TTAG Publisher Robert Farago aims his SIG SAUER MCX (courtesy thetruthaboutguns.com)

Let’s not mince words. I own an “assault rifle” because I fear my government. I’m afraid that the government — a self-serving alliance of politicians, bureaucrats and law enforcement officers — will take away my liberty at the point of a gun. I want to be prepared to counter that eventuality by force of arms, if necessary. So I bought the best “weapon of war” I could: a rifle that gives me a fighting chance against my own government.

Gun control advocates consider that premise laughable. For one thing, the government is your friend! It’s just another word for the things we do together! For another, a gun owner wielding a modern sporting rifle (a.k.a., “assault rifle”) doesn’t have a hope in hell of defending him- or herself against the might of the United States government’s legions of well-armed, trained agents.

Both of these arguments are demonstrably false and hugely revealing.

The only people who believe that government is the average citizen’s friend are people who ignore history, both past and present.

As the son of a Holocaust victim, I am but one generation away from inhuman horrors perpetrated on my family by monsters working for their government. The same sort of horrors that governments are busy inflicting on their populations in Mexico, Iran, China and other “developed” and “developing” nations.

It couldn’t happen here? The United States government is not only capable of mass murder — as all governments are — it’s got a track record in that department.

As I pointed out earlier, pundits who proclaim the Pulse nightclub terrorist attack the worst mass shooting in U.S. history somehow forget the Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota, where U.S. soldiers gunned down as many as 300 Native Americans. And what of the slaughter at Waco, where 76 Americans died at the hands of the FBI?

The only people who believe that armed citizens are defenseless against large, organized government forces are people who ignore history, both past and present.

The American Revolution is a good example of an armed confederation of freedom fighters holding off a much larger, better armed and battle-hardened military power. And if America’s failures in Afghanistan and Iraq teach us anything, it’s that determined “guerrilla” fighters armed with little more than “assault rifles” and explosives can stymie the world’s mightiest armies.

Besides, who cares? Laughable and inconvenient as it may be to some, Americans have a Constitutionally guaranteed right to be armed against their own government. And terrorists. And criminals. Or for no reason at all. Which is why when someone asks me why I own an “assault rifle” I simply say “because I can.”

But if you want another reason why I own a SIG SAUER MCX — the same semi-automatic rifle used by the Pulse mass murderer — it’s because the U.S. government doesn’t want me to own one.

Gun control advocates talk about keeping “assault rifles” out of the hands of criminals, crazies and terrorists. But it’s entirely evident that they don’t want anyone to own one. Why else did they enact — and seek to enact again — an “assault weapons” ban?

Truth be told, people who work for civilian disarmament are afraid of a well-armed populace. A populace armed with “military style rifles.” As well they should be. As John Basil Barnhill pronounced, “Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.”

If you want to protect your individual liberties as set forth by the United States Constitution, buy an “assault rifle.” Buy a few. I did. If gun control advocates are frightened of that reality, good.

I make no apologies for my purchases. Nor will I surrender my “assault rifle” without a fight. Hopefully, one without bloodshed. But there is no guarantee. When it comes to the freedoms that millions of patriotic Americans cherish, there never is. Which is why millions of Americans are armed with “assault rifles”…to protect them.

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127 COMMENTS

  1. Let’s not mince words. I own an “assault rifle” because I fear my government.

    It’s not an assault rifle. Is it select fire? Not an assault rifle.

    • That’s why he put it in quotes. It should be interpreted as “so-called assault rifle.”

      He explains the distinction later.

    • Let’s face it. Technically you are correct, it isn’t select-fire. But, I own a “semi-automatic assault rifle”, because I can’t afford a select-fire assault rifle as modern as the AR-type rifles I have now. Nor Could I justify hundreds more in NFA fees, nor do I want ATF-NFA to have paper on everything I own.

        • Sounds like the voice of experience. 6-800 rounds/minute with bursts of 3-6 for a rifle or SMG and 6-12/minute with a belt fed machine gun @$0.25-$0.50/round unless you happen to have a Ma Deuce and a vehicle to carry it and then it’s about $2/round.

    • Thank you for that bit of historical knowledge. I was, sadly, completely unaware of that particular slice of Americana.

    • IIRC they grabbed mostly M1917 US Rifles from the local “militia” armory. Into the 1970’s some places kept a state militia armory. A simple wooden door with a pad-lock allowed the people to break in a ta guns if needed “in defense of the state”. Washington state keeps a militia headquarters near Olympia. The vault is more secure. It is co-sited with the states National Guard, but is not the NG. The CIC is the governor, a lower-life form liberal that would disarm the people.

    • What’s interesting is in one of the last few episodes of the season, Coulson talks about how having people on lists is a bad thing because you don’t know what people will do with it. Yet the actor, Clark Gregg, signs some stupid gun control letter. It was on TTAG a while back but I can’t find it. If I remember right, it was about universal background checks. Which the only way to actually implement it would be to put people on lists. Of course that list would get abused to hell like any other list of people the government isn’t happy with.

