Divining the way for barbarians

[Sgt Dog]

It took me ten years after my discharge from the Marine Corps to get an M1A, the rifle I trained with in Boot Camp. That is a common story among veterans who fell in love with the rifles they trained with.

After that acquisition I confess I never really thought much about semi-auto sporting rifles.
Another 25 years go by with the typical interest in Pythons, a shot gun here or a 30-06 there – then I got bit with the Lever Action rifle bug. I like to say this was in part because of my grandson and our playing “cowboys”.

Then, for me, came the discovery of the world of reloading and then casting bullets and enjoying shooting on my makeshift range off the front porch at our cabin.
Only recently, but because of this, did I discover how many gun communities there are out there - collected around virtually each class of known firearm.
Today I rub shoulders regularly at the range with those people who are devoted to one or another of these firearms and relate to their enthusiasm largely because of my own.

I’ve always supported the 2nd Amendment and hold with it on several layers, hunting, self-defense, it’s significance to our status as free men vs subjects, as well as for sport. I take seriously the words of our most revered founder, a man so revered that no less than Lincoln kept a lock of his hair on him at all times: “ A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government”. George Washington.

The fact that drones may someday render whatever capabilities exist inadequate is irrelevant, it is the ability and willingness of citizens to resist that makes them a free people.

Many, so many more than you can imagine, who were on the fence about wanting a semi-auto sporting rifle decided to get off the fence this weekend in part, thanks to all the talk of a ban. The gun industry and their distributor’s shelves are nearly empty. Gun show lines are unprecedented. Prices doubled in a week. Stocks are sold out.

Statistics and the constitution are irrelevant to those who don’t hold the same value these people hold, just as it is irrelevant that statistics can be parsed to support either side of the issue and agued endlessly.

Suffice it to say, it is paradoxical that recent tragedies and the resulting political outcry have had some unintended consequence in the face of looming bans on semi-auto sporting rifles. Regardless, I find it distasteful that so many think that gun enthusiasts are less sympathetic to the victims of our most recent and horrific tragedy.

It occurs to me we simply think our answers to the same societal problems are different. Some jump on the convenient scapegoat “guns”; the ‘illegal and tragic’ use of the gun in this recent case is just symptoms of a host of problems.
Some think guns are the problem and out of control. Others think guns are the solution to a problems beyond their control.

Some, many who don’t shoot or frequent a range, believe they can determine what is ‘proper’ or acceptable for gun enthusiasts to own.
Gun-control advocates don’t know there are entire communities formed around time honored traditions of ownership, while others don’t care. And still others believe those communities somehow define the problem.

One might ask, “do they not know there are countries such as Switzerland, the most heavily armed per-capita population in the western world, where ranges outnumber golf courses, and where murder rates are lower than countries which ban firearms, and where families gather together to participate in national competition and sportsmanship revolving around firearms? But that is but an inconvenient speed bump for most in that camp.

On the other side of the spectrum, gun enthusiasts are left not understanding why the good guys get blamed for the crazies, not to mention the host of social ills so evident with each calamity... No one is talking about outlawing cars for all the drunk drivers who use them to kill. We focus on the drunk driver.

Gun owners wonder how a government is going to protect them when they cannot even keep Meth or Heroin out of the hands of criminals.
They wonder, how are they going to keep guns out of the hands of bad guys during times like the LA riots or every time we have the spectacle of looting following natural or man-made catastrophy.

Some say that the founders would retract their positions if they had assault rifles in their day.
But they fail to realize the muskets were the assault weapon of the day. It could kill from much further away than a sword.
And so it was for bolt action rifles, then revolvers, and repeating lever guns and then magazine fed rifles.
Some say the founders had only militia in mind but they are ignorant of statements from the founders if that is what they truly believe.
Others recognize the right of ownership for hunting or even self protection but draw the line there regardless of history.
Do they not realize that the use semi-auto rifles to hunt is now widespread.

