Do you think the Bush administration should have a monopoly on guns?

[CaptainRant]

I mean, that's what will happen if we ban guns.

He'd be free to do here what he has done in Baghdad. Every genocide in the 20th history began with gun control. One of the few remaining differences between us and 1930s Germany is that we still have some of our gun rights left.

[havocmom]

1. I'm with ya on this

My daughter's friends in Oz say things are worse with gun bans there.

[CaptainRant]

7. Prison isn't so bad...

You've got free meals, free healthcare, no job to worry about, nobody has guns except the government employees who protect you 24 hours per day. Yes, you don't have a lot of freedoms...but aren't these the kinds of things we're advocating?

[Buzz Clik]

2. Yes. Stupid, arrogant people with a tendency toward violence should be well armed.

If this is a reference toward armed resistance against the government and the possible collection of all firearms, then this thread is misguided. If you've witnessed the threads discussing firearms these past days, then you've seen that even the wild-eyed lefties who inhabit the DU are split right down the middle (fractured?) on this issue.

[unpossibles]

3. do you think if it came down to having to actually fight the government

it will matter if your gun is legal or not? Maybe we should all start companies like Blackwater so we can all be well-regulated militias.

[BushOut06]

4. nobody's going to overthrow the US government, no matter how many assault rifles they have

Even these whacko right-wing militia groups and Northwestern skinheads wouldn't have a chance against even the state National Guard units.

[CaptainRant]

6. So why hasn't Bush "won" the war in Iraq?

He's got the best military in the world and a bunch of insurgents are giving him fits and costing us billions of dollars in the process.

[Virginia Dare]

16. Maybe because there are profits to be made in continuing the war?...

among many other reasons.

[CaptainRant]

25. Agree. This war is about lining the pockets of...

Bush supporters. Meanwhile, he's borrowing more and more money to pay for it and making us all poorer through inflation. The debasement of our currency that Bush is perpetrating is the real crime here - it'll be years before our economy fully recovers from the devastation this war has wrought.

END IT NOW or else we'll all be in the poor house while Bush and his cronies get stinkin rich.

[Norquist Nemesis]

5. Do you believe any type of gun and ammo is a 2nd Am right?

I'm guessing you do.

At this point, I'd (almost) rather go with a Barney Fife Rule--Gun, single bullet, must be carried in pocket.

*sigh*

[benEzra]

8. Since he didn't mention repeal of existing laws,

I'd guess he was talking about possession of non-automatic, non-sound-suppressed civilian firearms under .51 caliber by mentally competent adults with clean records...

You are familiar with the National Firearms Act, yes?

[Norquist Nemesis]

9. He wasn't specific

so I'd guess he was just trying to make a point about guns generally. :shrug:

As to the NFA...honestly, no. I'm not a gun enthusiast, but I wouldn't want to 'take away all the guns' either. And there's been a few times since Bush took over that I've entertained the idea that maybe it was time to get a gun. Haven't though...at least not yet.

Still, it seems the two extreme sides are out in full force. Hopefully, there's somewhere towards the middle that can be found. It's still not going to stop the senseless tragedies, but it might help to curtail them. Wish I had the solution.

[benEzra]

24. I follow you.

Personally, I'm OK with restrictions on automatic weapons, over-.50-caliber guns, and whatnot (i.e., the guns restricted by the National Firearms Act). I'd just like to keep what's left, i.e. non-automatics that meet the other criteria of the NFA. I have no problem with background checks, but don't want registration. I don't hunt, but most gun owners don't.

[TahitiNut]

10. At the time it was written, I think it's pretty clear it was.

Once upon a time, the vast majority of weaponry was in the hands of the citizenry and the federal government, in order to raise an army, had to conscript not only the troops but the weaponry. At the time, there was no weapon outside the means of an individual citizen. Even a ship, while not actually a weapon in itself, was a common vehicle in civil activities.

What I find disturbing about the state of armaments has to do with the focus on individuals and the (police) state ... ignoring the fact that corporations are in possession of armaments that dwarf what's in the control of individual private citizens. Indeed, the growing number of "corporate armies" not only mercenary forces such as Blackwater but companies that operate prisons, companies that produce armaments themselves, and companies in the 'conventional' security businesses, seems to be growing by leaps and bounds.

[BushOut06]

22. The 2nd Amendment doesn't define "arms"

At the time the Constitution was written, there were weapons that wouldn't have been accessible by the average farmer - cannons, for instance. Notice the 2nd Amendment doesn't say "firearms", it merely states "arms". Sounds like it's up to the Congress and SCOTUS to decide exactly what constitutes allowable "arms".

[meldroc]

11. Hell no...

I don't trust Bush and Cheney with a monopoly on weapons. The Founding Fathers put the Second Amendment into the Constitution specifically so we have at least something to fight with if the government goes bad and turns on its people.

If the government's going to send people to camps or declare martial law, I'll go down fighting. At least I might take some of the bastards with me.

I was just watching a show on the Holocaust on the History Channel. What I found disturbing is that most of the Jews who got sent to the camps didn't put up a fight. They didn't run. Many of them got a summons in the mail to show up at a train station, and like good citizens, they did so.

Not me.

[charlie]

12. Riiight

Having fun, Cap'n? One minute you're a frothing trust-the-gummint, ban all guns twit:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=678077
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=677292
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=676928
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=682160

Now you're a gun-rights nutter:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=682949#689275

[CaptainRant]

14. Well...

When I thought of the Bush angle, I posed the question to see what others think and if they had a rebuttal.

[charlie]

15. Sure thing, chief

Yer fulla shit.

[CaptainRant]

17. Personal attacks again...

Not what I expected here. Please refute what I said with thought - I'm stumped and wanted to try and figure out how to answer this.

[charlie]

18. Quit bullshitting

Refute your charade? That's what I was doing.

[CaptainRant]

19. No charade...

When you have something substantive to say, I'll listen.

[charlie]

20. When you convince me you're genuinely bipolar

I'll listen. In the meantime, this isn't for you, it's for anyone else who isn't aware of your slaphappy drivel. Carry on.

[CaptainRant]

23. Lets start over...

Give me a good reason why it would be better to let the Bushies have all the guns. I'm not saying this is a bad idea, I just don't have a good response and was hopin that somebody would be able to provide me with one.

[charlie]

28. Let's not

Go find some toonville where they like poseur caricatures and yank their chains for a while.

[bowens43]

13. Yes. Absolutely.

[leftofthedial]

21. yeah, your .22 will protect you from attack helicopters

and fighter bombers.

The capitalists already own your ass and everything you hav piled up in your house. Your gun is irrelevant, unless your kids use it to kill each other or their friends, or a thief steals it and then it is used to commit a crime.

[Richard Steele]

26. Funny, you were calling for a total firearms ban yesterday. Phoney as hell much?

[CaptainRant]

27. And I still am...

Read the thread and you'll see that I'm looking for a valid response to this rhetorical question.

[Bridget Burke]

29. Remind me again of the Democrats who want to ban all guns.

Of course, the Bush administration is known as the one whose VP shoots people in the face.

And Bush shot a protected bird when Dove season opened down here.

[CaptainRant]

30. There are many of us here.

nm

[Bridget Burke]

31. How long have you been here?

Since you've chosen to hide your profile.

[Richard Steele]

33. FYI, it's almost 3 days now. nm

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

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