“While we all need to respect the rights of hunters and sport-shooters to have access to their weapons, we also need to respect the vulnerability of human life that is threatened by allowing weapons to be too easily available. People of good conscience need to take this conversation back from the extremes into real life in which real lives are at stake.” So proclaimeth a multi-faith statement published in IL’s qctimes.com signed by a farrago of religious leaders. I can’t speak for the reaction to this anti-gun screed by armed members of other faiths. But wouldn’t you just know it: this multi-denominational “call for a conversation” is signed by a rabbi [not shown] . . .
That doesn’t make any sense. While Jews are allowed to kill animals for any “purposeful need,” kosher slaughter is the order of the day. (Try doing that to a bounding buck.) Equally, the Torah specifically prohibits hunting for sport.
Culturally, to their detriment, hunting is to Jews what deep-fried mozzarella sticks are to Delphine Lo Grasso. And what is all this about hunters’ and sports shooters’ “rights”? Americans who shoot and kill squirrels, pronghorn sheep, wild hogs, etc. for meat or sport have no special claim on the Second Amendment.
Why would they? The idea that shooting [mostly] defenseless animals is sacrosanct under the U.S. Constitution—while maintaining that defending one’s life and family with a firearm against a lethal threat is subject to “reasonable restrictions”—is patently absurd.
To [unknowingly] prove the point, the Quad-City religious leaders assure their adherents that they believe that hunters and sport-shooters should “have access to their weapons.” Unless they mean people hunting bears, mountain lions and the like, the word “firearm” would have been more appropriate.
But hey, what do gun grabbers care about linguistic precision?
Not to be profane (much), they should take a lesson from Risky Business. Every now and then should say, “What the fuck am I talking about?” As Miles pointed out (more or less), asking “What the fuck did I just say?” gives you freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future.
Moving on . . .
The Land of Lincoln’s religious leaders urge us to “respect the vulnerability of human life that is threatened by allowing weapons to be too easily available.” Hello? America’s Armed Intelligentsia respect the vulnerability of life. That’s why they have guns for self defense.
Yes, even “assault” rifles. And .50 caliber rifles. Big guns, little guns, strangely chambered guns. I’m not saying that all of Americans’ firearms must be for self-defense or defense against government tyranny. But I am saying that the easier it is for Americans to get a gun the easier it is for them to protect and defend life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Hey, you want to talk vulnerable? Try facing down a violent thug without a gun. Let me know how that works out for you. As for the idea that curtailing the supply of “too easily available” weapons is the key to protecting the sanctity of human life, prove it. It hasn’t worked so far. Anywhere. Ever. Citations upon request.
We acknowledge that access to guns is but one part of the issue, however, the consequences of our inability to have this conversation should be obvious by now. Those who believe it hasn’t happened to them or theirs should take notice — gun violence happens to all of us when it happens to our neighbors, near or distant. We are all immeasurably impoverished when one person needlessly dies. How much more loss can we bear? We are united in the belief that we have lost too much already. Please join us in imagining and creating a safer world.
What is it with gun grabbers and “having a conversation”? What part of “shall not infringe” needs further discussion? Shall we discuss the proposition that “if gun control can save one life it’s worth degrading the God-given individual right to keep and bear arms as protected by in the Second Amendment”? Pass.
That said, yes we can imagine a safer world. Gun rights advocates can imagine a world where all American children learn how the Second Amendment protects our way of life and life itself. A world where they’re taught basic marksmanship. Where buying a gun is as easy as buying a quart of milk, and a significant proportion of the population keeps and bears arms.
A world where criminals fear armed citizens more than they (the bad guys) fear the police.
So, finally, my answer as to why Rabbi Tamar Grimm signed this ridiculous rant. Because she’s an idiot. And for all her group lamentations about the vulnerability of human life and needless death, this “person of good conscience” is a dangerous idiot. Spreading a utopian vision of civilian disarmament that always leads to a dystopian nightmare of unimaginable horror.
You don’t have to be a Jew to know that the road to hell is paved to good intentions. But it helps. Except when it doesn’t. And that puts us all in danger.