And what of the Korean shop-owner during LA riots, protecting themselves and their property in times of near anarchy. Would a bolt action rifle have been adequate?

I’m glad my newfound passion for old and new lever action rifles has better acquainted me with the passion for black rifles. While I always understood the potential need and the logic related to 'resistance of tyranny', it was not till I more frequently spent time at the ranges that I saw fathers and adult sons together enjoying their sport with the rifle of their choice or saw the menagerie of organized events for each class of firearm.
I realize more fully that their passion and their right is similar to mine, only with a different class of rifle.
The young lady at the table next to mine enjoying her AR-15 could be my daughter, out with her husband, enjoying their sport on a sunny afternoon.
As they say, 64 million gun owners killed no one yesterday.

It is more than unfortunate that every freedom has a cost, but nonetheless that cost is a reality we accept for many protected rights.
In the light of other’s national experiences gun owners don’t trust inroads cut into their rights, because with every country who has disarmed their citizens, that process had a benign beginning. For many countries the result was tragic, and for others, the loss of security for all citizens is felt with every personal violation by criminals.

Someone counted 41 laws broken in Newtown. None of them prevented the tragedy for which gun enthusiast's grief is as significant as any other’s grief.

But I cannot turn my attention from the truth that cities in America with the strongest gun control are the same cities who possess the highest crime and often highest murder rates.

Rights ought not be for sale by free men. Indeed, for some they are only selectively for sale. Ask those who oppose virtually ANY regulation of abortion, a relatively new-found constitutional right which ends the growing life of so many more than taken with guns. It is not without hypocrisy that some assail one while maintaining the “absolute” nature of the other.

I believe we will flounder here - divide yet again between those clinging to individual rights coupled with personal responsibility, and those who maintain the best approach in protecting the public safety is found in the suppression of traditional history and the rights appreciated and enjoyed by others.

It is another irony and paradox that those division will reinforce the beliefs of those on both sides of the issue.

I bought my first black rifle yesterday. I bought it in protest as much as in fear. I feel certain such ownership will be on the majority's chopping block tomorrow, once the media and the anointed help us barbarians divine the correct path.

 

[OSU_Chris]

I could not have said it any better than this. Thank you for that insight.

 

[Profreedomokie]

Banning firearms to stop the shootings is like banning cars to stop drunk drivers.

 

[michaelnc4444]

It took me ten years after my discharge from the Marine Corps to get an M1A, the rifle I trained with in Boot Camp. That is a common story among veterans who fell in love with the rifles they trained with.

After that acquisition I confess I never really thought much about semi-auto sporting rifles.
Another 25 years go by with the typical interest in Pythons, a shot gun here or a 30-06 there – then I got bit with the Lever Action rifle bug. I like to say this was in part because of my grandson and our playing “cowboys”.

Then, for me, came the discovery of the world of reloading and then casting bullets and enjoying shooting on my makeshift range off the front porch at our cabin.
Only recently, but because of this, did I discover how many gun communities there are out there - collected around virtually each class of known firearm.
Today I rub shoulders regularly at the range with those people who are devoted to one or another of these firearms and relate to their enthusiasm largely because of my own.

I’ve always supported the 2nd Amendment and hold with it on several layers, hunting, self-defense, it’s significance to our status as free men vs subjects, as well as for sport. I take seriously the words of our most revered founder, a man so revered that no less than Lincoln kept a lock of his hair on him at all times: “ A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government”. George Washington.

The fact that drones may someday render whatever capabilities exist inadequate is irrelevant, it is the ability and willingness of citizens to resist that makes them a free people.

Many, so many more than you can imagine, who were on the fence about wanting a semi-auto sporting rifle decided to get off the fence this weekend in part, thanks to all the talk of a ban. The gun industry and their distributor’s shelves are nearly empty. Gun show lines are unprecedented. Prices doubled in a week. Stocks are sold out.

