Gun Rights: Plans Afoot
By Mitch Berg
If’ you’d like to put a thumb in the eye of the local establishment – the types who think that bugging phone calls from terrorists is a crime against civil liberty, but think you a neanderthal for supporting the Second Amendment – then join Joel Rosenberg and a couple dozen of his best friends bin this get-together Saturday at Stub and Herb’s. The party starts at 6PM:
Pro-gun activists from all across the state will be meeting and sharing food, fun, and maybe a little bit of beer to talk how to move the ball forward over the next few years.
This past election was a setback for gun rights supporters – but it doesn’t have to be a fatal one. And it’s at get-togethers like this that we lay the real groundwork for keeping it that way.
I hope to see you there.
December 11th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
Actually, as far as we know, they’re monitoring incoming and outgoing international calls, and then tapping those with a suspected terrorist on either side of the call.
I don’t want to digress too far into this, but there’s no good reason I see why the NSA should be prevented from monitoring, say, a call between Al in Baghdad and Bob in Peshawar just because they’ve conferenced in Charlie in Chicago.
I’m not sure that all will be a major part of the discussion — or fun this next Saturday, though. There’s lots to do that’s a lot more central both to our individual self-defense/RKBA rights here in Minnesota. But if you’re worried about government encroachment of what you — rightly or wrongly — see as your other Constitutional rights, all the more reason to get involved in protecting your Second Amendment ones, for a variety of reasons.
December 11th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
“They are not tapping calls FROM terrorists, they are monitoring ALL domestic calls, and then tapping those made to suspected terrorists – and supposedly trashing the records of the rest of us.” — BZZZT Incomprehensible
Maybe you can state your perception of reality with a bit more clarity? What is the definition of tapping vs. monitoring in the above? What exactly is contained in ‘the records’ mentioned above? Is this a continuation of an argument not linked here?
Or is this all a coded message that only Mr. Berg can know?
December 11th, 2006 at 4:37 pm
This weekend Governor Pawlenty reminded us of all those folks who were convinced Minneapolis would turn into Dodge City with gun fights in the streets as a result of passing to-carry legislation.
He pointed out that to the contrary, since the time of to-carry passage, light rail has killed more people than carry permit holders have.
December 11th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
What if I want them to leave my phone AND my guns alone?
You want to search my house? Get a fricking warrant. If someone attempts to search my house without one, the only thing keeping them uninjured will be my good nature (or, more likely, their ability to project a lot more force than I can).
I don’t see that illegally searching me in an electronic manner deserves any more tolerance or respect. The only difference I see is that it is harder for me to catch the jerks in the act.
It is interesting. If the Islamicists come to town and try and turn the Twin Cities into some sort of totalitarian religious nightmare, I’m pretty sure that there’d be a lot of us standing up and opposing them by any means necessary.
However, when our own government took a US citizen from US soil and held him without council or charges for years and subjected him to what any of us would consider torture if it were done to our cousin or brother or father or son, we just sat around and let it happen. Yeah, Padilla may have been a creep and his activities may have been worth questioning but if he doesn’t have the right to due process then none of us do.
I intend to keep my guns, but it isn’t because I’m scared of the Islamo-fascists. For that matter, I’m not really that concerned about criminals. What I’m scared of is that from where I’m standing, I see our nation currently being headed by an administration who believes that my rights as an American are at its whim.
Fuck that. That isn’t MY America and I sure hope it isn’t yours.
Maybe the Democrats will pull it back, but if future performance can be predicted based on past results, they’ll just choose a different set of rights to ignore.
Al-Qaeda can’t hurt this country. Not really. The only thing that can hurt this country is our own willingness to turn our backs upon our fundamental principles.
We have the right to keep and bear arms. We shall only be forced to submit to search or seizure with a warrant issued with probable cause under oath or affirmation. We have the right to a speedy trial. We have the right to know charges against us. We have the right to council. The government does NOT have the right to treat us in a cruel or unusual manner when we are being held or punished. The government may NOT deprive us of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
This is our nation’s contract to us. This is our contract to each other. This is what our armed services have fought and died to protect. This is what it means to be American.
Our administrations have time and time again sought to undermine or twist this fundamental contract and time and time again, the People have had to oppose the encroachment. We haven’t ever been perfect and we’ve had some damn big cracks in our liberty bell but to our credit, we have generally moved in a direction to come closer and closer to living up to the promise of our Constitution.
Some times, we have let things happen that we should not have. Shame on us for every time we have let an attack on the Constitution go by unopposed.
It is better that we die in an attack that might have been prevented than it is that we live because we destroyed our Constitution to be able to prevent it.
