My Zen Arcade

So, yesterday’s post about Steyn got quite a response.  Some made decent points, some see the U.S. differently than I do, and some completely misunderstood what I was saying (or thought I was pro gun control, which I am not).  However, one was particularly dim:

Do you want to know what the U.S. would be like without guns? Take a look at Europe. They are a hodge podge of dieing nations. Declining birth rates, no one is allowed to own guns to even protect their homes and themselves. they do not even believe in God anymore. their governments control almost every aspect of their lives. If you remove guns from U.S. citizens it would be the first step to the situation they are facing in Europe. If you think that that is a good thing then you really are an idiot.”

The connection between guns, god, and the current conditions in Europe is, to say the least, spurious.  But what I find even more unfair is how people continue to compare Europe and the U.S. as if they were, somehow, equal in the first place.  Europe is not a single entity, even with the creation of the E.U., and, further, much (all?) of Europe is OLD!  Comparing the two is similar to comparing me to my father. 

I have no doubt that every empire, from the Romans, to the Brittish, to the U.S..  It does not seem in the nature of the world for empires to go on forever.  It seems that we live in a cycle, and we would do well to remember that.

(aside to Joe Libson: Yeah, unfortunately, when you work for DoD on an army post, they pretty much choose your browser for you…and, of course, they chose IE7, and send nasty emails when I install Firefox.  Also…McCain???  Thats the best you guys could do???)

Guns are what make America great

As for “gun-totin’,” large numbers of Americans tote guns because they’re assertive, self-reliant citizens, not docile subjects of a permanent governing class. The Second Amendment is philosophically consistent with the First Amendment, for which I’ve become more grateful since the Canadian Islamic Congress decided to sue me for “hate speech” up north. Both amendments embody the American view that liberty is not the gift of the state, and its defense cannot be outsourced exclusively to the government.

Now, personally, I would have thought free speech and stuff would have been at the core of our greatness, but apparently its religion and firearms.

I don’t have an issue with religion being seen as part of America’s greatness.  Say what you want about it, but it has a heavy moral component.

But guns?  C’mon!  I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be a right to bear arms, simply that allowing the public to have guns isn’t a morally superior position.  Having a gun isn’t a sign of self-reliance.  If anything, its a sign that society has failed to keep its people safe.

Further, I am nine kinds of sick of this whole ‘So long as we have guns, government can’t ever take away our freedom’ crap.  Honestly, I wish that were true.  And, a couple hundred years ago, it probably was true.  But unless we start allowing (and forcing) private citizens to buy bazookas, SAMs, and Abrams tanks, weaponry is not what will save us from an oppressive government.  I know, I know, you FEEL safer with a half-dozen shotguns and pistols, but you really aren’t.

While the right to bear arms may have symbolic value in that sense, it has no practical value against the government.

So Steyn’s argument means one of two things: the ‘moral’ component of the right to bear arms is a symbolic one AT BEST, OR, the U.S. has failed to protect its citizens.

Pick one, I don’t care.  But lets get off the high-horse here.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m very torn on gun control issues.
The 2nd amendment states that the reason this right is protected is because there must be a militia. Not, as Mr. McCrory states below, simply for personal protection. In order to insure that there is a militia, it may grant the right of gun ownership, but thats the why and what of it.
It would be like me saying to my son, “In order for you to help out running errands, I’ll make sure you always have a car” and him assuming “Because I want to get around with my friends, Dad has to make sure I have a car”.
In either case, the kid gets a car, but the reasoning is VERY different.

Sad that our colleges turn out students who lack basic reading and comprehension skills.

Tickets Prized Just as Much As the NCAA Tournament’s - washingtonpost.com

“It’s clear what the Second Amendment means to me,” said Jason McCrory, 23, a gun owner and recent college graduate from Lancaster, Pa. “It’s intended to give people the right to defend themselves and their fellow citizens if someone attacks them.