Thursday, August 04, 2016

"...the Constitution bull shit."

Excerpts from a 'conversation' I had two or three weeks ago with an East Coast gun dealer & duck hunter who supported a MoveOn.org petition to ban 'assault rifles'. I had responded with FBI statistics showing a 5 year average of 306 people per year being murdered with all rifles together (there is no data on how many are murdered with assault rifles). I provided a link to the FBI data, and said that there are several million ARs in the country, virtually none are used in crime, and they have many other uses, including target shooting, plinking, home and business defense, and hunting.

Gun Store Owner: I am going to keep this simple. If you need an assault weapon to hunt, you should stop now. I collect, shoot and hunt with guns, but I'm not going to war. ...Finally, get off the Constitution bull shit. That's the grand right wing cover story for "I'll do what I want."

Me: Thanks for coming out of the closet.... 'the Constitution bull shit" : spoken like a true modern Democrat. ...Thanks again for declaring your position on constitutionally empowered and limited government.

Gun Store Owner: I've been out of the closet for a long time just waiting for people like you to show your vast ignorance. Hide behind your guns and call for your Constitutional rights. You are definitely from fairy tale land. And I'm glad you're voting for Trump (I had never mentioned Trump.); I'm sure you would have voted for Hitler and more law and order. Why don't you just start shooting now. You're clearly salivating over the use of an assault weapon.

Me:Speaking of ignorance, though, Hitler was in fact a socialist who was fervently in favor of prohibiting gun ownership by the Politically Incorrect. Apparently you missed those points in history class, as well as the results for the Politically incorrect who submitted loyally to the laws. Since Hitler was a man of the Left, his politics, genocide aside, were entirely in tune with those of today's Democrats. I am libertarian, so don't try tarring me with fondness for your ideological brothers: the German, Italian, and Spanish fascists of the 1920-1945 period were on your side of the ledger, not on the side of liberty. Since you seem to have the sense not to revere the more extreme members of your side, perhaps you would trouble to explain why you believe that their ideological descendants should have all the assault rifles, while the populace should be imprisoned for having any. If you think a President Trump would be in Hitler's camp, why do you want the Fed's and cops to be the only people with ARs? "Trump= Hitler/Only government should have ARs" is a strange pairing to me.

Gun Store Owner: You clearly don't know the difference between Socialism and Hitler's "National Socialism." You missed that class. Still salivating? Oh, and "Libertarian" means you can vote for Trump but not declare allegiance. We're done here.

So, if one disagrees with the pro-ban crowd, one is not merely a Trump supporter but a Hitler supporter who salivates at the idea of shooting people. This from a gun dealer/duck hunter.

Of course, duck hunters have something of a reputation for having no respect for other gun owners' rights. I was a bit taken aback by a gun dealer referring to the Constitution as 'bull shit', though.

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