hillbilly
October 21, 2003, 08:35 AM
Below is the link for a column and below that is the response I just sent to Mr. Horsley.
http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/102003/opi_seeingguns.shtml
And my response via email.........
Your column contains the following:
" Some Second Amendment advocates, on the other hand, feel that America
would be safer if everyone had guns and carried them whenever possible.
This idea seemed ludicrous even when I was a member of the National Rifle
Association. Now that I'm a handgun owner and know the magnitude of
responsibility involved in carrying a concealed weapon, the "armed America"
argument makes even less sense.
America is a big tent, and, for the general welfare, many of our citizens
shouldn't be carrying weapons. Most people can't even control their dogs.
Think of all the mayhem caused by malicious teenagers, road-rage drivers,
drunken sports fans and so on. Adding loaded pistols to that mix doesn't
seem a way to make America safer.
I suspect the truth lies somewhere between the extremes. Knowing that many
sober-minded citizens might be carrying weapons probably has a deterrent
effect on criminals, who prefer easy pickings. Concealed handgun licensees
don't make good victims."
First of all, your reading of the intentions of "some Second Amendment
advocates" is entirely wrong. I don't know of of any "Second Amendment
advocates" who argue that everyone should have guns. While I have met some
six year olds whom I would trust to walk behind me carrying a loaded gun, I
can't say that absolutely everyone without exception would fit that mold.
On the other hand, your ideas, combined with the statement near the end of
your column about your tendency to lean politically left, do fit a rather
predictable mold.
As most left-leaning gun hypocrites, you hold elitist contempt for the
"common folk" while at the same time you believe their existences would be
better if they would only submit to all sorts of benevolent governmental
controls upon their lives......all for their own good.
Of course, any restrictions which those grubby citizens under the "big tent"
should submit to for the "general welfare" should never really apply to
enlightened, superior folk like you.
You fit the mold of Rosie O'Donnell when she urged American gun owners be
jailed while at the same time she had armed bodyguards accompany her child
to a school, where, for the general welfare, mere peasants face huge
penalties for carrying their own defense weapons.
You fit the mold of Diane Feinstein who rails against the "common folks"
having access to any sort of firearm while she herself got an almost
impossible to obtain California carry permit.
And, you fit the mold of one Katy LaFrance, a "poet" who wrote a similar
column in another Western newspaper, detailing how she, herself, learned to
shoot and handle a gun at age six, but who proclaimed that the "average
citizen" was just too irresponsible and moronic to own any sort of firearm
for any reason which meant that most guns and gun ownership had to be banned
for the "common good."
Yes, look down from your lofty, superior, enlightened perch with disdain for
all those other inferiors beneath the "big tent" while you smugly tote your
handgun on your hip. Of course, those other peasants could never be trusted
to enjoy the same privileges that you can handle so perfectly.
Of course, all animals are equal, but some animals are MORE equal.
hillbilly
http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/102003/opi_seeingguns.shtml
And my response via email.........
Your column contains the following:
" Some Second Amendment advocates, on the other hand, feel that America
would be safer if everyone had guns and carried them whenever possible.
This idea seemed ludicrous even when I was a member of the National Rifle
Association. Now that I'm a handgun owner and know the magnitude of
responsibility involved in carrying a concealed weapon, the "armed America"
argument makes even less sense.
America is a big tent, and, for the general welfare, many of our citizens
shouldn't be carrying weapons. Most people can't even control their dogs.
Think of all the mayhem caused by malicious teenagers, road-rage drivers,
drunken sports fans and so on. Adding loaded pistols to that mix doesn't
seem a way to make America safer.
I suspect the truth lies somewhere between the extremes. Knowing that many
sober-minded citizens might be carrying weapons probably has a deterrent
effect on criminals, who prefer easy pickings. Concealed handgun licensees
don't make good victims."
First of all, your reading of the intentions of "some Second Amendment
advocates" is entirely wrong. I don't know of of any "Second Amendment
advocates" who argue that everyone should have guns. While I have met some
six year olds whom I would trust to walk behind me carrying a loaded gun, I
can't say that absolutely everyone without exception would fit that mold.
On the other hand, your ideas, combined with the statement near the end of
your column about your tendency to lean politically left, do fit a rather
predictable mold.
As most left-leaning gun hypocrites, you hold elitist contempt for the
"common folk" while at the same time you believe their existences would be
better if they would only submit to all sorts of benevolent governmental
controls upon their lives......all for their own good.
Of course, any restrictions which those grubby citizens under the "big tent"
should submit to for the "general welfare" should never really apply to
enlightened, superior folk like you.
You fit the mold of Rosie O'Donnell when she urged American gun owners be
jailed while at the same time she had armed bodyguards accompany her child
to a school, where, for the general welfare, mere peasants face huge
penalties for carrying their own defense weapons.
You fit the mold of Diane Feinstein who rails against the "common folks"
having access to any sort of firearm while she herself got an almost
impossible to obtain California carry permit.
And, you fit the mold of one Katy LaFrance, a "poet" who wrote a similar
column in another Western newspaper, detailing how she, herself, learned to
shoot and handle a gun at age six, but who proclaimed that the "average
citizen" was just too irresponsible and moronic to own any sort of firearm
for any reason which meant that most guns and gun ownership had to be banned
for the "common good."
Yes, look down from your lofty, superior, enlightened perch with disdain for
all those other inferiors beneath the "big tent" while you smugly tote your
handgun on your hip. Of course, those other peasants could never be trusted
to enjoy the same privileges that you can handle so perfectly.
Of course, all animals are equal, but some animals are MORE equal.
hillbilly