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Thursday, January 3, 2013

One Appalachian Man's Opinion Of Gun Control

I received my first gun, a 20 gauge shotgun from my parents as a Christmas gift when I was about 10 or 12 years old.  I grew up in a family where we ate nearly all wild game common to the area in which we lived and nearly ever male in the family hunted.  We learned to shoot and handle guns in childhood and many of my relatives and neighbors received their first firearm at ages somewhat younger than I.  As a part of this common, every day usage of guns, we all learned gun safety; rules about handling, cleaning, and transporting guns; and, a set of common sayings which I still practice to this day.  Among those sayings were these:
1) assume that every gun is loaded until you have checked it yourself and know otherwise;
2) never point a gun at anything you don't intend to kill;
3) never kill anything you don't intend to eat;
4) always keep guns clean and well cared for.
I grew up in a family where my most distant known ancestor, the Reverend Aulse Hicks, travelled from Western Virginia to the area around Prestonsburg, Kentucky, sometime between the 1790 census and the 1810 census.  I am sure one of the things he felt was necessary for such a trip in that time period was a long rifle and he probably owned a pistol as well.  I could, if I stretched, justify owning a pistol, a 22 rifle, a shotgun, and a heavy rifle for deer hunting.  I do not bother to stretch that far since I have not hunted since a detached retina in my right eye more than twenty years ago.  I have perfect vision in my left eye and could, with some work, retrain myself to shoot effectively enough to hunt with a rifle using a left hand grip and my left eye.  I do not bother to do that.  I can see well enough to shoot an occasional varmint around my house or an intruder, if necessary.    That is all I need guns for and I do not need an arsenal.  Times are very different than they were when Aulse Hicks travelled from Western Virginia two hundred years ago.  Hungry mountain lions, angry native Americans, angry Frenchmen, and angry British holdouts do not roam the hills of Eastern Kentucky.  A plethora of drug addicted thieves do roam these hills; but, it is not necessary for me to be able to kill them all.  I do not need an arsenal.  I do not need fully automatic assault rifles, or high volume clips, or armor piercing ammunition.  I do not need a concealed carry permit.  I do not need the National Rifle Association to assume it has the right to speak on behalf of me and every other American.  What I need in today's world, is a national legislature with enough courage and wisdom to pass an effective, broad ranging, and constitutional ban on fully automatic weapons, assault rifles, armor piercing ammunition, clips which hold over five rounds, purchases of firearms at gun shows without background checks, and purchases of firearms across state lines.
We live in a world today in which the gun culture has become so rampant that most people are being led to believe that unlimited access to all firearms and ammunition is a constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment.  This is the text of the Second Amendment:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The Founding Fathers were very wise in many ways and on many occasions as they began this country.  One of the wisest acts in which they took part was the creation and inclusion of the phrase "well regulated militia".  That phrase gives the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government all the power necessary to fully regulate firearms and all appurtenances connected to them.  Additionally, the common welfare has always been seen by the courts as being sacrosanct in comparison to the limited desires of the few whether it be the desire of a few to drive drunk or own an arsenal of automatic weapons.  As our society and culture have changed over the years, events such as Columbine, Newtown, and a dozen other mass murders along with many assassinations of public figures have clearly pointed out the need to protect the common welfare despite the desire of the National Rifle Association and its followers to own unnecessary and dangerous weapons in an unrestricted manner.  Today's NRA is just as out of step and out of date as the Ku Klux Klan of the 1960's.  Their beliefs and desires are contrary to the public welfare and immediate, decisive action needs to take place place in order to control access to weapons of mass destruction.  We can no longer allow events such as Newtown to take place without making a concerted national effort to stop future such events. 

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Agree!

John Shelton said...

Nicely Stated and correct, I agree and have Hunted since about age 15.
John

Dan Martin said...

I agree also, Very well written.
All I need in my old single shot 22 and 870 Remington Shotgun.

Unknown said...

