Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Clark
Our right to own guns is why we have our freedom...
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Someone wrote in another thread earlier today that to Americans, guns are a symbol of freedom. Sadly that is true: sadly, because Americans settle too readily for symbols instead of demanding reality.
I have lived 10+ years in three countries during my life: England (where I was born), Israel and the US. Instead of the US being the example to the rest of the world which it could have been if the principles on which it was founded had been defended, at least of those three countries, US citizens enjoy less privacy, fewer
practical rights and protections, and government is more intrusive.
If there is the slightest risk of something prompting even the discussion of gun control, Americans you couldn't normally pry away from their televisions will start parroting the most ludicrous reasons for keeping their guns. Try getting most of those people to talk about education, healthcare or the economy...
If people want to put their families at risk by having guns around, I guess that's their business. Naturally no-one ever admits that is what
they are doing: the stats are all generated by other people. I hope so. I cannot imagine how someone must feel if one of his guns is used to kill or wound someone close to him. What makes my teeth itch is the ridiculous idea that if we ever got a non-democratic government, the people would all rise up and defeat the would-be oppressors. It won't happen. The vast majority of people are sheep and some of the noisiest people now will be the first in line, queued up to hand over their guns when ordered to do so. And you can be damn sure that an order to surrender guns would be one of the first declarations of such a government.
Now imagine what the country might be like if as much energy and passion as the gun issue generates, instead went into things which might have a positive impact on our everyday lives. Then we might begin to have a country which
actually reflected what the Founding Fathers intended. That, far more than a cupboard full of guns, would be the best way to ensure we never need them.