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wreave
09-17-2013, 14:16
I have had it.

I am sick and tired of the anti-gunners jumping out after every shooting, rushing to condemn the guns, the gun culture, the NRA, the Republicans, the Tea Party, right wingers, Fox News, et cetera et cetera et cetera ad infinitum ad nauseum.

I am sick of lying low and waiting for the right time to respond while the media and the leftists trot out the same arguments over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

I am tired of being personally vilified. As an NRA member and an AR-15 owner, when someone says that the NRA doesn't care about shooting deaths, and that the only reason to have an AR-15 is to kill as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, I take it personally. You should too.

I am disgusted by the arguments that reducing magazine capacity would somehow improve the situation. Which politician will volunteer to knock on the door of the 15th victim and say, "I'm sorry ma'am, but if I had stood up for a ten-round limit then your son would still be alive."? Which one will visit the home of the 10th victim and say, "I'm sorry little buddy, but if I had stood up for a seven-round limit then your mom would still be alive."? However, facing the intellectual dishonesty that attempts to justify such restrictions means being honest about real solutions.

I am overwhelmed by the unabashed worship that we serve up to those who commit these atrocities. We contribute our attention as the media plaster their names and faces across every news program, newspaper, and website in gratuitously adoring entertainment thinly disguised as information. They worship these criminals through exposes and analyses and haunting programs seeking to "understand" the depraved minds of criminals who are enjoying their (usually) posthumous 15 minutes of fame. For those who are violent and mentally ill, the media provide the notoriety they seek, and the fame they do not deserve.

Finally, I have had it with defense-free zones. It is a travesty that in a country we like to call "the freest nation on Earth" there exist massive areas where individuals are not only prevented from providing for their own self-defense, but also not provided with any defense by those who create the zones in the first place. 911 response time is 10-20 minutes in the best scenarios, and "gun free zone" signs stop bullets almost as well as glass.

When a crime is being solved, police seek to prove the perpetrator had the Means, Motive, and Opportunity. These three must also be present for a crime to be committed in the first place. Regarding mass shootings: Our nation's woefully inadequate mental health care provides the Means. The media provide the Motive. Gun-free zones provide the Opportunity. Addressing any of those three elements can help. Improving them all could provide real solutions. Attacking guns and gun owners does nothing but increase the Opportunity.

America is at a crossroads. Will we blame the 99.9%+ of innocent gun owners for the actions of a few? Will we corral defenseless adults and children into "gun free zones" that provide nothing but easy targets? Will we slather sick and twisted individuals with adulation for their depraved and desperate acts of violence? Or will we stand up, stand together, and say:

NO MORE. No more mass shootings. No more unmitigated violence. No more defense-free zones. No more attacks on innocent gun owners. No more anthropomorphization of inanimate objects that are used overwhelmingly in legal and appropriate ways. The leftists are fond of asking, "When will we say Enough is Enough?" I say NOW. Enough is enough! We must solve this country's violence problem, and we must do it by refusing to ignore the destruction of the freedoms that we all hold dear by counterproductive laws that serve only to exacerbate the very problems they claim to solve. No more. No more no more no more no more no more. Enough is enough!

wctriumph
09-17-2013, 14:32
Nice, good job.

sniper7
09-17-2013, 14:33
I agree. but what is the next step?
Are we doing enough to vote in the right people? Are they listening to us and reversing the stance?
How do you control free speech of the media? If we limit that, doesn't that go against the very nature of what we value and hold the most dear?
does it start at the local level like recall elections and work it's way up to impeachments?
do we start our own news program and only run biased material like the other side does?

The good news about the liberals is they like to blab their mouths and shout from the rooftops their ideas and plans. With that info we can at least put up blockades along the way.

BlasterBob
09-17-2013, 14:44
wreave, that was VERY well said.[Beer]

Tim K
09-17-2013, 14:46
Well said. Mind if I copy and paste that into an email? I'd be happy to give attribution to you...if I knew who you were.

wreave
09-17-2013, 14:52
Thanks!

Share at will. You can attribute to "Mark E."

newracer
09-17-2013, 14:56
Preaching to the choir.

Trout Hunter
09-17-2013, 14:58
A first step it to not support any organization regardless of what it is that supports taking freedoms away. More specifically vote with your wallet. I do it for anti motorized groups that have great product, if they support locking out one of my favorite activities then I find a product sold by a orginization that supports my rights. Get enough moving with this mind set and it impacts in a big way.

DavieD55
09-17-2013, 15:16
http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4964274607359586&w=113&h=177&c=7&rs=1&pid=1.7

Gman
09-17-2013, 15:28
9.5

generalmeow
09-17-2013, 16:38
I agree. but what is the next step?


This isn't specifically about gun rights, but more about taking back government from the thieves and liars, and get normal people into office:

1) Start a non-partisan organization of concerned citizens. I like the "Tweed something (party, organization, group)", a reference to the infamous corrupt politician "Boss" Tweed. Everyone wears a little tweed lapel pin. It's catchy.

The organization develops a set of 20 or so simple black and white rules for politicians (ie no lying, no cheating on spouses, no cronyism, no corruption, term limits, no voting for things that apply to citizens but not politicians, no wasting tax dollars on yourself, you must meet with constituents this many times per week, etc.). Just 20 simple rules that no politician would not agree to, theoretically. Rules that both sides can agree on that we expect from our politicians, and also things that there can be no disagreement about.

2) The group elects a revolving board to determine if any of the rules have been broken. The group gives all politicians a grade (like the NRA), and publishes it regularly. It won't matter at first, but it will draw attention to the worst politicians out there. The rules aren't about partisan policy. It's about the way that politicians act and get things done.