      • “Universal Background Checks” is the proverbial “other shoe dropping.” The Brady Act illegally compels background checks 1) in violation of The 2nd Amendment; if you have to ask permission then it is a revocable privilege, not a right; 2) in violation of our 4th Amendment right to be secure from INTERROGATION (search) and search of your records in the absence of a warrant affirming probable cause of criminal conduct; 3) in violation of our 5th Amendment right to be secure from the denial or loss of any right without due process (requires conviction of a crime by a Court of Law, not arbitrarily being put on a list; 4) in violation of our long-standing right under legal doctrine (protected by the 9th Amendment among others to be secure from having to give up a right in order to exercise a right; 5) in violation of our 10th Amendment right to be secure from the federal exercise of power not delegated and State exercise of power prohibited. BACKGROUND CHECKS have never prevented a crime in the history of the planet and were never intended to: They are intended to sucker you into crowing about being in government’s “Good Guy Club” when in fact you have waived every right you have and you are crowing about it, for Pete’s sake! When government REVOKES your privilege, government thinks you will have no rights left to claim in your defense. But you do, because government has no authority to scam you out of your rights. But now you have to entrench that knowledge and prepare to defend it, because the day is coming very soon in which you will have to.

        • Do you really want NO CHECKS? I don’t. I was a gun store owner. There are nuts and serious criminals that try to buy guns. I want them stopped. We don’t have to worry about good guys. When they go bad, no one can predict it. WE should all worry about bad guys getting guns. That doesn’t mean all felons, since too many people are convicted of stupid felonies that posed not threat to anyone.

          • You were former a gun store owner? Are you saying you aren’t willing to make your own choices about who you do business with? I ask because most gun banners are cowards who want government to make all their decisions for them and they want guns banned so they will never have to face the necessity of having to stop evil that occurs in their presence. And now it seems I have been challenged by (presumably) a pro-gun person who wants government to make his decisions for him.
            Now, I wanted to point that out to you, but in reality it doesn’t matter: First, your concern about bad guys getting guns is irrelevant to the issue of government requiring background checks because background checks has never in the history of the planet (or in the history of the illegal Brady Act that required them) prevented a bad guy from committing a crime. Not once that anyone can document. Additionally, you can’t even prosecute a felon for lying on the Form 4473, because he has a right to not incriminate himself.
            Now, I suggest to you that if a felon has the right to be secure from incriminating himself, law-abiding citizens who are not felons can surely claim their 4th Amendment right to be secure from unwarranted interrogation (Form 4473 is a compelled search) and a search of records, their 5th Amendment right to be secure from having their right to keep and bear arms denied without due process in a Court of Law, their 9th Amendment and long-standing legal doctrine right to be secure from having to give up a right to exercise a right, and their 10th Amendment right to be secure from the federal government exercise of power not delegated, given the fact that the federal government doesn’t even have the authority to license firearm dealers.
            I hope you aren’t fearful of being sued by some member of ISIS for refusing to sell him a firearm — that is, if you were still a dealer. Contrary to this Marxist Mafia insurgency government we are dealing with, wedding cake bakers definitely DO have the right to do business — or not do business — with whomever they choose, and they don’t have to justify themselves to some Marxist twerp in the Department of Justice. Do you agree?

  4. The fact that most leftists don’t “fear the government” is telling. It shows us that they feel the government is ideologically behind them.

    • Leftists are supportive of leftist style government.

      But I believe even this distinction is based on the same psychology of hostages of homicidal captors called the Stockholm Syndrome.

      The captives identify with the homicidal psychopaths as a defense mechanism. It is to compensate for the knowing that these proven psychopathic killers could kill them without a second thought, if it serves their purpose, or just because they like to commit bloody murder.

      It fits the psychology of leftists, the way they embrace being over grown children in adult bodies, looking for their substitute parents in the guise of a “Nanny State”. But in the end, when the governments mask comes off, the substitute parents they embrace are the equivalent of Freddy Krueger or Mike Myers as dad with Lizzy Borden as the mom.

  5. I got an assualt rifle. It was made in 1938 in a Russian factory. It will do to procur a more modern weapon from a dead enemy.

    And if I’m not slated to win that fight. Too bad.

    • There is an old saying – you dont have to be faster than the bear, just faster than your slowest friend.

      A similar saying is – you dont have to have the better gun, you just need to be a better shot than a guy with a better gun.

    • I have several so-called assault rifles, in plenty of calibers, to make sure I can use whatever ammo may be available, from 7.62x54R and 8mm (7.92) to 5.56 and 7.62. I also have enough of those rifles to loan some out – helping to equip less fortunate family, friends or neighbors. There’s a lot to be said for stashing a few SKS or Mosin, even if you have no intention of ever really shooting them.

    • I have a few guns and occasionally I get the “why don’t you have an AR?” question.

      I always explain that, god forbid I ever actually need one for practical reasons of resupply, one will become available from someone who no longer can use it. There will be plenty at hand.

