Carl Hitchens - tracking the self …
Carl Hitchens - tracking the self …
2013
Gun Rights and Reality
We all want democracy, when it gives us what we want. When it doesn't, we want Me-ocracy. And there-in is the reason for separate realities. The problem, of course, is that reality can't be usurped, bought, or reinvented for our own purposes. It has a way of staying around, until we give in.
Do we live in a country that is much too violent? … Yes.
Is the Second Amendment threatened? … No.
Would gun regulations that entail background checks for criminal history or sociopathic behavior violate the Second Amendment or cripple gun owners from self-defense or hunting-sporting activities or making a living? … No.
Does drawing a line in the sand over one class of semi-automatic weaponry (assault rifle clones) and one class of magazine (high-capacity) constitute a government gun takeover? … No.
I qualified with an M-14 in Marine bootcamp and carried one in Nam, and then later an M-16 (AR-15). These weapons were my lifeline in war, and I am well-versed in their usage and safety protocols, and more importantly in the critical judgment required for employing them in self-defense. If I had my druthers then, I would have one parked in my gun safe for that remote chance of foreign paratroopers making an invasion assault from the sky and I need parity of firepower.
“While every household in America has a right to own a car, we don’t give seven year olds the right to drive one.”
Rather than a “Gun Appreciation Day,” how about a “Reality Appreciation Day?” While every household in America has a right to own a car, we don’t give seven year olds the right to drive one. Anymore than we should side on the right of 1Hatfield and McCoy throwbacks to blood feud with modern AR-15s and the like. Minus universal background checks, we’re leaving the key in the ignition for the family cat to get run over.
Yes, we sane, reasonable persons without a history of sociopathic behavior, have a right to defend ourselves and our homes with available firearm choices. And that right IS guaranteed by the Second Amendment and is NOT threatened by proposed regulations to keep the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s revengeful hands off of one specific class of firearm by limiting its access. Some arguments are simply untenable in the face of the reality in which we have more “seven year olds” than “adults” wanting to drive. We adults have to make some compromises for the sake of reality, for the sake of society—like it or not.
I would like to own that above symbol of my war experience, as a testament to trials and tribulations borne under the most difficult of circumstances, as a figurative coat of arms for sacrifice, resolve, and devotion to self-purpose beyond mere self-concern.
Yet, if I must do without such a token of personal realization to help safeguard the greater whole of America from the wanton and wide-spread violence afflicting the country, then so be it.
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1http://www.history.com/shows/hatfields-and-mccoys/articles/hatfield-and-mccoy-feud
Carl
Gun Law and Order 2
2/2/13
The nuancing between "keeping" the peace and "making" the peace"—the gun debate.
This is a series of separate blog posts that I have done regarding the Second Amendment and gun rights … a kind of point of view montage, if you will.
There are multiple aspects of the “right to bear arms” from self-defense to freedom from tyranny, which pushes people’s buttons. And because it is a hot button issue, people have a tendency to lock onto one “feeling point,” and shut off from other opinions or facets of this issue.