Statistics and the constitution are irrelevant to those who don’t hold the same value these people hold, just as it is irrelevant that statistics can be parsed to support either side of the issue and agued endlessly.

Suffice it to say, it is paradoxical that recent tragedies and the resulting political outcry have had some unintended consequence in the face of looming bans on semi-auto sporting rifles. Regardless, I find it distasteful that so many think that gun enthusiasts are less sympathetic to the victims of our most recent and horrific tragedy.

It occurs to me we simply think our answers to the same societal problems are different. Some jump on the convenient scapegoat “guns”; the ‘illegal and tragic’ use of the gun in this recent case is just symptoms of a host of problems.
Some think guns are the problem and out of control. Others think guns are the solution to a problems beyond their control.

Some, many who don’t shoot or frequent a range, believe they can determine what is ‘proper’ or acceptable for gun enthusiasts to own.
Gun-control advocates don’t know there are entire communities formed around time honored traditions of ownership, while others don’t care. And still others believe those communities somehow define the problem.

One might ask, “do they not know there are countries such as Switzerland, the most heavily armed per-capita population in the western world, where ranges outnumber golf courses, and where murder rates are lower than countries which ban firearms, and where families gather together to participate in national competition and sportsmanship revolving around firearms? But that is but an inconvenient speed bump for most in that camp.

On the other side of the spectrum, gun enthusiasts are left not understanding why the good guys get blamed for the crazies, not to mention the host of social ills so evident with each calamity... No one is talking about outlawing cars for all the drunk drivers who use them to kill. We focus on the drunk driver.

Gun owners wonder how a government is going to protect them when they cannot even keep Meth or Heroin out of the hands of criminals.
They wonder, how are they going to keep guns out of the hands of bad guys during times like the LA riots or every time we have the spectacle of looting following natural or man-made catastrophy.

Some say that the founders would retract their positions if they had assault rifles in their day.
But they fail to realize the muskets were the assault weapon of the day. It could kill from much further away than a sword.
And so it was for bolt action rifles, then revolvers, and repeating lever guns and then magazine fed rifles.
Some say the founders had only militia in mind but they are ignorant of statements from the founders if that is what they truly believe.
Others recognize the right of ownership for hunting or even self protection but draw the line there regardless of history.
Do they not realize that the use semi-auto rifles to hunt is now widespread.

And what of the Korean shop-owner during LA riots, protecting themselves and their property in times of near anarchy. Would a bolt action rifle have been adequate?

I’m glad my newfound passion for old and new lever action rifles has better acquainted me with the passion for black rifles. While I always understood the potential need and the logic related to 'resistance of tyranny', it was not till I more frequently spent time at the ranges that I saw fathers and adult sons together enjoying their sport with the rifle of their choice or saw the menagerie of organized events for each class of firearm.
I realize more fully that their passion and their right is similar to mine, only with a different class of rifle.
The young lady at the table next to mine enjoying her AR-15 could be my daughter, out with her husband, enjoying their sport on a sunny afternoon.
As they say, 64 million gun owners killed no one yesterday.

It is more than unfortunate that every freedom has a cost, but nonetheless that cost is a reality we accept for many protected rights.
In the light of other’s national experiences gun owners don’t trust inroads cut into their rights, because with every country who has disarmed their citizens, that process had a benign beginning. For many countries the result was tragic, and for others, the loss of security for all citizens is felt with every personal violation by criminals.

Someone counted 41 laws broken in Newtown. None of them prevented the tragedy for which gun enthusiast's grief is as significant as any other’s grief.

But I cannot turn my attention from the truth that cities in America with the strongest gun control are the same cities who possess the highest crime and often highest murder rates.

Rights ought not be for sale by free men. Indeed, for some they are only selectively for sale. Ask those who oppose virtually ANY regulation of abortion, a relatively new-found constitutional right which ends the growing life of so many more than taken with guns. It is not without hypocrisy that some assail one while maintaining the “absolute” nature of the other.

