There are now two Americas. The first features high taxes, heavy regulations and massive government expenditure. The second has relatively lower taxes, fewer burdensome regulations and more limited government. “Right to work” America (e.g., Georgia) is growing more prosperous while rolling back gun control regulations. Nanny State America (e.g. New Jersey) is sinking under the weight of its bloated bureaucracy, placing new restrictions on its citizens’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. As poet William Butler Yeats wrote in The Second Coming . . .
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” Many gun owners see this dangerous dichotomy in bold relief. They know that America cannot be two things at once: a country where the government’s endless pursuit of “reasonable regulations” makes a mockery of citizens’ Constitutional rights and a country where individual freedoms are, as they should be, sacrosanct. Hence rumblings about Civil War 2.0.
There are gun rights advocates who echo Thomas Jefferson’s admonition that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” But the vast majority of liberty-loving gun guys and gals are peace-loving patriots who abhor armed conflict. They want the increasingly obvious two Americas situation to be resolved without bloodshed.
Many place their faith in the federal court system. They believe that the ongoing courtroom crusade to strike down draconian gun control legislation will lead to a Supreme Court victory that will force the states’ statists to return to the Founding Fathers’ Constitutional construct. The recent decision by the Ninth Circuit Court to strike down California’s and Hawaii’s may-issue [non] permitting process gives them cause to hope.
Other gun rights advocates would like to see the two Americas reconciled at the ballot box. They reckon that if a sufficient number of anti-gun, big government Democrats can be booted out of office, these political proponents of civilian disarmament command and control can be stopped in their tracks and their gun control legislation rescinded. The recent recall of pro-gun control pols in Colorado gives them cause to hope.
In both cases, their hopes are destined to remain unrealized.
History tells us that the courts will not offer the relief gun rights advocates seek. The McDonald decision – a limited and Pyrrhic victory that opened the door to unreasonable “reasonable regulations” – indicates that the Supreme Court will not make huge leaps towards firearms freedom. This quote from Federal District Court Judge Alfred Covello upholding Connecticut’s patently unconstitutional post-Newtown gun laws tells you all you need to know about courts operating in gun averse states:
“The court concludes that the legislation is constitutional . . . While the act burdens the plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights, it is substantially related to the important governmental interest of public safety and crime control.”
Nor will pro-gun activism at the ballot box “reunite” the two Americas. Polls show that residents in states with “tough” gun laws support civilian disarmament by an overwhelming margin. Back in September 2013, a Rutgers – Eagelton poll found that 70 percent of respondents favored a measure requiring that firearms purchase permits be recorded on driver licenses. The Garden State’s latest assault on citizens’ gun rights – an ammunition magazine capacity law – sailed through the legislature.
More worrying still: the federal government is closerthanthis with the part of the country that sees nothing wrong with government intervention in all things. Should another nanny state statist capture the presidency (e.g., Hillary Clinton), should that CIC find support in Congress or end-run the legislature through executive orders, the feds will continue to consolidate and increase governmental power (i.e., erode gun rights and curtail liberty).
Even in the best case scenario – the country elects a [small “c”] conservative president to work with a Republican led House and Senate – he or she will not be able to “make” pro-gun control states abandon their civilian disarmament agenda. Anti-gun America will continue down the path of curtailed firearms freedom unmolested by court edict or [small ‘d’] democratic blowback.
In short, the gulf between the two Americas will widen. The question: how, when and where will the actual fracture occur? Right now the vast majority of Americans are blissfully ignorant of the divide. Until their lives are affected in some dramatic, personal way, they will continue to pursue happiness in condition white.
In that sense, American gun owners are the canary in the coal mine. They are awake and alert to the danger posed by the statist states, and they’re chirping like crazy. The mine owners couldn’t give a damn. The workers busy hollowing out the Constitution are completely oblivious to the stench of tyranny. When the proverbial shaft collapses in some spectacular way, then they’ll pay attention.
What then? What rough beast, its hour come round at last, will slouch towards Bethlehem to be born? God knows. But the more people who are armed against it, the better.
Amen and then some.
It’s not just about states, it’s also rural versus urban. I expect 2020 to be a watershed year, because a sensus will be taken and congressional districts drawn accordingly. And a lot of rural counties are dying as we speak.
And one of these days I’ll finally learn how to spell census.
I think that’s an outdated dichotomy that plays into the hands of the Statists. Census data shows clearly that people are migrating to urban areas faster than they are away…and the trend is accelerating. In the meantime gun-ownership and 2nd A awareness is growing at a steady clip. The urban vs rural juxtaposition cannot reconcile this.