3) The organization starts signing up average citizen members. "Here are our 20 rules that we're going to make politicians live by. If you like these rules, become a member of our organization. There's only one requirement of being a member of our organization: after the point we reach 1 million members (we'll notify you by email when we reach that point), you will promise to never again vote for a politician who has not agreed to our rules. They can be D or R, or anybody, but they have to agree to our rules or you promise not to vote for them, or just don't vote at all. Up until the point we reach 1 million members, vote for whoever you want."

Why 1 million members? Because then people will feel like the group has some clout, and they're not just wasting their vote. I might rather vote for a D who agreed to the rules, than an R that refused the rules. But only if I knew that D was being held responsible to the rules by a group with clout. If there is no clout, they wont follow the rules. 1 million seems like a point where you have some clout.

If you can sell average people on this idea, it's a winner.

4) You start publicly pressuring (or ambushing with video camera) politicians to sign up with the organization. "Why wouldn't you agree to these rules? There is absolutely no reason to not agree to these rules. There is nothing about our rules that you shouldn't want to agree to." They'll be hesitant at first, but they will come. The real beauty is that once you get a million members (and growing), they will happily agree to join the group to be able to get the votes. You won't have to pressure them, they'll line up at the door. Maybe some local media starts pressuring local politicians on it, and that's where it takes hold. Get both Rachel Maddow (*shudder*) and Rush Limbaugh to mention it once, and it's game over for the politicians.

5) Oh yeah, when a politician agrees to the rules, they literally sign on the dotted line. They agree that if they break any of the rules they will resign immediately, or will be shamed from office, or at the very least will definitely not get our votes in the next election. The organization determines when you have broken any of the rules (see #2). If you don't resign immediately, you lose our votes forever. If you do resign, you can admit your corruption and try again in the future, and we still might vote for you. At least we know you held up your end of the bargain by resigning.

6) Politicians will pressure their opponents to join. "I joined, why don't you? Because you're corrupt, that's why!" "Look at my little tweed lapel pin, my opponent doesn't have one because he intends to be corrupt in office. "

7) If the idea took hold, the citizens completely turn the tables on the politicians and get a handle on our out of control government. From that point forward, the politicians do whatever we say they do, and act how they're supposed to act, or they'll never get into office, or if they're already in they will feel the wrath of a millions of voters. We can stamp out everything we don't like about Washington. Not necessarily the policies, but just the feeling that we've got a bunch of people fleecing us. We'll know they're not fleecing us. We'll know they're scared of the voters, and someone is watching and holding them accountable for everything they do.


If you feel powerless as an individual to change anything, you're right. The real problem is that we're a people divided, intentionally. We hate the other side because we hate the politicians and how corrupt they are, and we ignore those same types of people on our own side. But imagine if we could all unite together under a set of rules for politicians to stamp out corruption. We can take back the power.

I would feel a lot better about gun control regulations if I didn't think they were being pushed on us by a government that wants all the power. If the people have the power, and I knew it wasn't coming from a corrupt place, it would scare me a lot less. Then we can at least talk rationally about the issues facing the country. Right now we can't talk rationally because we don't trust the motives of the other side one bit. Take out the political motives and corruption, and it's a different story.

We have to unite together with the other side to take back the power from the politicians. There's no other way. Can we at least agree on 20 simple rules for politicians?

theGinsue
09-17-2013, 16:47
Great job Mark. I just shared this on Facebook.

Ronin13
09-17-2013, 17:52
Well said! My sentiments exactly.

I agree. but what is the next step?
Are we doing enough to vote in the right people? Are they listening to us and reversing the stance?
Here's the bad part- every piece of legislation that infringes upon the 2A (and yes everything from the NFA to HB 1228 is an infringement) has yet to be repealed, reversed or overturned on grounds that it violates the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution... when in fact they all do. I don't know about any of you, but you can scream it, shout it, email it, write it, call it, or even whisper, it still doesn't sink in what "Shall not be infringed" means. Voting in gun loving politicians is one thing, but it's not enough... We need someone to take a stand and actually present a solid, viable challenge to these gutless swine that believe if we could just dis-invent the firearm we'd all be better off. I'm not the one, and I don't know who is, nor do I know what it will take to ensure that we have the most freedom guaranteed by our birth that we can for the future.

Jesus-With-A-.45
09-17-2013, 18:39
Well said.

Rabid
09-17-2013, 20:26
10/10

cmailliard
09-17-2013, 20:31
Well it seems to be sinking for a few. This article from LZ Granderson on CNN seems that at least he understands that it is not about the gun. The pull out text "The folks spraying bullets in our cities are not NRA members or even legal gun owners" shows at least on the surface that facts not emotions are now starting to win.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/17/opinion/granderson-gun-control-fail/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

brianakell
09-17-2013, 20:52
Regarding mass shootings: Our nation's woefully inadequate mental health care provides the Means. The media provide the Motive. Gun-free zones provide the Opportunity.

Slight derail, should we start a poll on which psychotropic drug that latest shooter was on? Since every single mass shooter has been on "safe" prescription mind altering drugs. Maybe putting 8 year olds on lithium is bad? "Doc i don't feel...., "take this" But we limits on what is legal firearms? Maybe, just maybe, we need to reduce a LOT of the drugs being administered.

OtterbatHellcat
09-17-2013, 21:02
Nobody has actually used the word "rant", but I think it's an awesome post for sure.

Mark E.

Nice, Brother.

wreave
09-17-2013, 21:27
Thanks guys.

cstone
09-17-2013, 21:34
Can we all just agree to ban and burn The Catcher in the Rye?

Sorry, just had some sarcasm that I needed to let out.

Please continue.

electronman1729
09-17-2013, 21:54
Nice work