How to...
From an occasional series on how to talk to gun-control advocates…
A. Answering the question: “Who needs an AK-47 to go hunting?”
There are three major ‘problems’ with the above question:
1. “Need” – Forget the Constitution. If you believe that a human has the inherent right to life, then you necessarily believe that that human has an inherent right to defend that life – with whatever tools are necessary.
2. “AK-47” – Once again there is the (intentional?) confusion between “semi-automatic” and “assault” rifles. Are we discussing a semi-automatic version or a select-fire “machine gun”? If we are discussing a semi-automatic, then, what is the difference between it and a Browning automatic hunting rifle? Or a Remington 1100 skeet gun? They all work the same way. If you ban one, you have to ban the others. If, on the other hand, we’re discussing a “machine gun” then we’re discussing something that is already very tightly controlled by the government.
3. “Hunting” - This could be subsumed under #1, but since it concerns a slightly different point, I’ll break it out: While hunting is one facet of it, firearms ownership in this country is not about hunting. It is about the founders of our republic realizing that unchecked power grows abusive. Therefore, they quite intentionally placed final authority and the ultimate veto power in the hands of the people. It has been variously estimated that during the course of the 20th century, approximately 40- 60 million people died as the result of international wars. During that same 100 years close to four times that number died at the hands of their own governments.(1) Think that our government won’t become like that? Do you think you have rights? Refuse to pay your income tax and see what happens.
(1) - http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat8.htm
A. Answering the question: “Who needs an AK-47 to go hunting?”
There are three major ‘problems’ with the above question:
1. “Need” – Forget the Constitution. If you believe that a human has the inherent right to life, then you necessarily believe that that human has an inherent right to defend that life – with whatever tools are necessary.
2. “AK-47” – Once again there is the (intentional?) confusion between “semi-automatic” and “assault” rifles. Are we discussing a semi-automatic version or a select-fire “machine gun”? If we are discussing a semi-automatic, then, what is the difference between it and a Browning automatic hunting rifle? Or a Remington 1100 skeet gun? They all work the same way. If you ban one, you have to ban the others. If, on the other hand, we’re discussing a “machine gun” then we’re discussing something that is already very tightly controlled by the government.
3. “Hunting” - This could be subsumed under #1, but since it concerns a slightly different point, I’ll break it out: While hunting is one facet of it, firearms ownership in this country is not about hunting. It is about the founders of our republic realizing that unchecked power grows abusive. Therefore, they quite intentionally placed final authority and the ultimate veto power in the hands of the people. It has been variously estimated that during the course of the 20th century, approximately 40- 60 million people died as the result of international wars. During that same 100 years close to four times that number died at the hands of their own governments.(1) Think that our government won’t become like that? Do you think you have rights? Refuse to pay your income tax and see what happens.
(1) - http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat8.htm
posted by Voolfie at 9:06 AM
1 Comments:
This post requires clarification:
Q1. Who needs an AK-47 to go hunting?
A1. Nobody. But so what?
The underlying assertion in the question is: Hunting is the only valid use of firearms. Not true. Self-defense is also a valid use of firearms and an AK is an appropriate tool for that job in certain circumstances.
Actually, you could use it to hunt - just as you could use a cap-and-ball black powder Colt pistol for self-defense. It's not the ideal choice, but it would work.
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