  6. Plus you look tacticool Robert! BTW just got a new smart phone and commented. Wow mobile is horrible. Gotta’ load whatever…

  7. Embarrassed to admit, but I bought my first Evil Black Rifle precisely because the gubmint was going to ban them in 1994. Never wanted one before that. The failed ‘AWB’ of 94-2004 opened my previously partially closed eyes about the Second Amendment. Now I own more than I ‘need’ but fewer than I want. BHO and his allies in the crusade against the 2A have cost me some money…

    • I’m replying to you, Gadsden16, but this caution is intended for everyone: Having a rifle is good! Having more than one is better! Having several in various calibers, or even in the same caliber so your entire neighborhood can use the same ammunition, is lots better! But none it is worth a pile of rocks if you don’t have LOTS of ammunition. And I do mean LOTS. Ten thousand rounds is not too much, There is no amount you could name that would be too much. If you have at least one or two rifles, the devote lots more of your money to ammunition, And buy good ammunition, pay cash for it (no credit or debit cards) and stash it. I am of the firm conviction you are going to need it: DHS has 1.6 billion rounds of hollow-point ammunition in various rifle and pistol calibers, and can guarantee you they know something we don’t: Like where to park 18-wheeler trailers full of ammunition in Syrian refugee communities they are establishing around the country. Think about it.

  8. Thanks for this post. Exactly my sentiments, and agree with you 100%. It may not ever be needed, but neither is an insurance policy.

  10. It’s just a marketing buzz word to make modern sporting rifles scarier to the hoplophobes. But, it clearly aint working. More and more former “hoplophobes” are getting into the shooting sports. It’s just too bad I don’t have gun $$ in the spare account just yet

  11. Especially since Ruger (among others) is/are producing excellent modern sporting rifles at a choice price point.

  12. I get the quotes, however with the media and the disarmament community twisting and distorting our words was it necessary?

    Why give these ratz betards rope. Otherwise I agree with the points presented

      • It’s a shame Miller died, and was broke so he had garbage counsel – likely US v MIller would have mooted the NFA, especially regarding auto-guns.

        In a nutshell, the gov’s case hinged on the assertion that Miller had a short-barreled shottie – which was not in use by the military – military guns were viewed as protected. Had Miller not died under mysterious circumstances (who knows, he led a sketchy life, it may not have been the gov that got him) and had counsel worth fly ash, they would have learned that the short-barreled shottie was a popular trench warfare gun in WWI – and military issue. The lower court ruling would have been overturned, and SBS, SBR and auto-guns as a protected right.

        Cliff notes folks, Cliff notes. Look it up, read the case. It is fascinating. Miller has been one of the most widely misapplied, misquoted, not to mention misinterpreted cases in the history of gun law.

        • “The lower court ruling would have been overturned, and SBS, SBR and auto-guns as a protected right.”

          Actually, the lower court ruled NFA unconstitutional as a whole. When the gov appealed to the SCOTUS nobody showed up on Miller’s side to argue, and no briefs were submitted on Miller’s behalf.

  13. Folks, don’t worry if you don’t have an “assault rifle”. You don’t have to run out and buy one. Your enemies will bring them to you by the truck load. They will lay them at your feet.

  14. Interestingly enough, i put an MCX down as an to buy list. Not becuase of Orlando, but in spite of it. I am wanting a modern AK style action. I am assuming the MCX is similar enough to the AK and i can use my AR PMAGs with it. Please correct me if i am wrong.

    • The only thing it has in common with an AK is that it is a piston gun. It operates exactly like an ar from a user perspective. But I still love mine and can’t wait till my 300 blackout conversion comes in!

      • The SIG is a superior to even Valmets and Galils. I like Valmets and Galils, but would take a DI gun over all of them.

  15. its the same thing black people did with the N word. they re purposed it and made it mean something better.

  16. that photo lends you some serious street cred, bob. what frequency shall we tune to when all hell breaks loose? i’ll go ask kenneth…

  17. ALERT —– Senator Collins of Maine is STILL pushing for a vote on a 5th NO- FLY amendment to HR 2578. — In session NOW.

    KEEP the Spotlight and Pressure on these scum …. or they WILL ram it through !!!!
    http://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2016/06/20/sen-susan-collins-leads-gop-effort-to-expand-gun-background-checks-after-four-amendments-fail/

    5 bad bills passed California legislature , moving for Gov. Signing into LAW . AB1674-AB1695-AB2607-AB-1664-AB1673
    http://www.ammoland.com

  18. Where did the maggot get the $ for a Sig? For his luxury trips to Saudi? Not on mall cop pay. My bet is gov’t welfare including an obamaphone.

    • SIG offers nice discounts for LEO and NRA instructors, among others. He may have been able to get one for 50% off retail.

      • Don’t know about Florida specifically, and it also depends on the manufacturer as well, but I’d wager he was able to get a significant discount using his security credentials. Also, it seems he brought nine grand worth of jewelry at a Kay’s around the same time he did the rifle, albeit at a different gun store. And the fact he signed his house over for $10 is also well known.

