Snowflakes in Hell

Because it’s oh so true, especially in our issue:

Herding Cats Cabernet/Shiraz

Looks like I’ve been linked by NRA publications, in an article by Chris Cox.  But to me the neat thing is that the article appears in American Rifleman and America’s First Freedom.  If only dead tree media could drive click throughs, I’d be doing well traffic wise this month, I’d imagine.

Kim du Toit brings up a lot of important points in regards to the thread yesterday:

I’ve lived in a state of near-revolution, and let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. Want to go and visit your mother in the next town over? Imagine having to call ahead to the local police stations or military bases to see if the road is safe to travel on. (Add IEDs to this, and I think the picture becomes even clearer.) Has the Kmart been swept recently for explosive devices? Is anyone lurking over the road, waiting to shoot you when you come out to mow your lawn?

I think Kim’s clarity on this issue comes from the fact that he’s an immigrant, and has been much closer to actual civil unrest than any of us have been.  I would also imagine that people who grew up in a different culture also aren’t raised with all the American cultural myths.  Now, I’m not going to immediately bash on mythology.  Every society needs its mythology in order to define itself as a people.  But I think we do need to recognize when mythology starts getting its nose into the tent of reality.

One particular American myth is that of the clean revolution.  No one disputes that the American Revolution was just and necessary, but history tends to white wash the nastier bits.  One doesn’t have to look much farther than what happened to Loyalists both during and after the revolution to realize that it wasn’t clean. As Peter at Firearms and Freedom point out, even if you win your revolution, you’re still stuck with the same population that voted the original government into existence.  None of the ways to deal with that problem are pretty.

Our revolution was also risky.  The founding fathers, who pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor, would have certainly been executed if the revolution had been put down, but they also would have been in trouble had they lost control.  If it wasn’t for George Washington, we would be a backwater, just like many of the other American colonies.  History is not replete with men who willingly surrender great power.  Washington may not have filled the intellectual role in our nation’s founding that Jefferson or Madison did, and he might not have been the greatest general the world has ever seen, but Washington made his place in our history with these words:

Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of Action; and bidding an Affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.

That is, in my opinion, one of the greatest acts in the history of mankind.  Not only for what it said of Washington’s character, but because men like Washington are so utterly rare in history.

For the people today who think about affecting a clean revolution, remember that your revolution will not change the people of the United States, who elected the government that you so despise, and we’d be extraordinarily lucky to be lead by another Washington.  The only clean revolutions are those that happen by the ballot box.

That’s why Bitter is pissed off about this whole thread, since she’s worked most of her adult life on affecting a truly clean revolution on this issue by convincing her fellow citizens to toss out the bums who vote for gun control.  It’s also why I love people like Breda, who bring in passion for the issue, and are eagar to share it with others.  If we had a thousand Bitters and Bredas scattered around the country, gun rights would be an unstoppable juggernaut.  We’d get our clean revolution.  This is where I make my contribution in the here and now.  What about you?

NRA is twisting arms to get DC’s firearms laws fixed.  What’s going on here is that leadership in Congress does not want to force their colleagues to take a stand on gun control in an election year, because, let’s be honest, a lot of Democrats are anti-gun, and think DC’s revised laws are just fine.  But who wants to come out against the Bill of Rights in an election year?  Even Obama has run like hell from his previous position on DC’s ban.

Democrats have a chance to retreat here, and I’m glad that NRA is twisting blue dog arms.  They have to take a leadership position on this issue within their party.

Apparently if you’re nine years old, and you shoot another student with a pea shooter, it’s third degree assault.  Now don’t get me wrong here.  The kid needed to be disciplined.  But are the schools so far gone these days they have to get the police involved?  No call to the parent?  Hell, I’d even prefer schools paddle kids than bring in the law to destroy their lives before they reach the age of ten.

UPDATE: Judging from the article, it looks like it might have been a BB gun.  In that case, getting the authorities involved wouldn’t have been inappropriate.

From Mike Vanderboegh, in the comments:

All of these things I have done for years to no avail. Do you think my stance has been crafted without experience, without thought? On the other hand, I have watched as you have used this blog to excuse ATF misconduct in the Olofson case, blaming the victim for his own framing. What then have you done to validate your brave words at the top of this blog? Diddly squat, I’d say.

You know, there are honestly some days where I don’t even know why I bother.  Expect posting to be light today.

I’d really like to gauge where my reader’s minds are on this topic.  Based on the thread from yesterday, there’s a lot of varying opinion about this.  I figure a lot of readers are probably reluctant to join in the conversation, but might we willing to answer a poll.  Select as many thing as you agree with.  Leave unchecked items that you don’t really agree with.  I’m always curious what my readers think about certain topics.

 Loading ...