...and a member of the esteemed Religion of Peace, at that!
Via Blogonomicon comes this, and a right damn good fisking from the Jews For the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, much better than I could do, though I do have a few comments.
The idea of terrorist cells operating clandestinely in the United States, quietly amassing handguns and assault rifles, and planning suicide shooting rampages in our malls, is right out of Tom Clancy’s most recent novel....
...what about the more immediate threat posed by terrorists with guns? The potential threat of terrorist attacks using guns is far more likely than any of these other scenarios.
Oh, yes, of course, why didn't I think of that? To defeat the terrorists, let's first disarm their potential victims!
Seriously, though. The American public has more or less been armed ever since before there was an America. And America and her people have been on fundamentalist Islam's shit list since before I was even a twinkle in my mother's eye. Mall shootouts and such have been a (comparatively miniscule) threat for, hell, I don't even know how long. How convenient that it's just now being discovered, after we finally woke up to the fact that these people want us dead.
The idea of public gun ownership simply does not make sense anymore.
Really, only someone so steeped in the muck of tyranny as an Illinois attorney could make such a fatuous claim (although Illinois is just full of statist pricks, so I'd say he's probably right at home). Just how many studies have affirmed that guns in the hands of the public save lives? From John Lott, Gary Kleck, the Clinton Justice Department, for crying out loud! And there are more out there, if I remember right, though I can't think of them off the top of my head, but depending on the study one cites, guns in the hands of the public are used for self-defense between 700,000 and 3 million times each year.
As far as the claim that gun ownership doesn't deter tyranny anymore, that's every bit as wrong, as it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of armed combat; I would say the best illustration of this is what happened in Vietnam 35 years ago, and what happened with the Soviets in Afghanistan back in the 1980s. You know the basic story -- an armed and determined citizenry held back and eventually defeated the largest, most powerful armies on the planet. As far as deer rifles vs. say, full-auto weaponry, well, I would also argue that one determined American hunter with a good scoped rifle and ammo could wreak all sorts of havoc on whoever would come to disarm him and his fellow citizens. I wonder if the name Charles Whitman rings a bell with this character, or Lee Harvey Oswald, or John Allen Muhammad. Personally, I think this guy really ought to stick to lawyering and keep to himself his ignorance of why being armed goes hand-in-hand with being free...but, now that I think about it, perhaps if he didn't really believe that an armed people were a threat, he wouldn't be advocating our disarmament.
But, I'm gonna close with the words of the great David Codrea (with, of course, the name changed):
You can't have our guns, Junaid. We're not going to give them up. There aren't enough of you to take them from us, and if you try we will resist...Be warned, Junaid. The wretched, superficial paranoia you live in now is nothing compared to the horror you and yours will visit on this land if you don't back off, and back off now. Push peaceable people far enough and hard enough, Junaid, and they will eventually push back. Pray that you never see America's "backbone," Junaid. Stop digging us into that hole... How many holes will be filled, Junaid, if you and your fellow subversives continue to dig away at our freedoms?
Molon Labe, Junaid.
Come and get them.
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