        Of course the government is more worried about me or you buying rifles than following the money trail, right?

        Tom

  19. RF, if you think the MCX makes you scary, come on over and I’ll teach you about ANFO and PETN.
    Er. Mu. Gerd.

  20. My purpose for getting a scary black rifle was more because I know the government can’t/won’t protect me and mine both on a daily basis and when the SHTF. A retired city planner told me once when the Big One hits our part of CA all the assets will be sent to the city of Los Angeles. We will be stripped of police, fire, and utility workers. Not sure about medical.

  21. Way to lump LEOs in there with the douchebag’s. I could say more about how pro 2A cops are but here at TTAG it’s like pissing into the wind. The cop hate around here is ridiculous. Maybe yall’s sheriff’s just suck.

    *edit

    I wholly agree with everything else you said, just wish you’d have made an effort to distinguish the cops on your side from the ones who are statist robots who follow orders without question.

    • Individuals can react very differently than groups, even small ones, when given identical instructions.

      Especially when the groups in question are “tight-knit” it takes a much greater amount of courage to decline an order given to a group as opposed to one given to you, personally.

      So while I am sure there are many good cops out there, and many who support the 2A, it will be much harder for them to refuse when they see the rest of their department, squad, or whatever, going along.

      Sorry… Just human nature.

      • When the wrong level of infringement is reached, I have a new job. And I’m not the only deputy in my agency who thinks like me. If our sheriff were to decide to enforce some new federal BS, half the deputies would walk out. But I have a suspicion that he’d be on our side. My medium sized agency can’t be the only one like us.

        • What exactly is that level, though? Do you know where the line is? More importantly, do your superiors? Real easy to chicken out of secret pledge to yourself alone.

        • Good for you (no sarcasm intended).

          But even if you and half the deputies walk out… That’s the same as saying half wouldn’t.

          And even if every department is like yours, then you still have more than enough people in uniform to do a world of hurt.

          This isn’t cop bashing; this is the reality of group dynamics.

        • Many would say that the level of infringement has far surpassed what the founders intended already.

      • @barnbwt-

        Who says I’m alone and only made the pledge to myself?

        @JohnL-

        And regular non-cop gun owning citizens would have a higher rate of participation in the resistance?

        The line in the sand is confiscation or federalizing of local LEAs in preparation for such.

        • I’ve no idea re non-LEO participation – or not – and that’s not what we’ve been talking about.

      • It is called the Asch phenomenon where individuals will follow the majority opinion of the group even if it contradicts their own personal beliefs. A individual LEO might believe against confiscation, but if the majority of his department supports it, he may support it too despite not agreeing with it. People, even LEOs are programmed to be afraid of being shunned and disapproved of by the group like a police department.

  22. Technology and the world fiscal climate makes the risk of statism higher than ever. The idea of being sold out at a government level is as high as ever.

  23. The fighter’s of Afghanistan and Iraq who have “stymied” the US military have a common bond or hatred towards The Great Satan that stems from religion. They also have little to lose. What is the great unifier in the States? Your .03%ers have too much to lose and have grown up under the rule of law. They won’t find pulling a trigger on a soldier or police officer easy; society won’t find it acceptable.
    Remember that idiot who was going to March on Washington, D.C. with a bunch of patriots? His whole movement faded quicker than Target clothes washed on hot.
    Our guns do not keep the government quaking in fear. Nor, do they guarantee our rights. The gov will pass complete confiscation and implement control when they have the will. And almost all gun owners will comply. Those that don’t will “hide” their guns and not use them–in effect, rendering them meaningless and useless.

    • Unless we unify, designate qualified leaders, plan for all contingencies, draw a definite line in the sand, and act in unison when it is crossed.

      People who agree with us will comply or hide only if they feel alone. Don’t be alone.

        • Be a defeatist if you so choose. I’ve spent my entire adult life prepared to die in a pile of hot brass. The value I place on the freedoms my friends, brothers, and I have fought, bled, lost limbs, and given their lives for is much higher than the value I place on my own life or even my legacy.

        • My sentiment exactly Tom. As I’m an SAR (dropout), David doesn’t appreciate that he would have been right about the majority of the early colonists as well.

          Thankfully 3% of our relatives proved his theory ultimately wrong. I do hope we don’t have to do it again.

          • It’s fine and dandy to read James Rawles, Matt Bracken. Bryce Towsley, and Paladin Press to get your goosebumps all excited, but that stuff is fiction. This 6th grade level reading strokes people’s ego that they too, in times of economic collapse, can be Bo Gritz, Jr.
            Read my other comments. I have been very consistent–the loss of liberty and economic woe is the result of a moral collapse first. It’s that very moral collapse that allows you to fantasize about killing others. It’s that very moral collapse that causes the depraved nature of government to control the depraved nature of man.

        • We’re talking about reading Jefferson, Adams, and Madison, The writers you caption have sweet FA to so with anything we speak of, and as such, are irrelevant to the post.

          Do try again troll.

