The author of this post, along with Jon Stewart, is correct when he encourages discussion on the topic of gun control; it can never be ‘too soon for discussion’ as the parade of right-wingers chant in the opening minutes of the linked episode. Let us discuss.
My copy of the Constitution is bit dusty and perhaps outdated (my frugality does not permit me to procure the ‘Progressive’ edition), but Amendment II is quite clear in my version, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”. The author acknowledges and agrees with the spirit of this Amendment, but maintains that “assault weapons” should be banned. Let us examine this claim, and the second video in greater detail.
The second video link, featuring a pugnacious AA-12, was a not-so-subtle scare tactic; here we see a terrifying automatic shotgun in the hands of the United States Government (in the case of this video it is the major defense contractor, Blackwater). Rather than strengthening the author’s argument, this video merely reveals the ugly face of the number one enemy of the people: the state. State violence, also known as Democide (a phrase coined by Professor Rummel in “Death by Government”), is a much greater threat than the occasional psychopath. I shall now provide a scare tactic of my own which when taken in conjunction with this AA-12 video will illustrate the threat we face; here is a list of all the states which killed more than one million people during the 20th century:
U.S.S.R. (1917-1987), 61,911,000; Communist China (1949-1987), 35,236,000; Nazi Germany (1933-1945), 20,946,000; and Nationalist (or Kuomintang) China (1928-1949), 10,076,000; Japan (1936-1945), 5,964,000; Cambodia (1975-1979), 2,035,000; Turkey (1909-1918), 1,883,000; Vietnam (1945-1987), 1,678,000; North Korea (1948-1987), 1,663,000; Poland (1945-1948), 1,585,000; Pakistan (1958-1987), 1,503,000; Mexico (1900-1920), 1,417,000; Yugoslavia (1944-1987), 1,072,000; Czarist Russia (1900-1917), 1,066,000. (http://www.fff.org/freedom/1094f.asp)
Banning “assault weapons” to prevent the “slaughter [of] mass groups of people”, as recommended by the author, is self-defeating. As the list makes clear, the state is the leading culprit of mass slaughter, and acquiescing its thirst for superior weaponry above the citizenry will only placate its desire. If citizens are to retain their liberty in the long term it is essential that the second amendment be safeguarded from the erosion of regulations, laws and controls promulgated by the state. As Noah Webster noted in the Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution (1787):
Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. (http://www.constitution.org/mil/rkba1982.htm#37)
Notes: I agree with the author’s comments on drug & gambling laws; my libertarian approach encourages individual choice in these matters with no interference from John Law. Also, this response is limited in scope to merely rejecting the author’s call to ban “assault weaponry”. A multitude of arguments could have been put forth in a more general argument on the right to bear arms, and I stand by with the trigger cocked.
--Copperhead
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