I disagree, as a native born eastern Kentuckian, of fiercely independent scottish, irish, english a small part native american ancestry I resist the government trying to control my life. First of all I am a US Army veteran and I know what an automatic weapon is.Semi automatic means just that. You have to pull the trigger every time you want to shoot. I can fire just as fast with a lever action. Think of this calling semi autos assault guns is ludicrous, any weapon used to assault humans can be classed an assault weapon, so where does it end. More people die from auto accidents every year than from shootings are we to ban autos, how about knives, etc. The first murder in the Bible was accomplished with a rock. It is not the objects fault, it is the bad hearts of people. You can't stop bad behavior by banning objects.

Roger D. Hicks said...

To The "Unknown" person in the previous message:
The kind of ignorance of the US Constitution which you show is a great deal of what is wrong with this country. Until we have gun control as the 2nd Amendment calls for: "Well Regulated", we will continue to lose 40,000 plus innocent victims of gun violence every year. Just how many dead people are you willing to accept in order to maintain your ignorance?
Roger D. Hicks

Whodey67 said...

Roger, it says "well regulated militia", not well regulated gun control...and you talk about ignorance, please.

Roger D. Hicks said...

To Whodey67:
Just how many dead innocent victims of gun violence are you willing to accept in your Radical Right Wing desperation to misinterpret the US Constitution. We are losing 40,000 innocent victims a year and idiots and domestic terrorists like you are in full support of that.
Roger Hicks

Whodey67 said...

Roger D Hicks, Just show me where it says "well regulated guns" as you said before. I'll wait.
People like you are a dime a dozen, cant admit when they are wrong and resort to vile verbal attacks, fit throwing, and name calling.
let me rattle it off to you:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Notice where the comma is because it does matter. They are speaking of two things here.
1. A well regulated militia is neccesary to keep our free state secure
2. The people have the right to keep and bear arms.
neither of those things can be infringed upon.
You can choose to give up your rights all you want, but Im not willing to do the same.
Do people that have these rights like to see innocent people lose their lives? NO WE DONT, but we still know something needs to be done about it.
Here's the thing though, why should I have to give up my rights because of the actions of criminals?
Now if you want to stand on the rooftops and scream for harsher punishments for the criminals that commit gun violence, I will stand up there and do it with you.

Anonymous said...

Amen Brother

Cc said...

The Hickster is just like all other leftists if they disagree with comman sense they resort to name calling. Every one who disagrees is an idiot. This is precisely what is wrong with the country today. This kind of disrespect to other people is what fuels violence

Roger D. Hicks said...

Although many bloggers resort to blocking and banning the idiots, domestic terrorists, and TRAITORS such as the previous commentors on this post, I do not do that. These individuals, with their ignorance and TREASON, prove my points far better than I do on many occasions. If they did not understand that the tide has turned about gun violence, Right Wing Radical Terrorism, and political ignorance, they would not show their asses nearly as much as they do.
Roger D. Hicks

Unknown said...

Well shit for brains I am not a terrorist but a believer in reality you can call me what you want but if you want to see a real ass look in the mirror. I served my country when it called what did you do to hide your sorry leftist ass and quiver. You and people like you are the true traitors. So spread your BS a d maybe the rest of the FOOLS will believe you . But anyone who knows better and wants to be free must reject your socialist/communistic crap.

Roger D. Hicks said...

To The Right Wing Radical Terrorist in the previous comment: I always leave these negative comments up on this blog unless they contain an actual threat which I always report to federal law enforcement agencies because of the jurisdictional issues. Ignorant and fascistic comments like this always prove my point and do it many times better than I do. The Second Amendment does not give anyone the unrestricted right to own any weapons they choose. It calls for Well Regulated ownership of guns.
Roger D. Hicks

Anonymous said...

No one has threatened you. You are the one calling people names. You prove the point made by Phil Donahue years ago. Being rude or loud doesn't make you right. No one will argue that ordinary citizens should not have military full auto or machine guns. What you can by legally does not fit that description. Leftists want to describe anything that looks like a military weapon be classed as an assault rifle or gun. That would include bb guns pellet guns and plastic toy guns. The words are well regulated militia which means to me trained and ready to defend their country. Your little inuendo about reporting texts to law enforcement let me remind you your calling people terrorists Nazis and other derogatory names would land you in jail for libel if you knew people's names. So I will no longer try to argue my point. Like a wise man said never argue with a moron they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.Have agood day in your wacko world