Anecdotally, I live in a city. All of my friends live in cities. We are all gun friendly. We all shoot, collect guns, and resist Statism. As the social map trickles outwards to friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends, there are still more city-dwellers, and still more gun-owners – All religions, genders, ages, and professions. In fact, I don’t know a single rural gun-owner – not one single individual that fits the rural wasp gun-clinger archetype that everyone seems to assume is the last bastion of Liberty.
These dichotomies; reb/blue, god/no god, white/black, city/country, liberal/conservative…etc – they are all traps, snares that divide, distract, and contain people while others outside them work to strengthen the only dichotomy that matters – power/no-power.
Reject this. All that matters is individual self-determination. Anything that erodes this, in any way, should raise alarms and be met with derision, scorn, and ultimately laid low.
molṑn labé
And if/when it all goes off the cliff (TEOTWAWKI) what are you going to do? Load up the kids in the yuppie “SUV” and head out to “where the food in made”. Not a winning plan for you so you city slickers better figure out that ballot box thing.
My plan is to not let that happen. I don’t have the luxury of sitting out on the back 40 waiting for Jesus to rapture me. In the mean time I have to make a living, and my skill-set doesn’t apply really well to a rural setting.
But by all means keep proving my point ….OR….. realize there really isn’t much difference between us and that it will take knowing who the real enemies are to not let everything hit the fan.
@BDub who is “the real enemy”? You better wake up. The ‘takers’ are coming for the ‘makers’ in society sooner than you realize.
You are absolutely right…power vs no-power, self-determination vs government determination. This is truly what matters. Everything else is indeed just a distraction. Guns are useful tools in these two battles which is why the “anti’s” want them confiscated and banned.
Here’s some facts:
Avg median income Georgia: $49,604
Avg median income NJ: $71,637
Right to work means right to work for less money.
those may be facts, but they dont support your conclusion, nor do they mean anything particularly significant when divorced from the cost of living in those two regions.
Look at the cost of living difference.
City you are moving from: Newark, New Jersey
City you are moving to: Atlanta, GA
Enter your current income:$71,637
Equivalent income in the city you are moving to: $52184.74.
You may take a 27.15% decrease and still maintain your standard of living.
Read more: http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx#ixzz2wd8sqZTE
Follow us: @Bankrate on Twitter | Bankrate on Facebook
Damn you beat me to it!
That is a really nice tool though; I can move to Nashville and take a 25% pay cut to maintain the same standard of living.
… and that 25% pay cut might get you into a lower tax bracket, too!
Yep, you don’t need to make as much when you get to keep more of what you make. Vice in a state like CA paying the highest state income tax, sales tax, gas taxes, etc. etc. etc.
I live in Chicago and trust me when I say that a paycut has never sounded so good
when it comes to taxes, California is a neophyte. State sales tax is 8.5%, about the same as NYC–but NY’s total tax rate is 40% higher than the average across the country. California property tax: 0.1%, which works out to be about $1000 for every $100,000 of value. Illinois, last I knew, was about 5%, and New York is even higher. So California (may) have a higher state income tax, but it is to make up for the paltry property taxes.
The median home value in NJ is almost $ 275,000.00
In Georgia its about $ 129,000.00
You cannot look at median income without looking at home values, cost of living etc.
NJ Also has a state income tax rate of almost 9% at the top, GA has a rate of 6% at the top.
Once you look at the cost of living the numbers seem more in line, you simply are not going to pay a worker in Florida the same as a worker in New York City, conversely you won’t pay a worker the same in Miami as you would in Rural Orange County. Nor would a worker be paid the same in Newark as one in the middle of the Pine Barrens.
Without even looking up the current numbers (sorry!) I’ll say those are median household income numbers, not individual. NJ has a higher rate of career spouses (wives) a higher rate of state employment, and very highly paid public school teachers, a majority female/wife occupation (ah, the union). NJ is also more heavily urban/suburban. In total quality of life there is little difference. However, NJ residents will benefit greatly when they retire from Civil service positions, and then move to Savanah or Hilton Head, Scottsdale or Sarasota….to live out their go$den years.
“However, NJ residents will benefit greatly when they retire from Civil service positions, and then move to Savanah or Hilton Head, Scottsdale or Sarasota….to live out their go$den years.”
…the horror…
they will vote the same way they vote in NJ and so there goes Florida, etc.