    • It’s 3%, not .03%. However, I do agree with your sentiment… to a point. The fact is, even if only 1% of gun owners violently refuse to comply, that’s still a million people. And keep in mind, there would be a LOT of soldiers and cops would essentially spearhead such a movement.

      • BINGO! Thank you! Freakin’ thank you for posting that! About time someone acknowledged Pro 2A cops around here.

        My prediction is that in the military you will see a lot of reserve units go one way or the other or fracture. The active duty will lose its mind, the higher ups will mostly try to save their cushy careers and side with Big Gov, enlisted at all levels will either comply or go UA.

        But the reserve units retain all of their armory on site, so whichever way the unit goes is the way their Mk19s, 60mm mortars, M2HBs, SMAWs, and all other weapons and vehicles go.

        As far as LEOs go, you’ll see a lot of walk outs and a few agencies across the country will take a side mostly intact.

        • With needing to put food in the table, LEOs will do as they are told. With gun confiscation already underway in California, where are all the conscientious objectors who have stepped down in protest?

        • Let’s just pretend you have something resembling a point. Then destroy it.

          There are at least 100MM gun owners in the US. There’s more, but the math is really easy. 3% is 3MM – more than the police, Natty Guard, and the rest combined. .3% is still 300,000. Guerilla tactics, completely unstoppable by any conventional force. Let’s take your ridiculous .03% – that’s 30 thousand.

          It’s widely know that 30 guys with a brain and a plan could crash the US powergrid for months, in a matter of a couple of days (longest estimate). 30K guys working with them? The gov would be hard pressed to fight this enemy, with mobs of tens of millions in urban centers looking for food. Let alone shelter at the right time of year.

          You have no imagination, nor understanding of history, nor our Great Nation’s easily exploitable vulnerabilities.

          • Why would I want to think about exploiting my countries vulnerabilities? So, millions in the cities would die? How does that secure my future or the future of this country?

            Civil war is the fastest way to destroy your country, your rights, and your freedoms.

            Forgive me if I sound insulting, but am I communicating with a grown man?

            • Nobody WANTS it to come to that. At least the vast majority of us don’t. Not going to deny that there’s probably a fruit loop or two that want it. But if my government can’t trust me with whatever personal arms I desire then I can’t trust them with the same. If there weren’t already too many restrictions on our second amendment right and if they weren’t trying their damnedest to enact MORE restrictions then we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

              Combine that with the fact that they have taken a gigantic dump all over the 4th Amendment with the Patriot Act and Terrorist Watch List and I personally don’t see a damn thing wrong or juvenile about the way we think.

        • Egads, what a child who naively believes in fairy tales that are told.

          Apparently you are a rather new arrival to the country, welcome and all that. Please learn our history, learn how this country that you live in, came to be. Then, you can comment on serious realities. Until then, you have no moral right to say anything. Your family has invested almost nothing, money or blood, so your viewpoint is rather laughable to those who have fought and died (not to mention paid a bunch of taxes) to make this country what you are taking advantage of.

          Oh yeah, you haven’t actually argued, you know, the points I made. So you’re another troll who can’t formulate an actual argument.

        • @DavidB
          “the table, LEOs will do as they are told. With gun confiscation already underway in California, where are all the conscientious objectors who have stepped down in protest?”

          I can’t speak for cops in certain regions of the country. Some cops aren’t gun people and California doesn’t really breed the same gun culture as other areas of the country, land of fruits and nuts and all. I know there are at least two agencies in my region that I have worked for that are slap full of “gun nuts”. And I know we can’t be the only ones.

          Not to mention California officers are likely allowed this thing called officer discretion. Google it.

    • Hey! Don’t knock clothes from Target. They seem as functional as those from Penny’s, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Walmart, Costco, Old Navy, or anywhere else I may get them. You can sometimes get a real steal on Target clothes if you get there when they are changing the season’s attire.

      🙂

    • David B- “have a common bond or hatred towards The Great Satan that stems from religion. They also have little to lose.”
      This was not my experience, living in Afghanistan, and with the Afghan people. Was it yours?

  24. Well said, Robert. I suppose it might be saying much the same thing the other way around, but I own a ‘fighting’ rifle, or several, not merely because I fear my government, but because the government is supposed to fear ME. Power really does grow out of the barrel of a gun, and the fact of the matter is fear of an armed populace is what SHOULD keep the fear of God in our politicians and keep them on the straight and narrow path. That many politicians do not is troubling enough. I don’t have any illusions about surviving a war. But I will fight, no matter what. Hell, I think the average life expectancy of a fighter in the French Resistance was on the order of 6 to 8 weeks, but they still fought anyway. Left-wing statism and Islam are the two gravest threats our country has ever known, and they go hand in hand with each other – for now.

    So for the time being I’ll use the soapbox, ballot box and jury box, because I strive for peace as all good men and women should. But if ever the time should come I’ll not hesitate to open the cartridge box and use it even if it costs me my life, because it is far better to die a free man with the power to stay free, than to live a slave with no hope.

