I have never understood how it was possible for a thinking, rational being to support gun control.
Whole bunch of folks who ought to know better are using the excuse of the murders at Virginia Tech to call for the banning of guns. Some folks calling for only some guns to be banned, others going whole hog and wanting everything banned.
Let me ask y’all a question.
You want to ban guns. In 1919, the Volstead Act and the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution were passed banning alcohol — much like you want to ban guns now, they banned booze then.
Hmpf.
How’d that work out?
Would you call Prohibition a success?
What makes you think the banning of guns would be any different?
You want to ban the possession of guns. Well, the possession of cocaine is banned. How’s that ban on cocaine working? Has the cocaine problem gotten better or worse?
What makes you think the banning of guns will be any different? Honestly?
You want to ban the manufacture and transportation of guns. You know, the manufacture and transportation of methamphetamine is banned.
Do I have to ask?
What makes you think the banning of guns will have a different result?
Ban guns. Give them an allure. Tell people they can’t own guns, and turn guns into Forbidden Fruit; give guns that irresistible Edgy Outlaw Aura. Make guns the Ultimate Bad Boy accessory.
In the deep, dark recesses of your mind you think we have a gun problem now?
Weed, coke, crack, ice, meth, acid, PCP, XTC, oxy, smack — it’s all banned. And there you sit, forked tongue firmly behind your teeth, piously telling everyone that things will get better once you ban guns.
Pfagh.
Ban guns. Go ahead. If an illiterate Afghani blacksmith with hand tools, a charcoal fire, and a donkey can turn out a full-auto copy of an AK-47 in a week, how long do you think it will take Joe Texan with a metal shop in his garage to do the same?
Because, you know, the methamphetamine ban has worked so well.
Of course, I’m sure that no other government would dabble in illegal arms, just like no government ever cut themselves in for a share of the profits from the (banned) heroin trade, or the (banned) cocaine trade.
*snort*
You can take this one to the bank: just as soon as you get your idiotic gun ban passed, the second thing I am going to do (right after throwing my badge on the Sheriff’s desk) is use my First Amendment right and post complete specifications for Sten guns, Ingrams, KG-99’s and every other stamped sheet metal firearm on the Internet.
Then, I’ll go back and post the complete specs for every firearm in my library on the Internet — First Amendment Freedom of Speech and all that.
I’m wondering: how long do you think it’ll take for the number of gun-bootlegging millionaires to match the number of booze-bootlegging fortunes created by Prohibition?
Yo, Teddy Kennedy, you being the expert on family fortunes created by Prohibition, you want to weigh in?
I wonder how long it will take for the number of gun traficante millionaires to match the number of cocaine traficante millionaires?
And I wonder how long it will take — after you pass your silly-arsed gun ban — for my children to be able to buy a Sten gun on any street corner for 20 dollars — just like they can buy crack, meth, smack or whatever on any street corner for 20 dollars. They’re all banned, right?
Go. Take your plates and go sit at the kiddies table. When you bloody well grow up and can think logically — instead of emoting and fee-ee-eeling your way through problems — then you can eat at the Grown-Ups table.
Don’t forget your binkies, you complete and utter oiks.
LawDog
Make guns the Ultimate Bad Boy accessory.
I think this is one of the things that’s happened in England since their gun ban was enacted. Thug wannabe’s needing a Glock or folding AK to defend their “rep.”
BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!
Dog, you is ma HERO!
Thad
I fear that it would be much worse than Prohibition.
Allow me to speculate; I may be way, way off base…or not.
First, (most) people are going to resist passively. ‘No, officer, that gun was lost while hunting last year.’
Then, they’re going to tell the police to go actively search for the guns, wherever they’re known to be.