Median salary is kind of a useless indicator unless its followed with some sort of median cost of living. For example, I could easily make close to 2x my salary in San Jose, but I’d actually be quite a bit worse off once you consider the standard of living and housing I have where I am at.
Factor in the Cost of Living between GA and NJ and the real wage is higher in GA.
I’ll take Georgia, even if it means a pay cut. (Which it doesn’t.) A state that actually respects the RKBA.
People are moving to the right to work states, from the other states. Other commenters gave you the $ numbers. Just remember that people vote with their feet.
Yeah, what they said. ^
Now what’s the cost of living, including taxes?
Bogus.
That high median salary is from white collar jobs, not unionized assembly line jobs like you’re implying. I don’t think Lloyd Blankfein, Michael Bloomberg, Eric Schmidt, Mark Zuckerberg or their kind are union stiffs.
Detroit is a better poster child for unionism than Wall Street or Silicon Valley.
Median or Average? The two statistics are not the same.
Average referrimg to the arithmetic mean or mode? I suspect you mean mean. (That really sounds awkward LOL)
A job at $5/hour beats no job at $20/hour.
Sorry you posted that, Al?
“Right to work means right to work for less money.”
Union much? How are those dues working out for you? How about those organized crime….er, uh, union bosses working for you? How bout the politicians they line the pockets of?
Reap what you sew.
You are also forgetting other factors like NYC. Unlike a state like GA, much of the income in NJ is coming from NYC and Philly through the “Bridge and Tunnel Crowd.” This is going to chance the income demographics quite a bit.
and if it does happen, we’ll also likely take most of the blame for causing it.
When you become an adult, you’ll put your rose colored glasses away. Or are they blinders? You sir have vision as clear as crystal.
America will mostly self-select into two or more highly divergent political regions, by voting with their feet. Basically red America and (probably two) blue America(s) will not just be voting patterns, but values on the ground. Each will increasingly use the federal government to beat the other half into submission and each will, in reaction, rely on federalist mechanisms to ignore or countermand the federal government.
The stalemate is broken, not via a civil war or elections, but by bankruptcy. Yes, national fiscal bankruptcy. The federal government’s finances will collapse and it will be reduced to a rump entity and the regional political blocks will coalesce into emerging separate nations as the feds have no power to stop it. There may be squabbling over assets and borders, but the reforming of political order around two or more new nations will be rather peaceful. (The nation centered around Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, and Arkansas will not want NY/NY/CT/MA and vice versa.) After one or two of the blue nations goes bankrupt, they will be subsumed in part or in whole into the central Red nation and will be forced to accept the dismantling of all gun control laws.
Your assessment sounds like something I’ve seen in lots of cyberpunk novels and games. If it must go that way, I hope you’re right (and that we’re in the right places too).
On the nose, sir. When the over-populated, over taxing and bankrupt urban centers and the states that keep them on life support finally sputter out, they’ll take most of the way we currently think of government with them.
Something’s sure as shit going on there. Anybody else been reading about all of these bankers, most from JPMC, “suiciding” themselves?
Hillary might not get a chance to see how hard she can push it. The current actor-in-chief might well end up getting to be the footnote in history he’s been after- last president of the pre-reconstruction United States.
Rob, I agree with you on many points in this article. However, your opinion about the President using executive orders to end-run congress is at best under informed. The President is actually issuing substantially fewer executive orders than a great majority of his predecessors. You may not like the fact that many of them pertain to firearms, but to make the statement that he is “end-running” congress would be a misnomer. Furthermore, those are powers that must be based within the constitution and can only be used to support existing laws. I understand these powers can be abused, such as Executive Order 9066 by FDR being used to place Japanese Americans in internment camps, but I don’t think we can compare Obama’s EO’s to EO 9066.
With that aside, I love this blog and truly hope we exit the Nanny State.
His end-run comment was actually about a hypothetical future commander in chief, with a hint that Hillary Clinton might use executive orders in such a fashion.
Sorry, but he’s issued and renewed more EOs than all his predecessors combined.
The President is actually issuing substantially fewer executive orders than a great majority of his predecessors.
Load of crap. It’s not the number of orders, it’s the content.
Most Presidents have not issued executive orders to skirt Congress, and most executive orders have to do with declaring Honeysuckle Appreciation Week or National Corn Month.
Dan, it’s the content of his executive orders not the quantity…nice try though.