Without it, all we have is what those in power allow us to have or which we take for ourselves. Without it, there is no United States of America. There is no freedom. There are no rights.
No.
December 11th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
Only problem with your screed, Phaedrus, is that far less than half the voters in this country agree with you.
When things are looking dreary,
And defeat is on my mind,
Politics make me weary,
And victory is hard to find,
I fire up my laptop’s browser,
and take a trip down memory lane,
And find a foe for soul’s cold December,
In the warding words of John Wayne:
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/usa/john-wayne-pledge.mp3
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/usa/john-wayne-love.mp3
December 11th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Only problem with your screed, Phaedrus, is that far less than half the voters in this country agree with you.
When things are looking dreary,
And defeat is on my mind,
Politics make me weary,
And victory is hard to find,
I fire up my laptop’s browser,
and take a trip down memory lane,
And find a foe for soul’s cold December,
In the warding words of John Wayne:
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/usa/john-wayne.htm
December 11th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
Stop the presses Mitch!!!
President has unveiled his new strategy for winning in Iraq. It’s a catchy new slogan!!!!
It’s a “New Way Forward”!!!
Thank God we have a President that is working hard to provide America with neat marketing slogans to protect us!!!!!
Carry on…
December 12th, 2006 at 11:43 am
Terry,
Its definitely true that less than half of the voters agree with me. It suprises me until I think about it. In a similar vein, it is initially amazing how many of my fellow voters blindly vote by party without putting any thought into who is running. Or, how many can’t even be bothered to vote.
It surprises me until I think about how good life is here. There may be some nations who give more to their poor or who have bigger safety nets but all in all, we’re fabulously wealthy and amazingly safe. To most of us, the risks our Constitution protects us from are philosophical – not visceral like it is to people living in Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Afganistan, Pakistan, parts of eastern Europe, etc.
It seems like many Americans see the Constitution and the flag as “the team’s regalia” rather than a document which stands between them and tyranny. If its just a piece of paper and some colors, a nip and tuck her or there doesn’t mean too much.
With any luck, the nips and tucks won’t matter because the document itself will still stand to be rallied back to if things go too far for. However, without people to stand behind it and refuse to let it be damaged, the Constitution is just a piece of paper and the flag is just a piece of cloth.
If it weren’t for people – quite often a gross minority – who stand up and make it clear that they’re going to make a lot of trouble if things go too far, the Constitution would have little meaning. The masses do tend to become complacent. If there aren’t people who are vigilant and dedicated, by the time the alarm is sounded it is too late.
I’m pretty sure if one had put the idea of the American Revolution to a popular vote, it never would have happened. I’m not discounting the masses – the people who stood up could have easily been cut down as dissidents and traitors had the masses not roused behind them – but if those who had the courage to defy their government hadn’t stood up, the masses never would have and this country wouldn’t be.
When it comes to the Constitution, what the voters believe only matters if they seek to amend it. Whether they care or not, it is there to stand between them and tyranny as long as there are those who are willing to defend it.
That defense may on on occassion need to be against foreign challengers but it is far more natural and regular for its attackers to come from within. These attacks come from people who don’t understand it, don’t appreciate it, or don’t care for it.
To sacrifice our Constitution in order to better be able to fight an elusive enemy is to have already lost.
Terrorists may be able to kill some of us, but if we stand by the Constitution and defend ourselves with honor then We, The People, will survive. If we set the Constitution aside, we will be destroyed though we may still have our lives.
Unless, in some way, the majority of American citizens are able feel this on a visceral level, it is unlikely that half the voters will ever agree to that. I fervently hope that it never has to come to that.
The treatment of Padilla and our toleration of that treatment were a strong step in the wrong direction.
The question that stymied me then and now is – what should I do about it? I truly do believe that to have meaning, the Constitution must be defended. But how? I posted articles and talked to people about Padilla when he was first arrested. Its harder to express outrage when the victim is a person of questionable actions and moral character but as I’ve stated before, if the Constitution doesn’t apply to him, it doesn’t cover any of us. I’m outraged at the treatment of Padilla not because I know or like the man but because it ignores the Constitution.
So, I see this – but what do I do about it? I know lawyers and courts are trying to deal with it – and after a few years have managed to get things back on the right track. Should I be happy with that or is to accept how it all went down just being lazy, cowardly and complacent?
Should I have done more. If so, what?
(Btw, thanks for the John Wayne links. I especially liked “An American Boy Grows Up”, but they were all good!)
(Also, sorry for the lengths of my posts. I really try to trim them down but they always seem to fill up a lot of space. Writing was never my strong suit.)
December 12th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Phaedrus-
Your posts may be long but at least your repeat didn’t get stuck on !.
PB-
Why are you obsessed with what I think? It’s not healthy.