(Long Island, NY) In the wake of Barack Obama’s landslide victory, I hear disturbing things coming across the news. Flashes of information I find myself profoundly disturbed by. Things that shouldn’t be true, but—by all accounts—are really happening.
The CNN Political Ticker ran the headline, “Gun Sales Spike After Obama Victory“. NPR ran something similar, “On Fears of Obama’s Stand, Gun Sales Spike“. I remember the mini-controversy over Obama’s comments about bitter people clinging to “guns and religion”. The pundits gnashed their teeth and tore their clothes over this, as though Barack Obama were some kind of Sancerre-sipping egalitarian nose-bleeder with seven houses and a McMansion in the Hamptons. Oh, the offense taken! Oh, the snobbery! How DARE he accuse small-town Americans of being in love with firearms to the point of obsession.
Now, we see that Barack Obama was right, at least where a certain portion of the population is concerned. Some people DO cling to their guns. What I really don’t understand is why they feel so strongly about it. From a strategic point of view, that is. I believe in the right to bear arms. I also believe in the right to be protected from those who bear arms in an irresponsible manner.
I believe that hunting and fishing should NOT be considered “sport”. These are SURVIVAL skills, folks. If you ever get in a plane crash in a remote area, or get lost while hiking or climbing, you might just NEED to know a thing or two about how to live in the middle of nowhere until you get help. And as we all know from the headlines, sometimes that help is days away.
But just what do these people who are rushing for more guns-n-ammo think is going to happen to their hunting tools? NOBODY is going to outlaw a legitimate hunting tool. But here’s some food for thought, deer-slayer; Nobody needs a weapon on full automatic to hunt a damn animal.
Does that mean we should outlaw the automatic weapons? I honestly don’t think a selective ban on firearms does any good at all. A child who gets accidentally shot because of irresponsible gun ownership is just as dead with a six-shooter as with an M-16. That said, I don’t believe we should start turning our neighborhoods into free-fire zones, either. Automatic weapons have their place. It’s called a battlefield. If you want to use one to aim at anything besides paper targets, you should go there.
Back to my point about strategy. What precisely do people think they are gaining by having a collection of firearms? To protect themselves from the commies? Does anybody REALLY think they are going to “defend themselves” with a collection of firearms against an invading army or a bunch or terrorists? No, folks. It’s not going to happen. Look at Ruby Ridge. Look at Waco, Texas. Look at Jonestown. In each case, a group of armed people who thought they were “defending themselves” with small arms and civilian-purchased rifles wound up losing. Every single time.
There is no case in modern American history where a bunch of small-arms bearing Americans of some sect, group or organization, successfully resisted a trained squad of professional fighters. In the end they always lose. Even the dreaded al-Queda, with its own version of military training does not do well against a group of expertly trained personnel. So why are y’all stockpiling the guns again? Remind me. So you can die with one in your hand?
Yes, I know this screed is a broad generalization of the issues at hand. But I’m simply using the same type of thinking that is sending people rushing out to buy their stockpiles of guns and ammo in the wake of the Obama victory. That’s right, gang—you’ve just been bludgeoned using your own logic against you. Why don’t we all take one big collective coffee break and a nice, deep breath before we start declaring that the world is going to end—OR be saved instantly—now that Obama has “taken over”?