    Tom

  25. I’m a hell of a lot less worried about our government than I am about other citizens if the electric grid goes down for more than a couple of weeks. Granted, different situations, same tools, same goals – survival and freedom.

    • Ding, ding, ding. This is precisely why I am armed, commute a long way to my job in the city, and have enough stuff on hand for my family and I to make it on our own for a decent period of time. Turn the power off in Chicago for a month and Illinois and southern Wisconsin will be up to their necks in armed cannibals.

  26. John Basil Barnhill was wrong. He should have said: “Where the people fear the government you have smart people. Where the government fears the people you have dead people.”

    All dictators fear the people. That’s why they kill so many of them.

  28. I call my Ruger AR 556 I just boughtImy “anti-assault” rifle. It’s my first.

  29. Amen RF – Some same reasons I bought a second AR last December, sighted it in and put it in the back of the gun cabinet for my son to have in the future.

  30. Great post. I ordered an AR 10 days before Newtown, a left hand Stag Arms. I actually got it in a timely manner even with all the insanity going on. My first AR was handed to me just before I was shipped out to VietNam in 1968 after only training on an M-14 that I loved. The Stag is a much better weapon than the M-16 of those years. I also have an ancestor who in his late 70’s fought in the Revolutionary War so I must have something in my genes that say I have mine not only to protect my self and family but the sticker in the back window of the car says..”Love Your Country Fear Your Government.” No one has yet smashed my windows but I don’t do stupid things, with stupid people, in stupid places. What I buy now is ammunition.

  31. There are two museums that I know of in the US which prove the danger of an all powerful government. One is the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. The other is the Museum of the Cherokee, in Cherokee, NC. We all know the first story, even Holocaust deniers. Most people do not know, or only vaguely know, the second story, because it has been largely suppressed in the teaching of US history. It’s the one that DID happen here. Under US government orders. To steal mining rights to gold on land that had been given to the Cherokee by treaty. A long time before the modern horrors the US government perpetrated almost all the same horrors. Substitute German Jews for Civilized Tribes. Substitute Bataan March for Trail of Tears. Substitute the concentration camps of Europe for the concentration camps that the Native Americans were placed in. Substitute ethnic cleansing in the Balkans for Indian Removal in the US. It did happen here. It can happen here.

    • Speaking of Holocaust deniers. I remember an interesting encounter when I was but a freshman at Henderson St. U in the fall of ’87. My next-door neighbor was a Kuwaiti exchange student named Khalid Turrani. He actually said to me, with a straight face, that the Nazis killed ONLY 500,000 Jews in World War II.

      30 years on I wish in hindsight I had slapped the shit out of him right then and there. He’s a light company exec in Dubai now if Facebook has it right. Our Muslim problem has been around for a little while to say the least.

      Tom

  32. I bought and filled a large gun safe during the Obama administration. I didn’t own any guns before our current president took office.

    Obama put more guns on the street than any gun salesman in history.

    I suspect his sales record will be beaten by Hillary – if she wins.

  34. Well written and good arguments all.

    TTAG produces so much content it’s damn near impossible to find an article to reference, but I remember an article a while back in which you argued that should the grabbing start in earnest you’d let them have the guns. That you could do more damage free from behind a keyboard than dead or in prison from active resistance.

    I didn’t disagree with that article, and I don’t disagree with any of the above. In either scenario, molon labe.

    • It’s never been about the tools. I have training and experience that even If all my guns were taken I would be a threat to a hostile force.

      Multiply that by guys like roping down, jwtaylor, bud harton. How many guys like
      ralph that have been making zip guns since they were kids? How many sten guns could a Dyspeptic Gunsmith turn out?

      • How many Sten guns would DG churn out? One. Just one. Because then all of us would oooh and aahh about it and badger him until he showed us all how he did it. And then the only ones that are old enough to understand what he said would have to take a nap.

  35. Mr Farago is one generation from the people who committed no crime and yet were rounded up, herded into camps, and systematically exterminated because of their ethnicity by a modern western nation.

    My parents are of that same generation, and look an awful lot like the 120,000 people who committed no crime and yet were rounded up and herded into camps because of their ethnicity by the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

    When I bought a ticket for the SGLI lottery in the mid-1990s, 8,000 men who committed no crime were were rounded up and murdered by the paramilitary forces of a modern European country because of their ethnicity.

    That’s one generation ago in two cases, and within the current generation in the third. Anybody who thinks that government isn’t capable of committing unspeakable horrors against its own citizens is either a fool or naive.

  36. Against our government? Probably not. It is much more likely that you will encounter a lapse of civilization. One of those periods when electricity, food, and law enforcement are nowhere to be found. So choose where you live very carefully. And get to know your neighbors. A chain saw is very useful tool for blocking roads. Just saying.

    Charlie

  37. I bought my first AR last week, an S&W M&P Sport II, because that’s all I could afford. From now until whenever, I’ll be buying ammo.

