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Category Archives: National Rifle Association

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Maine guns, the NRA and a Bill of Responsibilities.

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A gun for every home?  A tiny community in Maine wants to require gun ownership of every household, even thouagh the state constitution does not permit this kind of law. The town authority who wants to enact this law knows that the action of proposing the law is largely symbolic. The National Rifle Association loves this kind of controversy.

Where is it stated in the Federal constitution that Americans must own guns? This wacky idea is based on the silly reasoning that if everyone had a gun, then no one would have an advantage over anyone else.

 Oh yeah? I’ll get a bigger gun than yours, or a faster gun.  No, I’ll get two guns and you’ll have only one.  Gracias, National Rifle Association.

This kind of thinking is not only nonsense, it’s disrespectful: it’s disrespectful to all those who have lost loved ones in recent shootings. Making political gain over the dead bodies of little children is shameful. Instead of vowing that each of us will take steps to conserve our country against random shootings and massacres, we allow public forums for gun promotors like those in Maine.

Because we live in a country where I have the right to free speech I can say what I’ve just said.
I can also say that the National Rifle Association which once led the nation in the promotion of sensible use of firearms has been hijacked by a lunatic fringe of gun-toters who seem to care very little about the toll their brand of Americanism has taken on this country.

I have no problem with ownership of rifles and shotguns.  Shoot canons off  in target practice fo rthe  fun of it, if you want to. But, you have no right to tell me that I must own any kind of gun.

I’m as American as you are and I don’t want firearms in my house, or in my car.  I don’t want to sit in a restaurant and see your handgun at your side or stand at the check-out counter at Walmart with your rifle in my face. I have the right to peaceful assembly, and that means I should not have to face your firearms. Their presence is a threat to me.

I want the second amendment defended. The right to bear arms is secured in our Bill of Rights.
However, what we need is a Bill of Responsibilites. That’s what our legislators should be working on.
I want to see restrictions placed on how gun owners can own and use guns so that my right, and my fellow citizens’ right to “life, liberty, andthe pursuit of happiness” is not infringed.

I will never own a handgun.

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The National Rifle Association, the right not to bear arms.

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The second amendment assures every citizen the right to bear arms. With this right comes the reponsibility to be careful with those firearms.  To its credit, The National Rifle Association sponsors classes in gun safety.  For this reason, I have no problem with hunting, and with hunters owning and using rifles and shotguns. But, because the NRA advocates handgun posession and helps train hand gun owners,the National Rifle Association is not an organization I would belong to.

 Sure, if I lived in the country and not as I do now, in a great metropolis, I’d likely belong to the “Rod and Gun” club. I like to fish and you could probably talk me into a trek through the Northwoods during deer season. But, I draw the line at handguns, a line behind which stands the National Rifle Association.

Handguns are for killing people. I don’t want one in my house and I don’t want you sitting at the next table in a restaurant with your 357 magnum hanging at your side as if you are somebody because you carry a gun. I don’t want to assume that the bulge in your coat pocket is a gun, either.

I think the second amendment was intended to assure that a militia could be raised if and when it was necessary to defend American territory. With this idea in mind, the National Rifle Association has turned the second amendment into a mandate to carry arms for personal defence. Instead, I want to see that right curtailed as stictly as possible. Yes, I’ll defend home and turf but in my own way.

In my lifetime, I have asked two people to get out of my car because they flourished handguns, neither was a member of the National Rifle Association. One was a salesman-friend who carried his hand gun in his front pocket wrapped in a thin white handkerchief. He said he just wanted to show it to me. He was chuckling as he brought it out.  Even though I knew him well and we were not near our destination, I pulled over and quietly asked him to get out.  He thought I was joking. I wasn’t. The NRA would not have approved.

When I needed directions in an unfamiliar city, a man, dressed in a nice suit volunteered to direct me to my destination and I let him get into the back seat of my car.  I’d offered him a ride of a couple of blocks.When he brandished a handgun and asked me what I thought of it, the following words ran through my head: “Why did I let myself get into this situation?”

Fortunately, the man did exit the car without further incident.  I concluded he wanted to show the gun to me because in his eyes it equalized me with his condition. I had an impressive brand new car, he had a big, shiny handgun. The National Rifle Association  would have supported this show-off.

I’m glad that in each case I did not reach for my pistol, simply because I didn’t have one with which to threaten either of these guys.

I can think of a hundred different ways to counter an intruder.  The last thing I would do is go run for a handgun. I’d use my head and not try to blow his off.

 

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