The cops are simply not staffed or trained to do this job…and they’ve made the step across the line for a lot of the cops, some of whom will quit, and others will refuse to enforce the law. Those who do enforce it are going to meet at least some resistance, and people on both sides are going to die. They’ll call the SWAT teams…who may or may not respond. Those that do are going to find a hard time of it…and if there’s not enough cops, there’s sure as hell not enough SWAT officers to do this job. Even if you bring in the FBI and ATF…they won’t be enough. There’s just too many armed citizens. And I know how well at least some of them are armed. Knob Creek, anyone?
So who are they going to get to go around and take all these guns? The National Guard? Federal military? Sure, ask them, President Pelosi.
And watch civilian control of the military evaporate overnight. Some units might comply, but I would wager that at least some, and possibly most, will not.
Are you going to tell them to fire on American citizens? The National Guard may be more likely to deploy in defense of their fellow citizens, than enforce such an edict.
Congratulations, idiots; you’ve just torn the country apart.
Dawg, I always wondered how some LEO’s (namely you) would react to a gun-ban.
It is thoroughly refreshing, sir, to know that you will STILL be on our side.
tweaker
Minds of a feather think together, ‘Dog. Just a couple of days ago I was corresponding with someone who “feels” like gun control must be a good thing. When I saw my words to her echoed right here on your blog, I had to laugh at the similarity of our thinking.
I wrote: And to borrow a phrase, “When machine shops are outlawed, only outlaws can make guns.” If barefoot and illiterate Khyber Pass natives can turn a truck axle into a functional AK-47 using nothing more complex than a charcoal fire and a file, I predict a booming underground gun manufacturing industry if the U.S. were to ban guns. Prohibition will have no more effect on guns than it did on alcohol, nor than it does today on illegal drugs.
Rant away, Brother Dog.
Well, yes, but…
If guns are banned, I will not be disarmed, no doubt about that.
But, I would lose most of my opportunity to practice and maintain my defensive skills.
I don’t know many of the younger generation of cops who would refuse an order to confiscate private firearms. The militarization of the police departments concerns me more than nearly any other government power grab.
Sorry ’bout that, LD.
A friend of mine claimed that gun control is necessary because “bringing a gun into the equation always escalates it” — and I knew that wasn’t correct, but I didn’t have a decent argument against the idea, other than to say that I thought it would be more likely to either make the bad guy realize they needed to back off before they possibly got shot, or it would at least make the bad guy realize they’re not dealing with a victim. It’s been bugging me ever since that I didn’t have a better reply to that person’s take on the subject.
That is a particularly good commentary on gun control and why it will fail. Certainly the gun laws we have now are failing miserably, as evidenced by the school shooting.
The gun ban is probably a lot closer than anyone wants to believe. New Orleans is the best example, although there have been other instances that are not, and never will be reported.
And, naturally, once the evil firearms are banned from all but the government officials who need them, free speech will have to go as well. After all, we can’t have someone’s feelings hurt, can we?
Yer a good dawg. Keep writing.
Personally I think you would get 20% or less of LE refusing to do roundups on their fellow citizens. Not when they’re confronted with the loss of their retirements, benefits and jobs and such. I’d like to be wrong but based on when I’ve seen with other less than Constitutional activities that departments just seem to have orgasms over I can’t see anyone getting too worked up over it.
We know for a fact that Federal troops have zero hesitation about kicking in doors and rounding up weapons and brutalizing gun owners as was graphically shown during Katrina. We also know the penchant for murderous violence of those in certain other agencies. I see no reason why they would hesitate in kicking in doors an applying all the force of their resources against those opposing them.
Oh some sort of theater may have to be arranged to get the public all worked up first to get their dullard brains all worked up for some blood lust but if some sufficiently gruesome display of mangled and bloody children can be somehow connected to “guns” and the media whip it all up into legislation the public will overlook any sort of fedgov brutality especially if it was being done “for the children”.
