Thursday, January 17, 2013

You Don't Need

Let's talk about the stawmen in the current gun debate.  The biggest one is: You don't need (fill in the blanks).

You don't need an AR15 for hunting. That's true.  I've been a police officer for 30 years.  During that time I served in both the National Guard and the Army Reserves.  I carried an M16 during that time, the standard weapon of the infantryman.  I'm very comfortable with that weapon and I understand both its strengths and weaknesses.

I also hunt deer, one of my favorite hobbies, and I don't bring my AR for deer hunting.  I use a standard hunting rifle, a bolt action that holds three rounds.  For many years I hunted with a muzzleloading rifle, a single shot musket just like the Founding Fathers used against the British interlopers, and it is a fine hunting instrument.  However, this debate isn't about hunting.  This debate is about the 2nd Amendment, which has nothing to do with hunting.  The 2nd Amendment is about government intrusion and the Founders believed that the citizens should be armed as well as the government.  In times of extreme need, when government breaks down and is unable to protect The People, the people have a right to defend themselves.

Do you want to live in a police state?  I don't either, but when the police are better armed than the general public, you have the basis of a police state.  I don't want to live in a place where the police have special exemptions, where the law writes particular exemptions for the police or the government.    The law should apply to all equally, and if we don't need ARs on the streets, then the police shouldn't be allowed to have them, either.  The police are simply citizens with power of arrest, paid to do full-time what every citizen should do on an as-needed basis.

Let me say this, for the record.  In thirty years of police work, I have never had one problem with a law-abiding citizen who happened to be armed.  Not one problem.  Law abiding citizens are not the problem.

My guns are not the problem.

But, when you tell me "You Don't Need...", I wonder why you have the gall to presume to know what I need.    I'm a free American and what I need is none of your business.  How dare you presume to dictate my needs?



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I first saw an AR in the woods
20 or 30 years ago.
It was carried by a woman, a
relative of the owner of the land
I was hunting on.

I was carrying a scoped Ruger 77 RL.
She passed up a shot I probably
would have taken because the distance
was too long or the deer wasn't
standing right.

In short, she was a responsible
hunter and using an AR didn't
change that.

Pawpaw said...

Anonymous. No disagreement from me. I know folks that use ARs for hunting, and I'm on their side. I simply prefer my old fashioned bolts or levers.

Sandy Livesay said...

Great post!

Rev. Paul said...

(Came over from Stephen's place) Your final paragraph is pure gold. Thank you, sir.

Anonymous said...

I started out with a single-shot
12 gauge shotgun. Then a bolt
rifle, then a BAR semiauto.
Got my first deer with the BAR.

Have since gone to the Ruger RL,
except when I hunt with a
handgun, something antis also claim
hunters don't do.

Mostly wrote the post on the AR in the woods because it was a while
back and a woman was hunting
with one. I figure that
goes against several stereotypes.

Duke said...

Gun control is not about guns it's about control. Liberals don't care if criminals won't surrender their guns and they would be just as happy if we didn't either because either way we can be either disarmed or locked away in prison. Either way is fine with them because they have all the power.

RJIII said...

I have deer and hog hunted with an AR. With a 20" barrel and 75gr hollowpoints the ballistics are real close to the .243, one of the most popular deer cartridge where I lived at the time.

Red Woman said...

Well said Sir.

Gaffer said...

Words well said! Too bad those who seek control will not read them and would not understand the concept if forced to listen to them.ting

Unknown said...

A friend of mine gave me the "you don't need" argument the other day. My reply was a bit like yours if not as well stated, but one thing I did add was that the 2nd amendment meant that what "I don't need" is permission from the state.