Here’s a blast from the past that was drug up in response to a question from a friend about this (or another) post made on the book of face yea these many years ago. The original response was to the following comment, posted in the comments section of one of my photo albums:

This seems more like glorifying weaponry and violence than promoting self-defense. I’m all for gun rights, but the focus here is beyond that of protecting home and family, which is what Jesus was talking about.

This post here features a modified version of the original response.

Glorifying – depends on perspective. Firearms have been a part of my life for as far back as I can remember. There is a current cultural push to try and marginalize those of us who enjoy the shooting sports and are responsible people who own guns. The cultural push is to try and focus on the object and vilify those who possess them rather than to focus on the mentality of the people who misuse them.

What makes someone “go over the edge”? It is not the weapon. Just like not everyone who was born with a male reproductive organ becomes a rapist, not everyone who owns a firearm (or more) is a murderer, nor even a potential murderer. Rape comes from a mental process that is not shared by all males, just like murder does not result from the presence of weapons but from a mental process that is not common to all people who possess weapons. And as far as that goes, what is a weapon?

Firearms CAN be weapons – but I’ve never used one as such although I’ve owned personal firearms since I was a young teen, if not the year before I became a teen. This photo album (and its mate elsewhere in my collection of albums – referring to the book of face profile in which this conversation took place) IS a push back at those who try to vilify objects rather than indulging in a discussion about what causes SOME people to go off the deep end and cause harm to others. I’ll not stand mutely by while ignorant people spout off nonsense about gun owners, the majority of whom are decent, upright, non-violent (unless forced to it) persons.

When one looks logically at the facts and figures, if the mere presence of firearms causes crime (as certain people claim) then why are there not millions more murders committed each year? There are hundreds of millions of firearms in the U.S. – but statistics show that there were only 15,696 murders in the US in 2014.  The FBI states that about 11,066 of those were committed with any kind of firearm while less than 400 were committed with a rifle or other long gun.  In fact, more people were killed with bare hands and feet than were killed with a long gun (rifle, shotgun, etc) Every day objects such as baseball bats, tire irons, hammers and such are used to commit murder, yet there is no call to ban these items!  It’s not a matter of weapons causing crime, it’s a matter of people with a criminal mindset using anything at hand to commit crimes.

We are harvesting the result of planting in peoples’ minds the idea that we are all mere results of random chance and the “law of the survival of the fittest”, that we are mere beasts, no different from any other beasts on this planet. Yet we act surprised that our streets are plagued by humans acting in a beastly manner towards each other, after we’ve told them for decades that they are merely highly evolved apes.

The problem we face is not the availability of weapons; those can be found in the shape of common household implements, furniture and tools as well as random objects such as “sticks and stones” that we all know from the old childhood rhyme can “break bones”. The problem is the way that we’ve allowed our society to devalue human life from the moment of conception onward. We have raised several generations that think only about themselves and immediate gratification and have no concept of self control or responsibility.

Now our “leaders” are ready to capitulate to the hoplophobes, ready to toss inanimate objects under the bus in the name of “compromise”.  The ivory tower leaders of the NRA are running scared due to the actions in the recent atrocity committed in Las Vegas, NV. They threw away the right of the people to build new select fire (or fully automatic fire) weapons back in 1986 in the mis-named “Firearm Owners Protection Act”.  They forget that the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution is NOT about hunting ducks, deer or even prairie dogs – it’s about the people being allowed to possess personal weapons equivalent to those issued to the standing army.

Now they’re ready to throw “bump fire” stocks under the bus.  Since several of these were found in Las Vegas attached to weapons in the possession of the alleged perpetrator of the atrocity, the hue and cry has been raised to sacrifice them on the altar of “can’t we all just get along?” and “Sure, we’ll compromise, take everything we’ve got – and give us nothing in return!” It would make much more sense to insist on a TRUE compromise – something in exchange for something.  Insisting that the “bump fire stocks” be registered and taxed like has been done with real machineguns and select fire weapons since 1934, while repealing the ban on new select fire weapons, thereby allowing people who undergo the onerous process of acquiring a tax stamp for the same to build a new example thereof – or purchase one from a manufacturer at a reasonable cost.  There are no examples of such weapons EVER being used by their lawful owner to commit a crime.

Again, many will say “WHY do you NEED such a weapon?” The simple answer is, “What does NEED have to do with it?”  I’ve only used a fire extinguisher once in my life – to save another guy’s vehicle.  Yet I carry two in my vehicle, even though there’s really no “need” to do so.  Yet if the odds go against me one day and a fire DOES break out in my vehicle, I’ll be ready.  The possession of an M16, AK47 or BAR is already heavily regulated, insisting that part of our rights be restored so that honorable people may obtain them more easily is only logical.

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