This theme was played with a different slant today in the WSJ, which framed it as a rural v. urban difference. Heavily agricultural states have, of course, a much higher GINI score, with the average income more highly separates from the median. Major urban cores (NYC, Chicago, LA, SanFran, etc., also benefit highly from the fact that they are concentrators of regional, even national, financial business, medicine, big law, and so forth. It a sense they get a skim off of the income of industrial and agricultural business in the hinterlands, and they get that skim with a lower capital intensity.
Well ‘duh! As you oppress a population you must consider that the peasants may get fed up and revolt. It is essential that you eliminate their means to defend themselves early, before they feel the full weight of the oppression on them. Slaving away to fill the government coffers and pay off the unions/well-connected businesses with either right or left leanings for the politicians favors/protection.
Hence- your line, the two parts are directly related, the first the direct cause of the second:
“Nanny State America (e.g. New Jersey) is sinking under the weight of its bloated bureaucracy,
[ causing the conditions of oppression, confiscatory taxation to pay the bill; directly leads to the concern over the peasants rebelling and thus the need to disarm them]
placing new restrictions on its citizens’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.”
Beautiful, if frightening, piece of writing.
The rural vs. urban dichotomy that the US has become worries me the most.
Big metro areas continue to grow in population, where the inhabitants depend on government for everything from subsidized mass transit systems to rent controlled apartments.
Meanwhile, rural areas with their spirit of independence continue to see population declines. The result is a shift in prevailing voter attitudes that will ultimately force the urban, government dependent mindset upon the rest of us.
That guy from Jersey is awesome.
Great article, much food for thought.
The ‘strict gun control’ states are still in the extreme minority. Sometimes it doesn’t seem so. But the Brady Center gives only one state their highest ranking (4 stars), and only 19 states any stars at all.
Oddly enough, they misrepresent some of the states also. I noticed Michigan is given 2 stars (wtf?), the only ‘restrictive’ firearm laws Michigan has are a requirement to obtain a ‘purchase permit’ to get a handgun from a private seller (no longer needed for an FFL), and the need to register said handgun (oddly enough no need to report changes of address).
Brady gives 3 points for mandatory lost/solen reporting (not true and never has been the case); 3 points for fingerprinting required (not anymore, not in a long time); 3 points for external locks sold with all handguns (meh); 2 points for ’employers not forced to allow guns in parking lots’; 2 points for no campus carry (not true: http://michigan.concealedcampus.org/resources/current-laws-pertaining-to-campus-carry/ )
So really we are ‘only’ talking about 9 states that are being really bad (CA, NJ, MA, NY, CT, HI, MD, IL, CO), which is an extreme minority. There is a smattering of oppression in the other states as well (including the aforementioned Michigan laws) but I think it would have to be much closer to 50/50 for there to be a real threat.
That being said, if it came down to a ‘real civil war’, wouldn’t it be the people with guns against the people without guns?
Even in the best case scenario – the country elects a pro-firearms freedom conservative president to work with a Republican led House and Senate – he or she will not be able to “make” pro-gun control states abandon their civilian disarmament agenda. Anti-gun America will continue down the path of curtailed firearms freedom unmolested by court edict or [small ‘d’] democratic blowback.
If conservatives did, in fact, own both houses and the executive branch, then the federal government should do one of the few things that it actually ought to be doing—upholding the Constitution, to wit, disallowing any of the States, or more-local governments, from infringing on the people’s rights. In other words, the federal government should make sure that no level of government restricts our right to keep and bear arms.
They had their chance to do that during the Bush administration and didn’t. What are you expecting to change? Big government politicians remain big government politicians, whether they have an R or a D after their name.
I’m not expecting anything to change. 🙁
Amerika is Already past the point of NO RETURN! no matter why is done by either side will NOT work any more…600 plus trillion dollars can NEVER be paid …only thing is they (Dems and GOP) want Amerika destroyed … they think they can have the NEW WORLD ORDER , (think 1984) if Amerika is destroyed … THEIR views , not mine ! NOW you understand the why’s and what for’s of our controlled news media and public education ,,, they been planning for a long time…only unknown is how much time we have left,, that is part of the game plan with Russia , push them into war(WW3) , or give in to the NEW WORLD ORDER…problem is they can not understand or know Putin’s next move? I read that the CIA is even studying his body movements.. Obama is a total DUPE!
The Bush administration appeared to be moving toward smaller government when 911 hit. Then all bets were off, and “national security” was evoked by nearly all to grow the state.
War is the health of the state, as long as you do not lose. The Bush administration traded lots of things the other “progressives” wanted to keep funding for defense high.
Sometimes I read articles like this and they are so well written, depression creeps in.
