For those who would ban all guns in private hands — and I know many of you personally — some Q & A:
What are arms for?
They are power multipliers. Who has arms has power over those who do not.
What does it mean to be sovereign? What is it that distinguishes the sovereign from whom he rules?
The sovereign has power over those he rules.
In America’s democratic system, who is sovereign?
The people are sovereign.
If arms confer decisive power, and the people allow themselves to be disarmed by the State, who gains power? Who loses power?
The State gains power; the people lose power.
If the people cede their arms to the State, then, who is really sovereign?
Clearly it must be the State, and no longer the people.
Any questions?
7 Comments
https://pjmedia.com/trending/liberals-dont-understand-serious-attempt-gun-confiscation-lead-civil-war/
Serious stuff
The strange thing about the American gun debate to this foreign observer is how even the right sometimes concedes to restrictions on guns that make them less effective as militia weapons, effectively conceding that the constitutional rationale given for the right to bear arms is not what motivates them.
The left want to ban semi-automatic rifles, which account for close to 0% of gun murders, despite these being exactly the sort of guns a militia would want.
Handguns, on the other hand, which account for almost all gun murders, could be banned without preventing the effectiveness of a militia, or otherwise doing much to lessen the effect of the public having guns as a deterrent against tyranny.
Harold,
Being a foreign observer, all you are likely to see of the American “right” are, for the most part, politicians and pundits.
Let me assure you that among gun owners and gun-rights advocates who properly understand the origins of the Second Amendment in terms of power, sovereignty, and natural rights, the legislative and conceptual concessions these people make are widely and deeply resented.
Malcolm if memory serves Up2L8 some years ago presented us in commenting a fairly brief but comprehensive mapping of the path the language took to its present form.
If Ups’ comment can be found in your archives that might serve Harold (and us) well.
I’ll do a bit of searching but I’ve noticed a change that Bluehost might’ve had to do with.
***
Hmmm. Maybe my search-term method is what’s changed.
http://malcolmpollack.com/2012/12/15/hell-on-earth/#comment-334903
JK,
Thanks for digging up that 2012 post (which was written after the Sandy Hook massacre). It quoted some good commentary, and had an extensive discussion thread. (I’d completely forgotten Laura Wood’s remarks on how feminism begets violence, which I think are insightful.)
I also posted this a while back, on the origins of the Second Amendment.
Malcolm,
You’d admit (as I’ve come to) I can’t be expected to remember everything?
***
And an, oh by the way: should you go back and re-read that 2012 post’s comments – mind the ol’ bp?
JK,
Not quite yet.
PS: forgive me for editing my previous comment after the fact. It’s bad form, I realize.
PPS: …and as I posted this, I realized you’d done the same.