A friend of mine passed the following on to me. I don't know why.... Perhaps he thought I might appreciate it, perhaps he thought I might agree with it, perhaps he thought there was some wisdom in the words.
Why I Carry a Gun
My old grandpa said to me 'Son, there comes a time in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps and usually it's when he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin.'
I don't carry a gun to kill people.
I carry a gun to keep from being killed.
I don't carry a gun to scare people.
I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.
I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid.
I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.
I don't carry a gun because I'm evil.
I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.
I don't carry a gun because I hate the government.
I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government..
I don't carry a gun because I'm angry.
I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.
I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone.
I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man.
I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.
I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate.
I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.
I don't carry a gun because I love it.
I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.
Police protection is an oxymoron.
Free citizens must protect themselves.
Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.
Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass whoopin'....
Author unknown (but obviously brilliant)
I would like those of you who are interested in this sort of thing to watch carefully over the next few weeks and months as Democrats who are up for re-election back away from the enhancement of gun laws. Some will say it is due to pressure from the NRA, some will question their allegiance to the party, I say it will be because they are fearful of their constituents... which is as it should be.
5 comments:
What I find fascinating about the whole gun control / right to bear arms debate is that it seems to me that virtually all of the reasons outlined in this piece, and arguments pro and con boil down to the following: how relatively close one perceives evil to be in their midst. Depending on one's geographical location, population density, experience, family, prior threats, etc., I can understand reasonable people having differences on the continuum with respect to their position. What I fail to comprehend is how members of one party can take one generally agreed upon position, and members of the other party can take one generally agreed upon opposite position.
That doesn't make any sense to me. Not only is that illogical; it can't even be explained by emotion or passion. Lining up on one side of that issue or the other seems to me ought to be an individual, personal position.
Inspector, one has only to be able to entertain two opposing ideas to understand. Once one can do that (which is really not all that hard) then one can understand why two separate factions (parties, if you will) can believe in two opposing concepts equally as strongly.
I do not have any difficulty understanding that two separate individuals could believe in their diametrically opposed positions on an issue equally strong.
I also do not have any difficulty understanding how one individual could appreciate and argue both sides of an argument.
What you seem to suggest is that some portion of Republicans really do not believe in the Party's position on gun control, but just go along with the position for some reason, and that the Democrats behave similarly.
I would like to think that we are thinking, individual humans, not mindless leemings or sheep, following other lemmings or sheep. Even if some think we behave that way, I would like to think that we, as individuals, actually go through the personal process of evaluating the pros and cons of each position; not simply taking the party's position.
BTW, my incredulousness regarding adopting "the party platform" or "position" does not apply just to the gun control issue; it applies also to numerous other issues. It is another reason why I believe that 6, 7, or 8 political parties of relatively equal strength, size, and wealth would serve our country's interests well. However, I just don't know how anyone can identify with one of the two major parties. It seems intellectually dishonest from my perspective. Seems to be that at least 80% of voters should be independents.
"What you seem to suggest is that some portion of Republicans really do not believe in the Party's position on gun control, but just go along with the position for some reason, and that the Democrats behave similarly."
While I believe that does happen (we are, after all, "herd" animals), I do not see it as an entirely "bad" thing. It is, after all, how human beings engage in "group think" and how consensuses are usually created/accomplished. We identify with political parties on multiple levels; one of those is emotional and based on our perceptions that one party or another mostly fits within our various world views.
We will never see 6, 7, or 8 (or anywhere much beyond two)equally strong political parties. Well, I would hope not... if you think we get gridlock with just two major parties, having 3 or more equally strong parties would increase that problem exponentially.
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