Then I get mad. I remember that this fight is THE fight.
If the second amendment is gone, there will be no other fights.
Canary in a coal mine, indeed. Very appropro.
What really bugs me is that the food is typically so much better in the anti-gun blue states. Just try to get decent Italian or Sushi or Gyro in a red state! Good luck. But then, chefs are artists, and we all know where they fall in the great social divide.
Case in point: I live in central Pennsylvania, a great place for RKBA, but a true wasteland for cuisine.
I’ve lived in nothing but red states my whole life.
Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Carolina
I’ve never had a problem finding good food.
Try going to the smaller mom-n-pop type places or better yet, go to where the locals go, the true locals not the transplants.
Then again, I am not a fan of italian. I go for local cuisine (bbq, cajun, seafood, etc) or asian cuisine and I’ve struck gold everywhere I’ve been
you mean Waffle House ISN’T fine cuisine?
Nanny state Amerika would be dead , but they are taxing the life out free/working America to keep going ….IN the end the socialism kills us all….
“The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”
Margaret Thatcher
+100
As unlikely as the scenario might be, given full control of Congress and the presidency, real conservatives could influence state civilian disarmament/anti-Second Amendment legislation the same way they enacted the 55 mph speed limit years ago – deny federal funding to the state for X project(s) unless the state repeals anti-2A legislation or enacts certain pro-2A legislation.
Could work. I can dream…
Actually, very likely. We have the votes in Congress now to pass national reciprocity. If it were not for Harry Reid, we would likely already have it, attached to a “debt limit” or “continuing resolution” or even the really rare since 2009 “budget”.
“‘Right to work’ America (e.g., Georgia) is growing more prosperous”
What does interjecting your view on labor policy have to do with gun rights?
Because gun rights, the right to work and the right to avoid excessive taxation seem to go together. Restrictions on gun rights, no right to work and taxation up the @ss likewise go together.
“Nanny State America (e.g. New Jersey) is sinking under the weight of its bloated bureaucracy, placing new restrictions on its citizens’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms.”
Except that Red States are net beneficiaries of federal tax dollars (ie, they take in more than they pay), while the Blue States pay more in federal taxes than they receive in federal spending.
.
Look at the following article from Wikipedia to see that you’re wrong:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_taxation_and_spending_by_state
Besides, those red states have federal facilities on them that make the statistics misleading.
from the Wikipedia article you cited:
“Democratic-leaning states tend to be net contributors to the federal budget while Republican-leaning states are more often net recipients of federal spending.”
It appears to be composed almost entirely of two components. Defense installations in Red states, which are clearly used for the defense of the entire nation, and retired people sick of Blue states that move to Red states to retire, taking Social Security, Medicare, and Federal pensions with them.
Florida is the huge outlier that shows this the most. Florida gets four times as much federal dollars as it sends in, and shows the largest difference by far.
“retired people sick of Blue states that move to Red states to retire, taking Social Security, Medicare, and Federal pensions with them. ”
from Bloomberg (2012):
So the retirees (who presumably paid taxes during their working careers) still vote Democrat after retiring, regardless of location, while the “welfare” recipients vote Republican.
And let’s not forget that Mitt Romney, who preached about “personal responsibility”, was probably one of the 47% (which would explain why he didn’t release his tax returns).
Sorry, there’s no correlation between gun ownership, ideology, and personal responsiblity, as much as Farago wants us to believe there is one. Gun owners are no more responsible or freedom loving than your typical ACLU member. Trying to extrapolate some broad virtue from your pet cause, whether it’s gun rights, abortion rights, gay rights, illegal alien rights, etc., is idiotic.
We’re not a nation of freedom-loving people, but of a bunch of petty and not-so-petty authoritarians, across the ideological spectrum.
<—- Pointing. Anonymous is a Liberal. People who post without useing their names ALWAYS are. His / her comments seal the deal.
A sheep in wolves clothing. How cute.
This discussion was actually rather enlightening as it brings up several points that I’ve seen brought up but rarely directly addressed. I’m disappointed to see it get shot down and peter out so quickly.
Anonymous – Gun control is increasingly not falling into party lines. Good point. I’ll add a couple more (maybe good ones, maybe not).
1. Ronald Reagan signed gun control legislation into law when he was governor of California. IIRC, the law he signed prohibited carrying a handgun in California and required a 15 day waiting period to buy a gun. It was also under Reagan that the MG registry was closed. Personally speaking, I fully support law abiding people being able to carry weapons for self-defense without a permission slip from the government. Once you have to ask for permission to exercise a right, is it a right anymore? I also would like to see the MG registry reopened or better yet, the NFA removed entirely. I guess if Reagan were alive, he might say I’d make a terrible Republican.
