Freedom is pretty much a constant if you live in a country like the U.S. It's constantly abused, that's for sure. I'm getting sick of right wing spouters of Constitutional rights, those liberty lovers who have no idea what the Constitution really means. The best case scenario here are the gun nuts who think the Constitution protects their right to own any kind of gun they want, or the way they use it for defense or recreational purposes. I'm talking about 2nd Amendment fanatics, the badly misinformed multitude who wants no control whatever over something that is potentially dangerous. No, that's not right. Guns are dangerous just residing in the top drawer of your dresser at home; they're even more dangerous when someone picks it up, regardless of their intent. What government should do about guns and how they're used is one of our biggest problems in this country, and we've fumbled badly when it comes to dealing with it.
So, I watch news reports and see where some hate group fanatic takes a gun and shoots three people. He hates Jews, is apparently an admirer of Hitler. What should we do about people like that? What can we do to prevent such tragedies from happening again? I don't have answers to both questions, but I can answer the first. Forget about the killers rights. He forfeited them when he shot the innocent people. Do him in, get rid of him, and be hasty about it. Make an example of him. Is he insane? I don't know and don't care. If government in this country is unwilling to pass laws that make it more difficult for people like him to own guns, the least they can do is get rid of the users. Protect the gun's rights if you want to, just make sure you punish the wrongdoers who use them.
I own guns, most of them pistols. Got some hefty self-defense type pistols, too. And I've got shotguns, rifles, etc. Been thinking about getting a few more, but I don't hunt, and I seldom go to the shooting range. I like pistols, but I sure hope I never have to point one at another human being. If sufficiently provoked, there's no doubt in my mind that I could and would use it . . . and that's partly why I own guns. I've handled guns almost all of my life, starting as a 14 year old when my dad bought one for me. And I've been taught how to use them. But I get disturbed when I see news reports of people strapping on their pistols and heading off somewhere to defend some cause . . . like the recent stand-off in Nevada between BLM government men and a rancher and his supporters over grazing rights on federal lands.
I hate stories like this. Here's this rancher who hasn't been paying the government for grazing his cattle on federal property, like to the tune of a million bucks in payment, and he's irate because he thinks he's got the right to just use the taxpayers land for nothing. Most people in this country pay up willingly when the government comes calling for money (something they're good at), but this rancher obviously thinks he's special. He's spouting Constitutional rights, but there's absolutely nothing in the Constitution that guarantees him a free ride when it comes to grazing. Nothing. The federal government owns about 80 percent of Nevada, and that doesn't leave a lot of land for private ranchers. So the governments rents land to ranchers, and most of them pay up. But not this guy, and he thinks it's his right not to pay. He even claims he owns it, just because his family has been there a long time. The BLM lets this guy get way behind on payments, then decides to round up his cattle . . . to confiscate them. And then all these right wing, rights spouting, gun toting supporters show up spoiling for a fight. A stand-off takes place, and the BLM withdraws to keep down violence (they say). So, what should the government do now? Just let this rancher and his misguided supporters get away with it?
Well, I think you know where I'm going with those questions. The government won't go away. They might back off, but they'll be back. I'd hope that some good negotiators would come in and settle the dispute peacefully, convince the gun toting supporters to go home, to back off. But if they won't do that, and if the rancher doesn't pay up and get in line, the government has no real choice other than to use the force necessary to enforce the law, the real law, not some imaginary law conceived in the minds of people who don't think well to start with. Maybe they don't realize this, but when you show up toting a gun, and in defiance of legitimate governance, you're rights go on the back burner. You may not have forfeited them, but you sure put them in jeopardy 'cause the government is plenty capable of disarming you . . . if you push it too far.
And the moral is: be reasonable about rights. Yeah, you've got them, plenty of them, but if you abuse the right you love so much, you just moved into suspect territory. Your right doesn't give you the right to abuse the rights of others. I'm a taxpayer, a law abiding citizen, and I don't want the government I live under to back off when someone threatens my rights. When it comes to the Nevada bunch, Big Brother has already been more patient than I would've been.
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