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Mike
Super Moderator
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Posted: Sun Apr 19th, 2009 06:13 pm |
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http://newsminer.com/news/2009/apr/19/eternal-vigilance/?opinion
News-Miner Editorial
Eternal vigilance
Tactics are debatable, but gun rights need defense
Published Sunday, April 19, 2009
Legislation to create a national gun licensing system won’t be moving in this Congress, but that fact has not dissuaded people across the country from using the bill as a springboard to launch a defense of Second Amendment rights.
Nor should it. Gun owners have a right and a responsibility to keep this issue in the forefront.
In Fairbanks, gun-rights advocates have done this by sponsoring “open-carry” days on which people wear their firearms in public. The guns have become three-dimensional bumper stickers — with bullets. This has caused other residents, including some gun owners, to wonder about the need to make such a fuss about an issue that seems settled, particularly given the risk that such tactics will backfire if some open-carry activist goes berserk.
Tactics aside, it’s clear that this area of law is not settled and people who are interested in retaining their rights must continue to be vigilant and outspoken.
To understand why, consider this bipartisan simile: Dismissing the protests from gun-rights advocates as ignorant rabble-rousing is the intellectual equivalent of dismissing similar activity by abortion-rights advocates. Congress and the Supreme Court may not be likely to make any sudden moves in the recognition of these rights, but that doesn’t mean the forces pushing for movement are dormant or can be ignored by those who defend them.
That’s because, first of all, something could change. Roe vs. Wade, decided 7-2 in favor of abortion rights, was a slam-dunk in comparison and has stood as precedent for more than 35 years. Yet the fight on the margins about abortion rights rages on.
The Supreme Court decision last year in District of Columbia vs. Heller, which affirmed an individual right to bear arms, was decided 5-4. That’s an awfully narrow margin. And the country just elected a president who supports an individual’s right to bear arms but who has a long record of backing laws to limit it. Through court appointments and a sympathetic Congress, the current legal landscape could change easily.
There a thousand ways in which rights can be and have been eroded — “nibbled to death by ducks,” as Eric Sevareid once described network executives. No one bite hurts, but they can overwhelm you in the end.
The evolution of abortion rights provides a fine example of this phenomenon. Yes, Roe vs. Wade stands, but through law, regulation, funding restrictions and societal pressure, abortions have become difficult to obtain in many parts of the nation.
Gun-rights opponents are working diligently, every day, to make sure the same applies to firearms and ammunition.
So gun owners, go ahead and debate whether packing pistols helps counter such opponents, but don’t be confused about the need to counter them. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance,” our third president said. Our 44th can claim no exemption from such scrutiny.
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R a Z o R
Banned
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Posted: Mon Apr 20th, 2009 05:37 am |
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Mitt uses RELENTLESS LOGIC and a thousand paper cuts . As the main speaker at this year NRA 2009 Phoenix meet a little practice with a Colt .38 snub couldn't hurt .
Attached Image (viewed 197 times):
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TOF
Regular Member
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Posted: Tue Apr 21st, 2009 05:42 pm |
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It looks like Mitt has way too much finger in that trigger guard. 
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HariCarry
Regular Member
| Joined: | Thu Mar 12th, 2009 |
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Offline
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Posted: Tue Apr 21st, 2009 06:15 pm |
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TOF wrote: It looks like Mitt has way too much finger in that trigger guard.
Maybe he's ready to shoot!!
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