2. Last election, I had a choice between voting for someone who wanted to sign an assault weapons ban into law and someone who already had. Mitt Romney (the Republican presidential candidate for those of you who don’t keep up with such things) signed an assault weapons ban into law when he was governor of Massachusetts.
“Conservatives” championing gun control?
Now that’s what I’d call an inconvenient truth.
Take your heads out of the sand people.
When it comes to your rights, you can’t just trust anybody. There’s plenty of authoritarianism to go around.
Whether “anonymous” wants to use his real name or not, he (or she) is right about that.
Great discussion, anonymous, except for two things: first, nobody gives a sh1t; and second, cut the damn federal taxes and then you can stop complaining about where the money goes after the Feds steal it.
Apparently somebody does give a sh!t because the whole discussion about political ideology and gun rights and labor and taxation came about in response to points brought up in the article. And it’s a good discussion to have.
This site isn’t called “The stereotype about guns” or “what I want to believe about guns” – it’s called “The TRUTH about Guns.” And the truth about guns is that there are people on the left who fully support the RKBA too.
Now whether you give a sh!t about that or not… that’s anyone’s guess.
And on taxes… I don’t think anyone likes taxes. But I do like the things that taxes pay for… like national defense. Then again, when we get sold the bill of goods about WMD’s that exist in Iraq, then they miraculously disappear and the mission drifts from “find the WMD’s” to “free the oppressed people” and costs us hundreds of billions of dollars a year for a decade or so, that can get kind of expensive. Maybe THAT isn’t the best use of our taxes. And I say that as someone who was a Republican at the time. So if they’re going to take taxes from us, and they are, at least spend them on something worthwhile.
But that’s a whole other philosophical debate I guess.
I agree with a couple other posters- I prefer that TTAG attract people from across the political spectrum, and especially those who debate with facts and reason.
Now, Anonymous- good try, but you fail in a couple areas-
1) you claim NO correlation, except cherry picking a couple of stats to prove your point. Thats not statistics, its a fallacy of composition.
2) mind-reading- your claim of what Farago thinks is based on…?
3) labeling others here as idiotic if they dont agree, is a fallacy of ad hominem.
Gonna have to do better if you want to persuade here.
15 years ago we were in the middle of an assault weapons ban, and very few states were shall-issue for concealed carry.
We now have Supreme Court decisions holding that RKBA is an individual right. We have concealed carry and state preemption in Illinois. If Peruta holds up we will have shall issue in California and Hawaii.
Are things great? No, but they are better than they were 15-20 years ago for the majority of states, and if Peruta stands the majority of the people.
A little perspective is in order I think.
15-20 years ago, there was no such thing as Ladies shooting Leagues. Almost never saw women at a gun range, Women rarely purchased guns, or competed in shooting events. Gun ranges and local gun stores made women feel unwelcome. Now women have opportunities to shoot at almost any range, and feel welcomed. There are ranges &; local gun stores who have women working there, many are co-owned by women. Concealed carry was a guy thing, now many women have a CHL. 15-20 years ago I did not know any women who owned their own gun, now I know many who do. Most whom I know, have more than one guns. Are gun owners rights under assault ? Yip, but I wouldn’t PO a woman over those rights – tell us we can’t do something, have something for recreation or self protection and I would not want to be you!
“In that sense, American gun owners are the canary in the coal mine. They are awake and alert to the danger posed by the statist states, and they’re chirping like crazy. The mine owners couldn’t give a damn. The workers busy hollowing out the Constitution are completely oblivious to the stench of tyranny. When the proverbial shaft collapses in some spectacular way, then they’ll pay attention.”
Passages like these remind me why I’m an engineer and not a writer.
Right: There are two big groups of people who are tuned into what is happening.
1. The gun owners
2. The men of the manosphere/mens rights movement
Because the real war is against masculinity, not just the guns. Gun control is an offshoot of the war against men, an attempt to take the “man” out of the men and turn them into women with 9 o’clock shadow.
So much easier to control that way.
Guns really do get in the way, so they must be eliminated.
I do have to wonder will the gun owners go down and leave the MRAs as the last men standing? It’s been interesting to watch so far and so far, my money is on the MRAs. Sadly
Mina, when the SHTF* there will be very few left standing, and most will be MRA “types”, I suspect. Even if they dont identify as such, the traditional manly virtues of self-reliance, defence of family, hard work, individual responsibility, are what will sustain life in very tough times.
