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L. Neil Smith's THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 266, April 11, 2004 Taxation is the Root of All Evil
Not While I Live!
Exclusive to TLE On his website, L. Neil Smith has a link called "Lever Action Essays". The very first essay listed is titled "Why Did it Have to be ... Guns?". This essay has recently been reprinted on the Liberty For All website. Mr. Smith has stated far better than I ever could the PRACTICAL and POLITICAL reasons why guns should be a litmus test of a politician's true leanings. I want to add in some PERSONAL reasons. Probably like many of you, my love affair with guns and hunting began at an early age. In my case, my Dad took me hunting for the first time at the age of five. Before the day was over, he gave me the chance to fire that old 20 ga. Mossberg bolt action shotgun, which was probably bigger than I was at the time. Surprising both of us, I hit the target, and this began a love affair that has lasted to this day. Dad was a Gunner's mate in the Navy, and while he was gone a LOT on overseas duty, when he was home, we often went hunting and shooting. Some of my fondest memories are of times spent at the range and in the field. By the time I was in high school I was on the school rifle team, and had been checked out on the M-16 by the Gunny at the recruiting center Dad was assigned to (he tried to send me to San Diego for boot camp before I was 15! LOL) Then, as an adult, I have been involved in law enforcement, investigations, industrial and nuclear security for much of my adult life, until injuries forced me to leave that line of work. Most of my assignments were armed, requiring me to be relatively familiar with handguns, as well. In over 40 years of firearms ownership and use, NOT ONE TIME have I ever committed any type of crime with a weapon. NOT ONE TIME has any weapon ever got up on it's own and fired itself! NOT ONE TIME has any devil or demon come oozing out of the weapon and taken over my mind, or anyone else's, to force them to commit a crime or act of violence. While Mr. Smith has undoubtedly hit the mark in his essay, I would like to add a personal aside. I believe that hoplophobic politicians fear guns because guns are the symbol of their weakness, their vulnerability, the ulitimate symbol of their personal responsibility for their actions. As long as Americans are armed, there is only so far that politicians can go without facing judgement by the people. Admittedly, they seem to be pushing the envelope farther every day, using the terrorist threat to justify more power for themselves, but this has already seen a backlash begun, in towns all over America, as protests against the Patriot Act pick up steam. As for the Brady Bunch, and others of that same slimy ilk, their fear is quite obvious. They know that THEY can't be trusted with any type of deadly force, that they are totally incompetent to deal with personal danger, and they are ashamed of this, whether they would ever admit it or not. Their fear and envy is what leads them to try to drag everyone down to their level. They fear those who are confident, assured, able to protect themselves, because these are things that they are NOT. I have a message for those who would try to take our guns. When you try to do that, not only are you breaking the highest law that exists in this country, you are committing an assault on me (us). You are trying to destroy our culture, our memories, our heritage. You are trying to reduce us from free men and women to sniveling slaves and cowards, just like you are. In effect, you are attempting to commit genocide! My answer to this is just four words: NOT WHILE I LIVE!
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