Pendragon,
You seem to be a gentle and reasonable person. Let me reply in kind to you and those who believe as you do.
- - - - -
Pendragon: Well, IMO, one of our problems is our "all or nothing" mentality and the willingness of so many to "lose on principle".
Dennis: I believe I am one of your "all or nothing" types. However, "all or nothing" is a misnomer. The "all" part is merely my demand that our government abide by the laws which govern them. That's the same our governments demand of us. By every "reasonable" standard, it is only correct to expect all Americans to be equal under the law.
As for the "nothing" part, your subsequent comments indicate you believe "shall issue" is a win. Perhaps. If so, it also is a loss because of the "qualifications" required to enjoy a natural right guaranteed by our Constitution.
- A right is converted to a strictly-controlled privilege,
- for which we must pay the government money,
- on a recurring basis.
- The privilege is offset by registration of the gun owner
- and, in many cases, registration of the firearms to be carried.
- Furthermore, the "privilege" only expands where we may carry. Most states restrict (forbid the right) to carry in various listed locations, facilities, etc.
Only in the future, under some gun-grabbing regime, will we learn whether or not registration will lead to confiscation (or prohibition of ownership) as it has already done to some extent in Washington, DC; California, and New York City or merely to additional fees and registrations (as with so-called Class III firearms) which will price the privilege out of the hands of the common man.
Pen: We will not turn the tide overnight and it is annoying to see progress and all you read is people bitching because even though they have shall-issue, they still have to jump through hoops - when before, they had no hope for CCW.
Den: And it is annoying to me to read the Constitution and hear Americans say we dare not expect our government to abide by the laws which apply to them; but we must comply with illegal laws, regulations, directives, etc. over every aspect of our business and personal lives.
Pen: I am all about not compromising with evil in principle..."
Den: Excuse me for interrupting, but that is exactly what you are doing.
Pen: ... - but imagine if we were Counter-Terrorists and we said "well since we can't save all the hostages, why bother saving any - all life is equally precious and if we don't save them all, people will think we condone letting hostages die!"
Den: But imagine if we were Counter-Terrorists and we said, "well, we can't save all the hostages, and they've only killed half of them already, so let's wait until the terrorists kill a few more to see if they really are serious about killing hostages."
Our federal government is not merely grossly in violation of nearly all of the Bill of Rights, it is immoral.
- No amount of "interpretation" can justify federal regulation of the right to keep and bear (small) arms.
- No amount of "justification" can justify taxation without representation. After all, that was one of the greatest causes of our separation from English rule.
Now, however, the federal government:
- establishes speed limits (even on county, non-federally-subsidized roads),
- implements all sorts of regulations (I was threatened with a $10,000 fine because there was a four-inch step into my classroom—a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act), and
- implements literally thousands of regulations (based on law) to rule our business and personal lives.
Then the government
- continues to force taxation upon us,
- but threatens the states with cutting off funds for non-compliance with largely illegal rulings.
Interestingly enough, we are taxed (as a percentage of our income) much more now than were the Colonials who revolted against England for (among other things) excessive taxation!
Now I understand you were talking about "winning" with "shall-issue." Friend, that is a slim win! All they have done is to return, at our expense, a small portion of what they had no right to take.
Pen: You know what, if it takes 50 years to get our rights back, thats ok - because 50 years is going to pass anyway and it might as well pass with us winning victory after victory.
Den: Perhaps you have that time, I don't. I'm an old man. Perhaps you don't care if your children have the American Dream "schooled" out of them. I do. Perhaps you believe it isn't your authority or responsibility to require a government be legal. I am an American. It is by the authority and responsibility of American citizens that our government exists and functions in accordance with its ruling directive. The Constitution does not give a percentage of compliance, it requires compliance. Our government requires total compliance with their laws and imposes punishments for even the slightest, unintentional infraction of a rule because someone, somewhere, could have discomforted. We should expect our government to comply with the laws which govern
them!
Pen: You are never going to wake up and read
"Congress Reads Constitution, repeals 90% of all federal laws!" or
"Supreme Court rules all gun laws unconstitutional"
Den: No, but I have read copies of the signs which required all Jews to be re-located. I have spoken (personally) with people who survived Auschwitz and others who survived more than fifteen years in Russian prisons. (I spent eleven years in Germany between 1960 and 1976.) I have seen where tyranny leads. I have seen where "compromise" leads. I know, perhaps better than you realize, what the "nothing" means in the "all or nothing" phrase which annoys you. I will not permit that for my children or grandchildren.
Pen: Never going to happen and never going to wake up to confiscation - rather, its like we are all playing foot ball with a 100 ton ball - it moves very very slowly - but it definately moves.
Den: I understand your 100-ton ball comment. Now you understand this. If you truly believe that registration, taxation, and conversion of rights into privileges is moving that ball of yours toward freedom rather than servitude, you have lost direction. The rules of the game are not compromise and appeasement, the rules are the Constitution. If that's too rich for you, that's all right. Use us 1776-types, what you call the "all or nothing" people, as a threat to those who would continue to increase and "improve" their dominion over us. But you better soon realize which direction that 100-ton ball is rolling. You better soon stop that ball and reverse its direction toward freedom. For, as some of us age, we have less and less to lose. Our race is nearly done. If I must "compromise" away a few remaining years of my life to restore freedom for my grandchildren, the potential loss in such a struggle is increasingly less than the potential gain for Freedom and Liberty.
Now, let's work together to return our government to Constitutional Law.
