By Cranky
If a person can’t be trusted with a firearm then they can’t be trusted without a custodian.
-David Codrea
This quote originally caught my eye because it was snarky and amusing. I really didn’t think about it being literally true but as I was doing the copy paste thing it hit me how spot-on this really is. There are four basic lines of reasoning people use when advocating gun control . . .
People will hurt others – If a person is a danger to others, the quote directly applies and they should be placed into some sort of protective custody. They should not be free to commit violence on others. Lock ‘em up.
People will hurt themselves – If a person is at risk for suicide, they need to be placed in some sort of a controlled and protected environment. Some would say that this is a personal choice and they should be allowed to do whatever they choose as a matter of individual liberty. Some say, let them as it would reduce a needless drain on society. Some would argue that they are disturbed and unable to make rational decisions and that brings us back to protective custody.
People will allow their children to hurt themselves – If you can’t keep your child away from firearms how are you going to keep them away from any one of a hundred household items – electrical outlets, for instance – that are just as deadly? In this case, maybe it’s the children that should be in protective custody, but thinking it through, if you are careless at home with your kids, aren’t you likely to be a danger in the workplace or on the freeways?
They will fall into the wrong hands – Basically, if all the people who are a danger to themselves and others are in protective custody why would we even care about this one? The “wrong hands” are all locked away.
So, how do we determine ahead of time who the dangerous or negligent people are? There are some instances where this is obvious and clear. The Aurora killer, for one. His psychologist knew he was a danger and reported it to campus officials but they did nothing since he was no longer a student.
But we could set up a process whereby everyone is screened and if they are deemed to be a danger, they are placed in custodial care. But wait! They haven’t actually done anything wrong . . . and we’re going to restrict their rights and freedom? Yup.
The other approach would be to lock everyone away and then let them out when they prove they aren’t dangerous and/or irresponsible. But wait! That’s even worse. Yup.
No one would stand for such a thing in this country (well actually, I think there are some who would as long as it was proposed by the right party, right politician or for the right reasons). Yet, it’s fine to restrict rights, restrict freedoms and seize the personal property of law abiding gun owners who haven’t actually done anything wrong.
Can you say hypocrite?
Cranky writes at Notes from a Cranky Buddha.
I know a few people who need a custodian. Okay, more than a few. They have jobs that they s^ck at. Their children are mouth-breathing morons. Their spouses are idiots. I wouldn’t trust them to hold my wallet. They all drive cars. And most of them have managed to not kill themselves or others.
Give it some time – crashes happen. In particular, a fool and his motorcycle are soon parted.
Hey, I resemble that, on my fifth bike right now. Of course, out of the two that were wrecked, I only wrecked one myself, and I was not at fault.
Shoulder still makes a popping noise, though.
Out of 8 motorcycles, 4 dirt and 4 street have wrecked 3. Dirt bike was my fault, did find out that jumping a car hurts if you have an epic fail!!! Ah the brash bulletproof teenage days!! LOL!!
The two Harley’s succumbed to a drunk driver and a deer!! Shoulder thingy and knees both make funny noises and shoulder thingy doesn’t pop up like it used to!!
The idea of banning guns is slightly more silly than banning “dangerous” knives.
If we all bought and consumed our food in pellet form, had little use for large/sharp knives, my guess is there would be a lot less opposition to knife bans, and after a few years of pressure, legislation would pass.
Unfortunately, we have a lot more knife practitioners than gun practitioners.
David Codrea does not play. Nor does his buddy, Mike Vanderboegh. Some of the local “Write Your Congressmen”, “Let’s Boycott Remington” weenie commenters should spend a few minutes reading these guys. These two well recognize what we are up against. No bipartisan Kum-Buy-Ah bull$hit.
If a person can’t be trusted with a firearm then they can’t be trusted without a custodian.
-David Codrea
Agreed, 100%. Posted similar a few days ago…
Ban bounce castles.
just the high occupancy ones though. (capable of holding more than 8 children.)
hah!
And then who watches the watchmen?
There is thought (potential to commit a crime)
and action (committing a crime).
In a free society, you can think whatever the hell you want.
In a free society, nobody else can decide who has the potential to commit a crime or not.
The deciding factor is whether you actually commit the crime or not.
Committing a crime is ‘the crime’, having the ‘potential’ to commit a crime is not.
#commentwin
Nicely written, cranky.
And wow, that bouncy house video was cringe-inducing… yikes.
at the end of the vid, the guy was saying i had no idea how easy it was to get one of those… what does he want? 10 day waiting periods and registration? if it could save just one life right.
