Armed America

[Elspode]

I am a former gun owner/frequent shooter. My interests have shifted, but I have nothing against people owning guns, and would own some again now that my kids are grown...if I could justify the expense. And I'm pretty damn Liberal compared to Maggie and UG.

I am of the "if you didn't want to get shot, why were you stealing my car stereo?" school for the most part. Yes, I know that would be illegal. But, Liberal or no, I do believe that the fear of getting shot is a powerful deterrent to the criminal element. Also, I'm Liberal enough to not want the police and the army to be the only ones in my country who have guns. It strikes me as unfair.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Elspode

. . .I'm pretty damn Liberal compared to Maggie and UG. . . Liberal enough to not want the police and the army to be the only ones in my country who have guns. It strikes me as unfair.

Very well said, Elspode. I wish all those who call themselves liberals had your abundant common sense.

I won't quote xoxoBruce's post, but it's also one that shows why I think he's smart. Kudos is in order.

Remember, everyone (and especially you, Spexx): Spexxvet is not rational on the subject of killing tools. He refuses to learn anything at all on the subject, preferring to stay swaddled in his maladaptive fantasies, never understanding whenever this is possible the evils that are firmly supported by his entire thinking on the matter. Were he ever to understand arms as they should be understood, his entire intellectual ediface on the topic would come crashing about his ears, and he lives in apparent terror of this. It's a great pity, because were his ediface to collapse and reality be allowed to shine its glorious ray in, he'd become a much better citizen of this Republic than he is now, with his pro-crime and pro-genocide views, not consciously known to him but evident in his posts.

I, of course, have neither of these maladaptive views.

This is fortunate, as it keeps me from committing crimes against humanity and being tried and hanged at The Hague. Spexxvet, unfortunately, has no such luck.

The willing eschewal of violence may be quite civilized indeed, but it cannot be relied upon, human free will being what it is. Every generation of man starts from the same baseline, with the very same percentage of those with violent predelictions. Essentially, every generation must undertake to purge the brutes from itself: there are very few assy grandfathers, but more than a few assy twentysomethings, isn't that so? They either convert to something better or they die, inbetween measures like imprisonment going without saying. Again, every generation has those who are not willing to "resolve conflict nonviolently," and there is no prospect of an end to this. The reason being that evolution takes no notice of civilization.

Gun people appreciate civilization more than nongun people -- for they can defend it regardless of the level of violence the uncivilized bring to bear on it. The likes of Spexx run out of effect if the baddies bring anything more frightful or efficient than a thrown rock.