If god forbid it ever does happen it will get ugly. Lots of people will die. There is still a portion of our population that just will not take to the yoke. Some will fight it out right in their homes. Some will hide out and fight their fight that way. Some will just stay underground assist. It would be one of those situations where it wasn’t just a gun thing. The point at which you had weapon sweeps and roundups and actual resistance to those actions would probably (hopefully) push things to a criticality point and change a host of things. It’s not like a gun roundup has started something. Wasn’t April 19th yesterday?
LIL,
bringing a gun to an argument tends to END said argument.
if a law abiding citizen who’s been trained in the use of force, feels compelled to draw a firearm in defense of himself/herself..then the words tend to dry up pretty quickly. thats just my experience…I wouldn’t know about anybody else.
Here’s England’s take on real gun control:
http://www.thehomegunsmith.com/
He can’t respond…been busy with his swimming lessons. Cars don’t kill people, only cars underwater kill people.
Swim Teddy, swim!
“Yo, Teddy Kennedy, you being the expert on family fortunes created by Prohibition, you want to weigh in?”
LD, here’s some interesting info. A few years back, I had a chat with a gun dealer regarding Calif’s last registration scheme. AW Ban II, I think. It was getting close to the cutoff date, and I asked him about it. He said he had requested some more forms, but was told they had sent out all they had printed. The DOJ was complaining that they were not getting any real number returned. They told him they had less than 5% registration of the estimated number of “Assault Weapons” in the state. I think this was probably due to the confiscation order that went out over a rifle that was added to the list too late to meet the deadline. Huge number of people became lawbreakers when they finally realized that the govt could, and WOULD, take their guns away. I think around the same time NYC and NJ also confiscated some. Real eye opener for people paying attention.
I don’t think the gun banners have devoted any thought at all to it, for the reasons you mention. I think it’s entirely emotional: “I’m scared of it, I’ll pretend I can make it go away.” Fortunately I don’t see much chance of it happening; except for a few diehards like Ted Kennedy, most Democratic politicians have dropped the idea, seeing as how they got tired of losing elections.
Well said, ‘dog. 🙂
Not to mention helping the market for home loading/reloading equipment, charcoal and saltpetre.
LittleRed1
“Congratulations idiots, You’ve just torn the country apart.” – Noah, you’re assuming that is NOT their goal.
It is.
These folks hate this country and everything it stands for with an unbridled passion. They do everything they can to destroy our military, our reputation, our rights, and our freedoms. They would be THRILLED to see this country dissolve. Then, see, the ‘intelligent elite’ – them – can take over.
Orion
Here’s an outstanding example of good gun control (ie, the ability to hit where you’re aiming):
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/oddities/story.html?id=a4f9d377-1cd3-42a6-a6c8-ce8c6cb06186&k=60827
“the second thing I am going to do (right after throwing my badge on the Sheriff’s desk) is use my First Amendment right and post complete specifications for Sten guns, Ingrams, KG-99’s and every other stamped sheet metal firearm on the Internet.”
Why wait? Did you have to exchange your First Amendment rights for your uniform and badge?
Best quote:
“Yo, Teddy Kennedy, you being the expert on family fortunes created by Prohibition, you want to weigh in?”
As a MA resident I’m usually surprised that a lot of MA residents have no idea how Joe Sr. made his money.
Hypocrisy thy name is Kennedy.
This person is not going to resist passively.
When the police show up for my firearms, they will find an empty house.
And then I will go hunting.
The police will eventually serve whoever wins the upcoming conflict.
good post.
I was told recently by a police commissioner that a police officer was under no obligation to protect someone if it puts the officers life in danger. If this is a true statement we all need a gun.
Orion.
You said…”Congratulations idiots, You’ve just torn the country apart.” – Noah, you’re assuming that is NOT their goal.
“It is.
These folks hate this country and everything it stands for with an unbridled passion. They do everything they can to destroy our military, our reputation, our rights, and our freedoms. They would be THRILLED to see this country dissolve. Then, see, the ‘intelligent elite’ – them – can take over.”
