Iowa state flag (courtesy theiowarepublican.com)

“We want the crime and killings to stop as much as you do, so to my fellow citizens who are anti-gun I say: So long as you deny our humanity, so long as you malign our dignity, intelligence and wisdom, so long as you seek to shade us under a cloud of evil that we do not partake in or support, so long as you tell us that because we own guns we are terrible people, you will prove yourselves absolutely right in that we won’t come to the table to talk with you. And there will be no hope for resolution but through victory by force initiated by one side or the other, God help us, for we will not plow for those who didn’t beat their swords into plowshares.” – Barry Snell, Snell: Waking the dragon — How Feinstein fiddled while America burned [iowastatedaily.com]

42 COMMENTS

  1. I’m thinking this song is highly relevant (and becoming more so, except for the part about France):

    Do you hear the people sing?
    Singing a song of angry men?
    It is the music of a people
    Who will not be slaves again!
    When the beating of your heart
    Echoes the beating of the drums
    There is a life about to start
    When tomorrow comes!

    Will you join in our crusade?
    Who will be strong and stand with me?
    Beyond the barricade
    Is there a world you long to see?

    Then join in the fight
    That will give you the right to be free!

    Do you hear the people sing?
    Singing a song of angry men?
    It is the music of a people
    Who will not be slaves again!
    When the beating of your heart
    Echoes the beating of the drums
    There is a life about to start
    When tomorrow comes!

    Will you give all you can give
    So that our banner may advance
    Some will fall and some will live
    Will you stand up and take your chance?
    The blood of the martyrs
    Will water the meadows of France!

    Do you hear the people sing?
    Singing a song of angry men?
    It is the music of a people
    Who will not be slaves again!
    When the beating of your heart
    Echoes the beating of the drums
    There is a life about to start
    When tomorrow comes!

    • Funny.. I keep hearing Mike and the Mechanics’ Silent Running going through my head…

      Scary part is that I believe this will happen in my lifetime…

      • Just looked up Silent Running — I had totally forgotten who it was, but I remember the song. The first note brought everything back. It was one of my favorites back in the day…before I discovered metal. 🙂 It’d make a kick-ass metal song.

        And yes, it does sound like something that could happen not too many years from now.

        As for Les Mis and its songs of the French Revolution, pray to whatever god you have that we don’t go that route. I wouldn’t have wanted to live under Robespierre any more than the old aristocracy. There’s a good reason everyone except the revolutionaries simply called it the Terror.

        The problem with revolutions isn’t getting them started, it’s knowing when to stop. That’s one of the amazing things about the USA. Our founding fathers were the rarest type — revolutionaries who knew when to stop fighting and how to hand over the reins of government. Is there anyone in public life today who could do that?

      • “Swear allegiance to the flag
        Whatever flag they offer
        Never hint at what you really feel
        Teach the children quietly
        For some day sons and daughters
        Will rise up and fight while we stood still”

    • Ahhh! Man, I think that is my most played song ever, just because it is so relevant to today’s world!

    • Yes. He nailed it. I would have added a paragraph — at the top of the list of arguments — that many women, seniors and other people save lives using guns — their lives, their children’s lives. I know it doesn’t sway an anti-gun person, but to me telling a woman to shut up and get raped is sickening.

    • One of the most apt descriptions of the anti-gun apparatus that I’ve ever heard.

      I posted to FB as well, if I get ‘unfriended’ so be it.

      • The Daily is the student run rag for Iowa State. The journalism students are fully indoctrinated before they are allowed to play and has been such for at least decades. At least one slipped thru the cracks. There is a goodly body of Iraq/Afgan vets in Iowa colleges as the Iowa NG has paid at least as large a part of the mission as any state. I’ll guess this young man is a vet who has been at the pointy end of the Army/USMC.

        Note: ISU is an engineering/agronomy college so has a much large portion of rightminded men than Univ of Iowa (humanities/partyin) or Univ of Northern Iowa (teachers). ISU educrates, of course, are large pointy headed leftist.

  2. Long read all right, and this man speaks the truth. I’m going to post it to my Facebook, but sadly, I fear too many of my more youthful ‘friends’ will not make it past the second or third paragraph, or unfriend me altogether. I used to think I had a future worth living and working for, but now I just don’t know anymore. :’-(

  3. I don’t know what “werwr” means, but I am reminded of the immortal words of Gabby Johnson. Whatever they were.

  4. It’s the swansong of patient discussion. The people of the gun are getting fed up with playing by the rules and being spat upon in return. There is a storm on the horizon, and the statists forgot their umbrella.

    • On the contrary, they quite simply believe it is physically impossible for rain to fall on them.

  5. That was a great read. I will be sharing on facebook but i doubt mosf will actually read it. So I will be quoting it as well.

  6. What a great article. I kinda got sad, when half way through I remembered he said it was his last column with the paper.
    I hope this person continues to write for somebody…

    He posts some really good arguments on the pro gun side. Some I hadn’t thought of.

  7. The entire article is outstanding and I strongly recommend that everyone read it in its entirety.

    That article, along with the recent poll of 15,000 law enforcement officers where about 96% agree that gun control will NOT reduce violent crime, should be the cornerstone of all future efforts moving forward.

  8. RF,

    I think you’ve found the next person you should consider for employment?

    I’d love to read more of his thoughts on the subject.

  9. A long article yes, but amidst all the heated argument about guns and the rights of all to keep and bear them, this is the best I’ve read EVER! This is how a rational person makes a case for the Second Amendment rights of all and what could happen if these rights are trampled by those don’t know what they are talking about or who seek to mislead everyone on purpose! Read it and pass it on its that important!

  10. Snell has cogently stated just about everything I’ve been thinking since Sandy Hook . If you kick a tiger in the ass,you better worry about the teeth.

  11. A well worded, cogent and passionate essay. Everything I’ve ever thought on the subject and then some.

    His last collumn for ISD, eh? That’s truly a pity.

    I will pass this on, and suspect that it’ll turn more than a few hearts.

  12. Thank you all for your support and compliments. I means a lot to me that the column has meant so much to you. It really doesn’t get any better than that. Just ask my e-mail inbox (which is getting an average of one e-mail every minute or two).

    Thanks again. I don’t know how long I’ll have access to my Daily account, so if anyone wants to get in touch in the future, drop me a line at my ISU account, [email protected].

  13. Emailed him yesterday thanking him for the article that has become my go to when discussing guns with antis. I also dropped the suggestion that ttag would likely welcome his writing with open arms.

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