* whatever that might be- a slow economic decline or a sudden “black swan”, our “system” is too fragile to respond, I think, and the question really is whether one is ready or not, and the number one factor in survival is mind-set and attitude, to never ever give up.
Anyone see the article on solar CMEs and the related 3 EMPs that narrowly missed the earth? Or the recent transformer attacks and study that showed only 9 sites going down would disable the US grid for months?
Three days no power, and the urban cores are simply going to be un-survivable.
Read “One Second After”.
At that point all this debate is moot.
I love your new icon!! Have you been going back and reading/watching all of Breitbart’s stuff? it’s all I have been doing for three weeks. 🙂
You and me need to write some articles and get the guys here to post them.
Previous generations saw two world wars, the Cuban missle crisis, Vietnam, and McCarthyism. I fear what my generation will face…
If they face Hillary Clinton, they will know true terror.
I cringe at that thought. We’d be better off leaving a bonobo ape in charge of the country.
And McCarthy was right…
And this is exactly why the Constitution restricts the Federal government to the point of having essentially no power on domestic issues. Sadly, the tyrants in the US don’t care about the Constitution and the peasants don’t care as long as they have beer and football.
Many years ago one could open many newspapers to the classifieds and find columns of firearms for sale by private citizens. Guns traded hands with no signatures or paperwork. Just a passing of money and a handshake. Some folks who lived during that time and bought guns held on to them. The feds cannot take guns they don’t know about.
my dad bought me my first gun, a Marlin 60, out of the local newspaper classifieds, as a reward for getting straight As. this was around ’96 – not too long ago.
Not to be difficult, but there’s just one America, and those who want to change it without going through the proper, Constitutionally provided procedures. They are the usurpers of the Constitutional Republic. Let’s stop calling them Americans. They’re American’ts. They are Americans that dream about having the power to tell other people(you and me) how we may, or may not live our lives, or else. Whenever these Leftist ideology party-pooper types gets a brilliant idea, there’s always an “or else” dontcha know.
It’s amazing how often their bright ideas always seems to end in…mass graves.
But it would never happen here?
The Liberals are beating us because their game is dirty and biased for them to win (Rule for Radicals – Saul Alinsky.) Yet we continue to try to lead them by example and show them how to be honorable and have good character. Liberals spit on honor and leave character in the toilet after a movement. They don’t care.
When we change our game and start consistently calling them on their lying, double faced obfuscation and let the world see and experience what shallow, hollow human beings they are, how disgusting and vile – then we will win.
And not a minute before.
Well written and spot on.
The only hope I have to avoid what will most likely wind up in bloodshed is a constitutional convention. Term limits, criminal penalties for violating the constitution, really all of Mark Levin’s amendments would need to be put in place.
Otherwise the chasm between the progressive left, and the independent right will widen without a doubt. Should amnesty pass, the road to socialism is right behind it, as the middle class will be effectively destroyed. The unions are too stupid or ignorant to realize this, much as they did with Obamacare.
I guess if truth be told, if someone said there would be a revolution/civil war inside of this decade, I wouldn’t bet against it. A large part of me realizes that it is exactly what will be required if this republic is to stand.
The only solution is for the liberty loving right to destroy, disassemble and dismember the liberal left.
How many wolves should it really take to get an entire herd of bunnies under control? Not many.
I think fiscal solvency will be the bigger problem, and if history is any indication (Rome), we will be overrun by numerically superior barbarians.
I bet the great thinkers of the 50s never expected our empire to fall so fast…
The only problem I have with the story is that the Dems aren’t the only ones who are for Big Government. Except for a few social issues, the Republicans have gone along with the Patriot act NSA spying and indefinite detention.
And it’s this attitude that will be the downfall of gun rights in this country. More and more younger people are identifying themselves as progressives, at least socially. And if we continue with the attitude that “all progressives are the de facto enemy of gun rights”, all that will serve to do is turn the youth of today (and the voters for years to come) against us.
They are already against us. They have been programmed all through elementary school, middle school and high school to be against us. Their rhetoric is finely honed in academia.
If you aren’t aware that Progressives are the enemy you have missed the boat. Watch “Agenda: Grinding America Down” on Vimeo
The good news is the kids (under 25) can be shown the light. I got a 20 hard core liberal university “social justice warrior” out shooting this past weekend and he loved it. But he’s so indoctrinated he could not admit it … just kept asking if he could try “one more magazine” … they are programmed against us and the only way to convert them is on a one on one, personal basis. In this case, the kid was a grandson of one of my best friends.