I believe we will flounder here - divide yet again between those clinging to individual rights coupled with personal responsibility, and those who maintain the best approach in protecting the public safety is found in the suppression of traditional history and the rights appreciated and enjoyed by others.

It is another irony and paradox that those division will reinforce the beliefs of those on both sides of the issue.

I bought my first black rifle yesterday. I bought it in protest as much as in fear. I feel certain such ownership will be on the majority's chopping block tomorrow, once the media and the anointed help us barbarians divine the correct path.

This is so well written, I hope you won't mind if I steal some of it. I only wish someone with large access to the media would say something like this. Thank you.

 

[kinggabby]

Well put ...well put

 

[uncle money bags]

Wow, Semper Fi dude.

 

[otis147]

great post.

 

[Sgt Dog]

My apologies to you all, especially those who may have reposted what I wrote elsewhere. I normally fact-check quotes and intended to do so here but only just now have down so. I regret that I included a bogus quote attributed to the venerable George Washington. The one used is cobbled from a partial quote and bent to serve someone else’s questionable purpose. I will offer another quote that is engraved at my loading bench from our first President: "Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good."
George Washington I would maintain that "events, occurences and tendencies" still prove his words true. Again, my apologies.

 

[Sgt Dog]

Wow... happened on this old post and my reaction is “boy have we come a long way - going the wrong direction”! Now we know politicians will stand-down police from protecting property or even lives and they’ll prosecute people who will. Also learned that disrespect for the rule of law is equally distributed between the criminal class and politicians.

On a positive note I’ve built my first AR-10 and learned a lot.

Everything seen and learned in between then and now just confirms the determination to never surrender any weapon to either criminal class, be they elected or not.

 

[Blue Heeler]

Great read. Thanks for resharing!

I bought my M1A Scout for my fiftieth birthday back in 2007 prior to the 2008 election. My thought was that a pathetically weak RINO like McCain would not beat Clinton and that I may not get a chance to own one of the guns I had dreamed about owning since I was a child. Had a toy one growing up that along with a Mattel “Thompson” was my favorite.

Prior to getting my M1A, I never thought I had the need for a semi-auto rifle. I have plenty of bolt action guns and a Winchester 94 Trapper in 44 magnum (the original CAR ... Cowboy Assault Rifle). The fear of the election helped “want” overcame “need” and I got the M1A. Probably the most fun to shoot rifle I own. I had a scope on mine then went to a 2X Aimpoint. Have an EOTech on it now. Anything I can see I can hit. Also have a Bradley Cheek Rest ... highly recommend.

We could well “flounder” on our right to keep and bear arms especially if we don’t pick up one of the two Senate seats in GA. That said, the anti-gun left always say how they will get “tough” on guns but they have not. They had eight years of B HO and with that, had both the House and Senate for almost two full years and did nothing. Possibly because they realize what a loser argument it is for them politically. This time could be different.

In regard to Switzerland, they do have a high per capita of gun ownership with a relatively low gun crime. The reason for that is not that they have a lot of guns but that in their culture, they don’t shoot people for tennis shoes.

On the flip side, the anti-gun-rights ilk will always come back to sell how strict gun laws work in Japan. But like many who are “progressively challenged” (liberals with special needs), they slept through Statistics in college and seem to think that correlation implies causation. The gun laws in Japan are not responsible for their low gun crime rates. It is their culture. Japan had low gun crime rates prior to any gun laws on the books.

Your point on gun crime rates in zipcodes with strict gun laws is spot on ... but the liberal politicians will never fix it because to do that, they would have to reverse decades of failed (liberal) socio-economic policies that have hurt the inner city. They would also have to point out that the inner cities need to get their ____ (fill in the blank) together and quit killing each other. Fixing the problem would cost them votes so they will continue to blame the gun.