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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
Hoplophobe = Person with an irrational fear of weapons or the gear of war. From the Greek "Hoplon" ( secondarily "Panoply" ) meaning "shield" and "Phobia" meaning irrational fear.
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I figured as much. Wouldn't that make pretty much anyone a hoplophobe? I mean most gun owners, such as dksuddeth, own guns to protect themselves from other people with guns. Most people who don't have guns do not have one beacuse they don't want a gun in the house. That covers a very broad spectrum of society in general.
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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
Maybe I don't represent a majority of gunowners; I truly wish that I did, because it would prevent a lot of the problems we see today. Things like the USA PATRIOT Act don't tend to survive very well when their authors are being tarred and feathered.
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I understand your point of course. I'm sure we'll agree on 99% of what we think the government is doing wrong. Still, I doubt that I could stop the government with a gun. Even if all the gun owners in the US banded together and were somehow able to become organized against the government, there is no way we can compete with the weapons they have. Our best defence against the government is the appeal to the soldiers. If we have the soldiers, and thus the military, on our side, then we have nothing to fear from Bush or any other tyrant. BTW, I think Bush'd look good in feathers.
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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
No, having a weapon does not make you a better or more moral person. It does, however, vastly improve your ability to defend yourself should the need arise. I don't forsee my car catching fire, but I carry an extinguisher just in case.
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I have to echo my argument with dksuddeth then. Isn't the function of a fire extinguisher to put out a fire? Isn't having a gun fighting fire with fire?
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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
Teaching kids to be upstanding members of society is cool too...but only "upstanding" as it relates to not actually harming others. My kids will be raised never to initiate Force or Fraud; they will be harmless to peaceable people. They will also be raised, however, to be implacable foes of tyrants both petty and grand.
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Always teach that freedom is not free, of course. Always teach, within the realms of reality, that you might one day have to defend your freedom, and that is a worthy cause. I'd give my life for my freedom. I, personally wouldn't kill for my freedom, but I understand why you would and I support that.
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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
Preventing crime by preventing poverty is AWESOME. Let's start by ditching highway-robbery schema like Income Taxes and debt-based currency. Getting to keep 100% of a stable-value currency would go a LONG way towards improving our situation in this country...and would also keep our Government from invading other countries or paying for bridges to nowhere.
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Well put. I couldn't agree more.
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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
I am aware that guns hurt and kill; this is why I am NRA rated to instruct in firearms safety. The more people know how to use weapons safely, the fewer people will be accidentally shot.
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That is also 100% true.
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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
I understand that I am not at war with Muslims, women, Jews, Iraq, Somalia, or the guy down the block. I am, however, a relentless opponent of Government tyrants and their Corporate partners-in-crime. With THEM I am at war; it simply happens to be a "cold" war of propaganda and words as the moment, as opposed to a "hot" war of bullets and IEDs.
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Then we're always at war. America has used propoganda since it's conception, and it will always use propoganda to some extent. That's in the nature of a government controled by people who want power. Corporations have much different weaknesses than government. Corporations are actually very fragile, and if you really wanted to topple one, it wouldn't be that hard. I've considered this several times. The irony is that the current tool of the corporations, the media, is actually the greatest weapon against them.
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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
If you are truly willing to listen and learn, you rock on about 6 different levels. Most people, on -both- sides of the debate, are not ( evidenced by the fact that many gunowners continue to vote Republicrat, despite their continual screw-job on the gunowning community. )
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Well, I am lucky to be addicted to studying. Part of that, to me,is to completly explore all sides of an argument and their various lines of logic and proof. Then and only then can you make an informed decision about anything.
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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
I apologize if my response seemed a bit over-the-top; I have simply had far, far, far too many encounters with hoplophobic gun-grabbers who expect me, my entire family, and all of my friends to simply "lie back and enjoy it" while they pump away at our rights. Mea Culpa.
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Please understand that I almost deleted my post because I thought it was too harsh. I even contacted a mod about it.
And the Mod sees no reason to delete....nor edit this post, excellent debate guys....keep it up. I want to make sure that you know that you have allies against those who would steal our liberty, but not all of us are armed with guns. I try to arm myself with knowledge. How successful I am in that is arguable, surely, but I doubt anyone can argue that I have an ineffective weapon.
When you say "Mea Culpa", do you mean taht you take responsibility for your actions? Or is it religious? Or both? Just curious.