Some of my pro-gun work becomes T-Shirts

[bastiat]

I've started putting out new shirts that relate to the pro-gun flash movies and posters I have on My Website

First are four shirts featuring pictures and pro-gun quotes from Ghandi, The Dalai Lama, Jefferson and Roosevelt that were featured in the Famous Gun Nuts flash movie.

Second is the Children's Anti-Gun Drawing that shows how we'd all be better off if only the bad guys had guns.

I'm selling these to help support my site, so if you're interested, you buy them at http://store.flashbunny.org

 

[4v50 Gary]

Your Famous Gun Nuts is fantastic. Bravo!

 

[bastiat]

Here's some pics:

A t-shirt version of the "Kids say the darndest things" poster:

Shirts from the Famous Gun Nuts:

Gandhi, with the quote "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."

Thomas Jefferson "What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms."

Teddy Roosevelt: "The great body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on. We should
encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes,
as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus,
and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the world...
The first step in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible,
and to be fit for war if it should come is to teach men to shoot!"

The Dalai Lama: "If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun."

 

[MikeK]

Really like the 'famous gun nuts' flash movie. I'll be sending that link to a few folks. Thanks.

 

[Idaho]

Bastiat -

Can you provide a source/citation for the Ghandi and Dalai Lama quotes? I like the movie and shirts, but I need to be prepared if says it ain't so....

 

[gun-fucious]

heres the citation from his holyness

heres Ghandi's

 

[Idaho]

This is why I asked - I don't like attributing something as a direct quote which is really a paraphrase, and I don't like taking something out of context. The full paragraph from the original source is as follows:

But if someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, he said, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun. Not at the head, where a fatal wound might result. But at some other body part, such as a leg.

Seattle Times Article

Not a strategy I recommend, and you'll see there are no quotation marks, so this is not a verbatim quote, and shouldn't be characterized as such.

I really like the quote, and wish it were not qualified....

 

[OF]

I attribute that latter half of the Lama's quote to a lack of proper tactical training. If he were better versed in the martial arts, I am certain he would have ommited the qualifier, or replaced it with "Not at the head. Which is an exceedingly difficult target to hit under stress, but at the observable center of mass. Multiple times if necessary, until the threat is ended and the danger has passed."



- Gabe

 

[Idaho]

I also note that the Ghandi quote should, apparently, be qualified. I have not yet been able to pin down the original source, but I note that at least one source for quotations qualifies the quote as follows:

"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." N.B.: This quote refers to the British disarmament of the Indian Army. Gandhi never advocated the individual right to bear arms.

I think our arguments lose credibility when we rely upon mischaracterized quotations to make our point.

 

[Idaho]

After a bit more research, I did find the original source of the Ghandi quote. This quote is less clear as to whether the context contradicts the quote, but the context certainly does color the quote.

It comes from Ghandi's autobiography. (Published on the web at: M. K. Ghandi - An Autobiography; or, The story of my experiments with truth - Translated from the Gujarati by Mahadev Desai.) The quote in this version appears on page 372.

I don't know a lot about Ghandi's life or times, but after reading portions of this book, it appears that, at the time, Ghandi was attempting to achieve a rapprochement of sorts with the British government. As part of that effort, he agreed to help the British Viceroy recruit Indians to fight in Britains WWII combat efforts.

In the recruiting process, he distributed leaflets that said:

'Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle class render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial, distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be withdrawn.

In otherwords, despite the fact that the populace disliked the British rule, Ghandi argued to cooperate with the British to gain trust, and with trust, regain the right as a nation to bear arms. I can't say with certainty without more study of the man and his teachings, but it does not appear to be clear to me that Ghandi did or would support an individual right to bear arms.

 

[bastiat]

Well, people can argue the meaning of what other people said. Heck, we have anti's arguing over the meaning of the second amendment even though there's scads of documents from the founders to back up their intentions.

The point is they'll argue over it even if ghandi said "every citizen of india should have a gun." That's what they do - twist meanings until they are meaningless. Using the quotes can be helpful because they shift the definition of somone who isn't hysterically opposed to guns. Especially to someone who is on the fence. It's not going to sway a true believer.

Besides, do you really think Ghandi would have been a pacifist if Hitler was in control of India? Non-Violence only works when your opposition is relatively benign. Either Ghandi would have taken up arms against hitler, or he wouldn't have existed as Ghandi very long. (ooh, there's a hypothetical situation: What gun would Ghandi use if he fought against hitler!)