    Just in case…

  38. You own a SigWTF XXX because you have a lot of money and are too good for an AR or, heaven forbeed, an AK.

    • I’m reasonably sure he has 1 or 2 of each of those as well. Look, it’s still a free country, for now at least, and if you got the money then you can buy whatever you please. And if that includes Sig MPX’s, Wilson Combat 1911’s, FN SCAR’s, and such, then more power to him.

      I’m no fool. I don’t always agree with or even like some things about his blog, but evidently I thought it was good enough to read from time to time and occasionally comment. I know he’s making money every time I have to click on that damn masthead (why else would he have thus far refused to retain the side buttons?), but it’s his website, his intellectual property.

      You are, of course, welcome to start your own blog, and once it succeeds and makes you rich (and what’s to say RF doesn’t have some other business or day job anyway?) then you can buy whatever you damn well please, as long as Hillary, Donald, or some other politician doesn’t mind.

      Tom

    • Wait, if I own various AK-pattern rifles, a lego pile of ARs, a Sig 556, a Sig MPX, and a Sig MCX, does that make me confused? I’m obvious not ‘too good’ for an AK or AR. I might have ‘too much money’, but tough sphincters, I worked for it. I build my own ARs too (well, assemble is probably a better word), does that make me selfish as well?

      Seriously, why pee in another man’s breakfast cereal because he chose differently than you? He’s armed, he supports our RTKBA, and while I might not agree with everything that comes out of RFs mouth, that is the beauty of America.

    • Sounds like you’ve got an envy problem.
      I’m also a little jealous of the guys who have a lot of fancy high dollar firearms. Still, I’m pretty content with my somewhat more modest collection of firearms.

    • Boooo! Calling a guy that buys a SIG somehow an elitist is silly. So, He saved his pennies and bought a SIG. Good for him. I built a pretty plain XM15/BCM and it cost nearly as much. I’m no elitist. I just saved up for a higher quality rifle. If you can’t buy a SIG, buy a DM, Colt, S&W and one of many other fine rifles. His SIG is nice. It is a piston gun, and some people want those. Bad mouthing him is a neck projection that is silly.

  39. 1. “because I can”
    2. “because the U.S. government doesn’t want me to own one”

    Those two reasons sum up my own lego addiction. Well, that and I like too see how many ways the lego blocks fit together. 😉

  40. A lot of people love to use the “well-trained & well-armed” government trope to dissuade people like us from purchasing and taking up arms, especially “assault rifles”.

    Are government gunmen well-trained? Some are, most aren’t. They’re issued a gun as part of their job, and they really don’t take care of their firearm, nor do they train with it. It’s no different than a job-provided cellphone to them. If it breaks, they just get another one.

    Well-armed? Sure. The government has heavier firepower than most of the civilian population. Tanks, artillery pieces, drones, bombers, etc…

    But, if the government really wants to win a conflict against a segment of their own population, they are denied the use of those heavy weapons, simply because of the relative imprecision of those weapons.

    Taking out the “rebels” down the street in a police action is one thing. An uninvolved person might be like “eh, they deserved it…” or whatever, as long as the internet is up and the electricity is on.

    Taking out the “rebels” down the street with a tank or a bomber? People are gonna react different. They’re gonna wonder who the heck is calling the shots in the Capitol, and why they are deploying heavy weaponry against a few guys with rifles, and tearing up the neighborhood in the process.

    If the government ever wants to win a war against a bunch of pesky gun owners, for PR reasons it’s going to be man-to-man. Even if every federal agent turned on the population, the battle would be more than evenly matched.

  41. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I want an ‘assault rifle’ because Anne Frank didn’t have one.

  44. While I hope to defend ALL our RIGHTS against these REASONABLE restrictions as long as I can I am sure we are losing. This nation will build their Re-Education camps to “Remove the Unrepentant”.
    JUST DON’T GO QUIETLY.
    Good article, well said.

    • I have a question. I have thought about the ways our government would disarm gun owners. No government in the past has ever failed to disarm their people. With history on their side , hillary has turned out to be bold about taking guns. chelsea even boast that now Justice Scalia is dead her momma will have judges that will enforce gun control when she wins the White House. elisabeth warren has stated that if we refuse to give them up they will take them. I also read that our military is being replaced with illegal aliens, they will fire on us where our current military will not. So what if they tax or garnish your wages. Freeze or confiscate your bank account. Take your children. What if they deny healthcare to (obamacare) you , your wife or children until you turn in your guns. I am afraid of my own government. This is not the America I grew up in. If God forbid hillary wins we are all finished. If my theories of how they can take our guns away are wrong you can bet they have a plan we don’t know about yet. I am an old man at this stage of my life but I do not wish to leave this world as a slave , owned by a government we didn’t vote for. I am on SS and have no money but I did send a small amount to the Trump campaign. It is not much but it is something I could do. I am also going to give some to the NRA and a few others . A few dollars to each one is all I can give and that will make things tight for us for a few months. But I am not going down without a fight. Never have never will. If anyone can offer some wisdom to alleviate my concerns or impart some wisdom please do so. Thank you