Your right, they want to destroy this nation, because they want to be the ruling class. They ought to be careful about kicking off the next civil war though. They’re making an assumption that they’ll be safe. To them I would say “be careful you don’t have any delusions of grandeur…YOU will not survive them”
We don’t need to speculate on what cops would do, because we have so many historical models. A few would quit, a few others would be fired, never to serve again, and most would step up and follow any orders given.
1930s Germany, Waco, Ruby Ridge, NOLA, et al, are the models we will see played out under a gun ban.
You didn’t see NYC cops resigning in droves over the Sullivan Law, and we didn’t see college students dropping out because their campuses were declared “gun free”.
The lase time I can thnk of wherein a gun confiscation attempt was met with meaningful resistance was the American Revolution.
The line was crossed a long time ago with the passing of NFA ’34, and then again in 1968, but we don’t find any evidence that anyone got terribly excited over that and resigned their government jobs. You yourself may even support those enactments, as do most cops.
Are you saying you don’t support the federal registration of all firearm dealers, federal forms for all firearm purchases, machineguns, SBRs and suppressors? Throw in your badge.
Its chip, chip, chip, and by the time the last step has been taken, it will have been a very small step– no big deal, and no one will freak out over it any more than we freak out about the next 2.5% tax hike.
— Lyle
It’s probably out of print and the author is no longer with us, but ‘Breakdown’ by William W. Johnstone is pretty much a blueprint of how it could go down.
A depressing read, but thought-provoking in its own way.
May I have permission to reproduce this in it’s entirety as long as I give you credit and a link to your ‘site?
We had to do a paper in class one time. Our group finally narrowed ours down to Gun Control, we spent another day finally deciding it would be Pro.
in the process I was accussed of being For Guns – one of the things we were rolling on the floor over during the debate was ‘to safely keep a gun in the home, you should have it in pieces, said pieces in different places, in locked containers.
Here was the scenario that had us cracking up –
You wake up in the middle of hte night to find an armed robber standing at the foot of your bed pointing his gun at you.
You are very cool and collected – “Excuse me sir. My gun is scattered about the house, I will return in just a moment.”
You then calmly get out of bed, go to the kitchen to get the key to the guncase out of hte sugar, you get the gun body, and the key to the bookcase that has the cylinder.
You get the cylinder, go to hte bathroom showerrod to collect the key to the foot locker that holds the ammo (naturally, you are replacing each key after you retrieve it’s guarded part),
You retrieve the ammo, the proceed to assemble your gun, load it, return to the bedroom, nod at the intruder who is patiently perusing your literature collection while waiting for you to finish your errand.
You know return to the bed, pull the sheets up, and say “Very well, sir. I know have my gun assembled and loaded. I am ready to proceed…”
and when they accussed me of being Pro-NRA I informed them I was not. I am simply Anti-Goverment-telling-me-how-to-do-everything-and-enforcing-yet-another-bedroom-law.
The police are a good thing. It is one of the things that keep our country free and let us play with the above scenario.
But they MUST have better things to do than come into my home to make certain I am obeying the sex laws, that I have my gun safely scattered around the house – and that none of my reading matter is…controversial.
Catching that serial murderer, or the guy that just held up the liquor store- come to mind.
Besides, If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns!
Anonymous said…
“the second thing I am going to do (right after throwing my badge on the Sheriff’s desk) is use my First Amendment right and post complete specifications for Sten guns, Ingrams, KG-99’s and every other stamped sheet metal firearm on the Internet.”
Why wait? Did you have to exchange your First Amendment rights for your uniform and badge?
11:10 AM
Anonymous – perhaps the Law Dog has not done this yet for the simple reason of not really wanting to have to deal with the home-made models of these weapons – and the after-effects of badly-made versions of these items.
Little girls with guns are so cool.
You got those scanned yet? I’d be willing to contribute a GB or two worth of flash drives so you can make sure they don’t get lost in a mysterious house fire or anything.