No. I’m sorry but no thanks. I stopped reasonable discussion, and compromise a long ago. With the recent snafu with Dick Metcalf and his odd anti-gun editorial in the latest issue of Guns and Ammo I thought putting my stance out there for everyone to digest would be a good idea. If you would like to read what Dick wrote click here.
As I started with I am not the reasonable type and I feel as gun owners we can’t fall into the trap of national dialogue and reasonable discussion. For some reason some gun owners feel the need to be reasonable and open towards the anti-gun side and want to come to the table and have that discussion or national dialogue we hear about so much from the mainstream media. Little do these gun owners know they are falling into a trap, the same trap Dick fell into. People like Dick feel that if they come to the table and show that gun owners are able to listen the people on the other side of that table are going to understand and be satisfied with just conversation. WRONG! Gun owners have been reasonable for far too long.
Every time we have a reasonable discussion the gun owners tend to be on the losing end of the outcome. They come to the table thinking “this will be the last time the Antis ask for anything. If we just give a little compromise everything will be ok.” We have given in little by little thinking this is the last peace offering we will have to make. Don’t believe me? Lets talk a little history.
- 1791 the Second Amendment was Ratified. Twenty-seven beautiful words that guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms to every American.
- 1934 The National Firearms Act was put into place due to the gangster culture brought about by prohibition. This law famously eliminated automatic weapons along with short barreled rifles, short barreled shotguns, and suppressors. Transfers of such weapons were subject to $200 fee and subject to the Treasury Departments approval.
- 1938 The Federal Firearms Act was approved by Congress forcing anyone involved with selling firearms to obtain a Federal Firearms License from the Secretary of Commerce. This also required the new FFL’s to record the names and addresses of everyone they sold guns to.
- 1968 The Gun Control Act was brought about after the assassination of JFK. FFL’s were required to keep even more detailed information along with forbidding sales of handguns across state lines. The major change came in the outlawing of purchasing rifles and shotguns through mail order. (Lee Harvey Oswald used a mail order rifle in the assignation of JFK)
- 1972 The ATF was formed
- 1986 The Law Enforcement Officer Protection Act stopped the manufacture and importation of “cop killer” bullets that could pierce body armor.
- 1990 The Crime Control Act established what we now know today as ”Gun Free Zones” in schools and the stopped the assembly of illegal semi-auto rifles and shotguns with legally imported parts.
- 1994 the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention act placed a mandatory 5 day waiting period and background check on handguns until Nov. 1998 when the National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) went live. The law stated all new firearm sales are subject to a NICS background check.
- 1994 The Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act, commonly referred to as the “Assault Weapon Ban,” made the manufacture, possession, and importation of new semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices for civilian use illegal.
How about that for compromise and reasonable? We go from “shall not be infringed” to illegal for civilians to possess. I bet there was a lot of gun owners that thought the same as Dick Metcalf on the other side of the table when each of those laws were penned.
How about a more recent example of a reasonable discussion? Anyone remember Colorado and the dialogue that happened there? That is what happens when we open the door for reasonableness. If you don’t remember how it went just picture a one sided conversation with a senate majority leader telling his senators to ignore their constituents. Colorado is what happens when we have national dialogues and compromise. All the laws above came from compromise!
See? I told you I’m unreasonable. I don’t compromise. When it comes to my rights there is no compromise. Every time we have reasonable compromise we see another crack or a chip fall off of the foundation of our Second Amendment. Don’t be fooled into thinking we need to be reasonable. If you start thinking that way, come back to this post and read the middle part to remind yourself we have already compromised enough.
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BS
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