      • Personally, while I hate to say it, I believe your concerns are well-justified. And there is going to be crunch-time very soon. This has been a work in progress since 1925, and has been accelerating enormously since WWII. The enemies of our nation of liberty, who are controlling everything our federal government does, almost had us during the Clinton regime, but they overplayed their hand with the Assault Weapon Ban and the people nearly doubled the firearms in private hands. They had to back off, regroup, create a Manchurian Candidate as POTUS and let him dismantle everything he possibly could about the only nation of liberty on Earth. The Brady Act with the background check scam was for the purpose of suckering citizens into waiving all their fundamental rights on the bogus theory they wouldn’t have any when Second Bolshevik Revolution was executed, but government has no authority to scam the people out of their rights. We are now being overrun by Islam thanks to our First Enemy Agent in Chief and his international handlers, and very soon those sleeper cells will be activated and with 1.6 billion rounds of DHS ammo, they are going to wreak havoc. I wish I could tell you everything is going to be sweetness and light, but I’ve been watching what’s going on since I came back from Australia in 1974, and that’s what it looks like to me.

  45. Does anyone think helping your LOCAL government in a time of crisis is a wise thing? I’ve been given a copy of our county Emergency Management Plan, and all the fears of FEMA and mass graves are seriously silly. People read contingency plans and go nuts, thinking it is planning for doing us all in. If the SHTF then we will need our fellow citizens and local government to maintain order.
    Work to help mitigate the crisis. I suggest reading the great book “One Second After”. You can learn a great deal about post disaster planning.

    • Okay, since we are pooh-poohing conspiracy theories and recommending science fiction books like “One Second After” (which, as a RADEF monitor back when Civil Defense meant something, I found to be pretty pathetic), I would like to make a recommendation to you: Do a web search on the phrase “Cultural Marxism” and see how well what you find comports exactly with the Marxist Mafia insurgency our nation has been suffering since 1925 and accelerating breath-takingly since WWII. And especially how well it comports with everything you hear from this current Islamo-Marxist First Enemy Agent infesting our White House and his subalterns.

  47. Don’t forget the VC kept the most powerful military in the world pretty busy with anything they could get including sharpened bamboo, our C-ration cans, some commo wire and grenades, bolt action rifles, as well as more modern gear, for 20 years until the Leftist media and fellow travelers like Walter Cronkite, John “I’m a big hero and have the home movies to prove it” Kerry, Janie Fondue, Slick Willy Clinton protesting while enjoying the English girls at Oxford, etc., et al. ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

  48. I find the people who fear the government the most don’t participate in actually doing things to advocate their views, except to retreat and hide behind some warped misguided view of the world. Fear is what you are talking about. Fear of everything except what you deem right. Does at anyone listen? If the government swarms in to the point that you need these weapons to protect yourselves, at this point in history, you will be sorely mistaken. I agree that the government can go bad. I agree also as a son of the victims of the Shoah that you need to be prepared for anything. Participating in the process of government to ensure that liberties are held foremost is the key in insuring the government is held in check. I’m not against having gins, but I am against relying on them as the only way out. Rational people wrote our constitution and still it had many flaws. Consider how they passed the buck on slavery and women’s rights. These injustices were corrected and enshrined by amendments to our constitution. Amendments just as valid as the second amendment. Reason should still hold true today and the vitriol in the comments on the TTAG website is in-American

    • Well, I spend up to sixteen hours a day opposing this rogue occupation government and I am also a precinct committeeman, and there are many more like me, so your dismissal of the majority of the American people and their view as “not well founded” is, itself, not well founded.
      “If the government swarms in to the point that you need these weapons to protect yourselves, at this point in history, you will be sorely mistaken.” What does that sentence mean?
      You agree that “the government can go bad.” You are a little behind the learning curve; the government HAS gone bad. A federal government not deriving every scintilla of its authority from the Constitution of the United States has abdicated its lawful authority to govern and devolved into a rogue occupation government.
      “Consider how they passed the buck on slavery and women’s rights.” They did not. That statement conveys a sad lack of understanding of the founders and the Constitutional compact they wrote that established the federal government and made it their wholly-owned subsidiary. They provided specifically for the future abolishment of slavery after 1808, and taxed the hell out of it until then, because they opposed it, but they knew it was not something that could be abolished overnight. Had they insisted on abolishing it overnight the Constitution would never have been ratified. They provided generally for advancements in all areas of human endeavor, and for your information, women — the founder’s wives — played an enormous role in the founding of our nation, perhaps a greater role as wives than they could have played as principals, for the great value of male-female unity is that the sum of the male-female perspectives is greater than its individual parts. Yes, these rights were enshrined as amendments to our Constitution because the founders provided the mechanism to enshrine them.
      “Reason” does hold sway today among those who strive for the liberty the founding of our nation promised; the vitriol you see is the consequence of dealing with those who regard liberty as an affront to their domination.

    • Tell that to the hundreds of first responders, doctors, surgeons, nurses, survivors, and the family members of those who did not survive. If you survive doing so, come back and tell us again.

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