OH MY GOD!!! SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING WITHOUT ANY REGULATIONS!!! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!
Now that that has passed, I have a just a few more thoughts:
1) Is it right to call someone who got knocked off thier bike by an oversize balloon a victim?
2) If it cost more than $1,000 would that be safer?
3) I guess it never crossed my mind that a carny with three teeth and stained coveralls was a “trained operator.”
“3) I guess it never crossed my mind that a carny with three teeth and stained coveralls was a “trained operator.””
I guess it would be best if you learned not to let appearances deceive you.
I’ve known two men who killed themselves with guns.
In both cases, they had cancer. The MD’s would not prescribe sufficient pain meds to control the pain. Once cancer moves into your bones, tolerating the pain becomes pretty difficult, as reported by both men. This lack of sufficient meds by the MD’s, I’ve been told, is a wonderful side-effect of the incessant and insane “war on [some] drugs” by the Feds. When you get into really serious pain – we’re talking the late-stage pain… they can’t prescribe enough or strong enough meds, because the Feds start looking into the MD’s script-writing.
One used a shotgun. The other a .22 revolver.
I actually had a bit in there originally about people with terminal illnesses and suicide but that is a rant for another day.
-Cranky
My friends and brothers,
The Propaganda War has begun in earnest. If you are, in any way, pro-Second Amendment, either by word or by deed, you will be classified as “unhinged” and as a “threat to the public safety”.
And there it is.
http://wr2a.wordpress.com/2013/03/17/let-the-propaganda-begin-gun-nuts-threat-all/
I’d like to say I am being facetious and snarky, but I most assuredly am not. In the recent online interactions I have had with the anti-gun camp, the common insult from them to me is that I am unhinged, and I make them nervous because of my comments about guns. I reckon when I quote Cesare Beccaria, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, and Alexander Hamilton regarding guns in America it is, in their eyes, domestic terrorism of some sort.
Long Live the Republic, indeed.
Read the article. Very nice! Posted this in the reply section, is smartassed(hence the username SmartAss), sarcastic and somewhat demeaning but you know sometimes you just get tire of their constant harping on something they don’t really know Jack about.
“Since we are such a “Threat” to society please explain to me Mr and Mrs Elitist Gun Grabber Scum why you continue to take and use to your every whim and desire, our tax dollars.
I would guess that in your mini minds it is ok to use Our tax dollars to buy your Maserati’s and summer homes while at the same time trying to demonize us to the point of having us locked up for our beliefs. Hmm suppression of free speech and RKBA justified by a person or group of persons whom, without our tax dollars, wouldn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.
Nothing like the Elitist Double Standard in action. A logical assumption then is that you as Mr and Mrs Grabber Elitists are in all actuality to stupid to realize that without us you would all be living in hovels and goose stepping to the tyrants band, depending wholly upon their mercy to let your dumbasses even live!! What a wonderful life you must lead.”
Sic Semper Tyrannus
The algos used to determine ‘risk’ by our overseers have long since crossed over this threshold. Everything that happens online is recorded. Not all readily filtered until UT comes on line in a few months, but it is ALL recorded. This was all sanctioned in Patriot for those who got suckered in by it…
‘Target’ can very accurately figure out if your teenager is preggers before even she knows it, simply based on a small sample of buying patterns.
The white papers from the guys who write this stuff for the gov were out 5+ years ago, but even direct attribution back then gained me ridicule. I’m very familiar with hearing how the gov would ‘never violate the Constitution’ and would ‘never violate our rights’. And how ‘just a couple of lawsuits’ would set them straight.
How’s that going for us, again?
Small thing but I see you repeat the claim over and over but Target doesn’t know a woman is pregnant before she does. The article discussing the purchasing algorithm mentions that Target knew the girl was pregnant before her father did.
Analyzing buying habits requires the purchaser know what they are buying. The girl was purchasing pregnancy/baby supplies because she knew she needed them but was hiding the fact from others.
Overall I get your point but there are enough real threats out there we can’t let ourselves be distracted with overhyped ones.
Every time I read about the Morons who have very short memories saying, “Do you lock up your Guns in a safe behind a wall in the basement in a hidden Shaft and swallow the key??” I think about millions of us who grew up with a gun rack on the wall and or in the family truck. My children grew up with Rifles on the wall and two on a rack in my truck. Today, they have families of their own and are none the worse.
I know liberal Democrats who grew up about the same time in urban Bloomberg type homes are keeping the head shrinks very happy in business now and then and probably in the future, If we cannot get rid of Democrats in Office. They are nice to look at, and in Pelosi Types, to laugh at, but you really don’t want them in office. Look at the mess we have now.