend to regard the place I live as either the Great White North or Soviet Canuckistan.Neither of those labels is terribly accurate either.
Gun Registry has been tried here. If you want a selling-point for people not to get to crazy, I can regale you with tales of a memorable screw-up.
William Kapeles said
Opit, thanks for the follow-up. Didn’t the Nazi’s invent gun control legislation? Or were you referring to Canada’s and the UK’s problems with it? Regardless, registration doesn’t work. And to address your “why keep them at home?” comment, I would say that home is the best place for them. How many people, drugged or not, would break into a home if they knew there was a good chance that someone with a weapon was waiting to shoot them? Unfortunately, a lot of people are not responsible enough to own and use a weapon properly as you have mentioned, but I would rather tolerate them than give up the right to own my own weapons! Thanks again for the read.
opit said
I’m in Canada. It’s plenty big enough that ’solutions’ designed for metropolitan areas don’t work well in the ‘back of beyond’. The legislation here has not generally been all that intolerable until a few years ago some idiot tried to ‘justify’ his misbegotten hide by enacting laws designed to appease city folks.
Even allowing for the fact that non-registration is prevalent, the govt couldn’t even keep track of the information they had.