Political beliefs are a lot more muddled than anyone wants to believe. There are hardcore supporters of the RKBA with some political beliefs that fall pretty far left. I’ve got some of those views myself… a mixture of left and libertarian ideas (left on social issues, libertarian on most others). It’s the height of idiocy to alienate everyone on the left who could be a strong ally. If we allow the RKBA to be an issue that’s only defended by one party (and often pitifully at that as evidenced by that party’s last presidential candidate), then eventually RKBA supporters are going to lose big.
A better strategy is to target the anti-gun “plank” of the left’s party platform. But conservatives can’t do that. No one on the left cares what a hardcore conservative thinks because he or she would never win that vote anyhow. Only people on the left can beat the gun control out of the left.
Having said all of that, if it really comes down to it, I will abandon any and all “liberal” ideas that I support and vote just about as far right as I have to, every time I have to, until I’ve done all I can to secure the RKBA. I don’t care if that kind of thinking sets other things I agree with (like gay rights) back decades. If I’m forced to choose, I’ll chose to protect the Constitution. We can sort out a lot of differences later with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as our guide, but without that, we’re screwed. I don’t cling to my Bible all that hard, but I do cling to those old documents.
I am a Libertarian which means I make educated decisions about my position on things based on facts and data. There are several topics on which the left is correct and the right is wrong. You are correct there.
However “Leftism” is a sickness, a failure, a plague upon us and must be destroyed.
McDonald is a “Pyrrhic victory”? Our judicial winning trend (unprecedented in 200+ years of judicial history) is doomed to fail because a single district court judge made a stupid ruling?
Jesus, with defeatists like this, who needs MAIG?
McDonald established that the 2A as an individual right applied to the states. Until that point, *it didn’t*. No, it didn’t throw out all gun laws. But going from “no right, we can restrict however we want” to “a right, can only restrict in some ways” is a huge victory.
The courts are a far better option than “let’s hope everyone turns conservative”. Citing some dipsh** district court judge as proof the courts are a losing battle is laughably ignorant of the legal process.
http://www.recallsweeney.com/petition/
WE need to help each other in order to stop the infringement on OUR rights.
WE DON”T LEAVE ANYONE BEHIND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The NRA has more than 4 million members if each member made one e-mail or one call or sent one fax…… Now combine that effort with every pro 2a organization across the country and send, call, or fax one rep a week who is anti gun rights this will change. Don’t complain about the results you don’t get for the effort you didn’t make to change whats wrong.
There are other petitions that you may like to sign at :
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/
If you don’t like whats there make one and post it be happy to sign to free US all.
Great article Robert!
The comments kinda turned into an economics debate…lol
Right wing BS from a Republican apologist.
I will never support the pro-slavery anti-choice crowd. I will never support corporations over real Americans. I will never support pollution over the environment. That means I will never support the modern GOPeon party.
Tough words? From your point of view, perhaps. But understand, the culture war is over and you lost.
If we make gun rights into a right/left issue instead of a right/wrong issue, we will all lose. Choose wisely: I am just as able to cut my ties to a radical rightist gun rights movement that pay lip service to logic while scheming to drive their crypto-fascist agenda as I have in the past two years to liberal movements who championed gun control.
Take it for what it is worth.
Ain’t worth 2 cents Wassim the Troll. Why don’t you go back the the Onion.com where they care about what you think!
Big surprise Absood spouts utter nonsense.
FYI…40% of NJ Assembly (all Rep.) voted against the over 10rd mag ban. Unfortunately, NJ is 60% Dem.(and gaining as anyone with a brain is leaving…anybody wanna buy my house? Didn’t think so) The future will see a much more divided USA. I just hope the pendulum swings back to the right with the coming generations. Who would of thought we would have had CCW in most of the country, 20, 30 years ago? But keep your powder dry, just in case.
What’s wrong with two Americas? I don’t want libertarian laws for all of America or statist laws for all of America. Let’s take “two Americas” further, embracing “state’s rights” and curtailing federal power to let us all live in an America with the laws we want. Just live in a state with politically like-minded folks. That would be a whole lot easier than convincing the collectivists, or the armed freedom-lovers, to join the other side. Don’t impose your values on people who don’t want them, allow self-determination! If we all respected the right of other people to decide how they want to live we’d all be much better off.
Comments are closed.