Ah Nuts!

Some people think that I’m a gun control nut because A. I don’t keep any guns, except for a couple of antique shot guns which I haven’t had out of the case in decades except to see if they are rusting. B. I don’t agree with much that is said about reasons to keep guns. C. I’m a bleeding heart liberal.

For reasons I won’t go into, I feel that it is best that I don’t keep any effective guns in my house.  However, I think that most people should have an assault rifle and a hand gun with ammo per educated gun user in the closet, but not for the reasons frequently given by the average gun nut.  The reason to have these on hand is not your neighbor, it is your government.  You read right.  The entity that threatens your freedom is your government, and it has always been so.  As recent events in America have shown, constitutional checks and balances are not sufficient to keep the government from running amuck. The check of an armed populace is needed to keep the government group-thinking “oops”.  Any gun control that there may be should be directed at the government, not the citizen.

My good gun nut internet friend sent me a blog from Anna Benson entitled Dear Gun Haters.  I shall of course comment.

Anna says, “I think that one of the most important aspects of gun ownership is gun education.”

     That’s right.  In fact it is so important that it ought to be taught in high school along side or inside a course called “Government for the People and By the People”. (Text book to be written by Howard Zinn.)  It should be a hands on course including gun handling, fire and maneuver, militia management, memorization of one’s state and the federal constitution, voting, lobbying, congress person letter writing with the fine art of indignant rant, and understanding propaganda.  In other words getting educated about what the government does not really want you to know.  Now for the “Gun Nut” stuff.

Anna says, “I have many guns (strategically placed) in my home to be used in the event of a home invasion—a crime which frequently occurs in my city.”

     I don’t know what city Anna lives in.  I myself live in a small metro area of 243,000 and have never read of this crime on the police blotter.  None of my friends have reported having trouble with this.  None of my relatives have been invaded including a brother in Minneapolis and one in Boston.  Home invasions do occur in NY City, at the rate of about 100 per year.  On the surface that gives the average New Yorker a 1 in 81,000 chance of being invaded vs. a 1 in 17,712 chance of dieing from a fall. Which means that you’d get more bang for your defense buck by making sure the kids don’t keep their skates and balls on the stairs.  But that is not the whole story.  Apparently home invasions take place between drug dealers.

I’m going to take a guess that Anna Benson Enterprises doesn’t include crack sales.  I would make sense that the NY invadees do have guns around the house.  I’m mean they are drug dealers! Come on!  Yet they are invaded successfully anyway.  Anyway, I have the feeling that any invader, outside of complete morons, will start the process by getting the drop on you.  Unless you are the Ringo Kid with your big iron on your hip, you maybe shouldn’t try to beat the drop if on the off chance you are mistaken for a drug dealer?  Just go ahead and give them your crack stash!  The point is, keeping a gun to prevent house invasion is a moronic excuse.

Anna says, “Fight fire with more firepower! In Atlanta, I can have as many guns as I want and I can even carry the weapon, in plain view, on the front seat of my car”

     If carrying fire arms is to prevent random muggings and car-jackings, why the hell aren’t they carried where everyone can see them?  What good are they in your purse, or in your arm pit?  Why doesn’t your average uniformed cop carry his gun in a purse?  I don’t want a concealed gun permit.  I want a revealed gun permit!  Besides just think what a fashion statement gun belts designed by gay guys could make.

Anna says, “Don’t get me wrong, I AM worried about criminals with guns, and I AM worried about guns on the streets. But, this is why I believe that each and every law abiding citizen should have the right to own a gun and the legal means to obtain a gun in order to protect their family. I’d bet that even an anti-gun activist would really wish they had a gun if someone broke into their home.”

     But why Anna why?  Out of the approximately 12,000 deaths by firearm per year in the US only about 200 are justified homicides by citizens.  That means that the opportunity to stop crime with a gun is rather rare even in the crime ridden US of A.  A bald man could carry a comb on the off chance his hair will come back -- I suppose it happens?  This is just another boogey man under the bed reason for a gun.  If you are really interested in stopping crime, vote those lying bastard thieves in the government out of office, and have a gun in your closet in case they refuse to leave.

43% of murdered people are murdered by someone they know or are related to. 14% of murdered people are victims of strangers.  Another 43% are murdered by someone with an unknown relationship with the victim. Women need a gun more to protect themselves from their lovers, than from the greasy guy waiting behind a tree for them to walk by.

Look at it like this: you don’t need a reason to have a gun.  It is your right to have a gun.  I think that it is even your duty to have a gun, unless you are unfit for the duty.  Just stop with the lame excuses!  It drives me nuts, and that is a short trip.