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August 21, 2004Top * Armed society is polite society I read Sara Darcy's essay "Of guys and guns". I do not wish to be either disrespectful or flippant, but would like to suggest that there is an inextricable link between true political freedom from the oppression of the Central State and sovereignty over one's own homeland on the one hand, and the right to bear arms as articulated by the Founding Fathers of the United States in the 2nd Amendment. Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia are but two tragic examples from the last century regarding what despots and statist philosophies like Fascism and Communism can and will do in the face of unarmed citizens. And as for the relationship between guns and crime, an excellent example of how the former prevent the latter in a culture based on respect for law and human life, I would recommend Yale Professor John Lott's published work on the subject. He provides qualitative and quantitative evidence of Robert Henlein's observation that "an armed society is a polite society," and also demonstrates the desirability of having concealed weapons permits available to the verifiably legitimate public. Similarly, Lott does a credible job of showing that the massive availability of guns in 1950s America was on a par with what it is now--and that the radical increase in crime and violence in the last 50 years in the United States is connected to the quantum shift in cultural, moral, and spiritual values in American society that directly correlates with the assumption that accountability to God and respect for human life can be replaced with philosophies rooted in total philosophical narcissism, relativism, and 20th century European existentialism. Again, without disrespect to the author who is certainly entitled to her well-expressed opinion, I'd also like to suggest to the readers of iranian.com that the current band of oppressive thugs who comprise the IRI regime in Iran would have met with far greater resistance to their theocratic revolution in 1978-79 had there been a tradition of broad-based private gun ownership in that country identical to the one in the United States. One may also conclude that any future attempt to recover and establish a healthy Constitutional Republic for iranian.com people against such a totalitarian regime will necessitate basic familiarity and accessibility to weaponry on the part of those who want their nation back--accompanied by the courage and resolve to take it back personally. And the weapons involved will not be John Kerry-sanctioned .22 caliber LRs for squirrel hunting and rock plinking. They will be M-1 Garand rifles; 12 gauge shotguns chambered for 3 inch magnum 000 buckshot and rapid fire capability; AR-15 automatic rifles; and American .45 caliber Model 1991 Colt semi-automatic pistols--the very weapons I have owned as a law abiding, German Lutheran pastor from the Texas Hill Country--a place where citizen safety and respect for the law and one's neighbors is absolutely paramount. Pastor Mark Dankof |
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