America are we free?

[scottbird]

I keep seeing all tese adds in my American Rifleman and Field and Stream books, about the brady bill. I do not understand all of it, although I do have a question, for all those poloticians. look at the countries so far that have done away with citizens owning firearms. (Alstralia) for one. Ever sence they abolished the right to bare arms, the crime rate has almost doubled each year. in Japan it has almost tripled. I just would like someone to tell me how these people we vote for, they are supposed to be so smart, why do they deny the truth that is right in front of them.

We are free beacuse we take a uneified stand.

 

[OneBadV8]

I keep seeing all tese adds in my American Rifleman and Field and Stream books, about the brady bill. I do not understand all of it, although I do have a question, for all those poloticians. look at the countries so far that have done away with citizens owning firearms. (Alstralia) for one. Ever sence they abolished the right to bare arms, the crime rate has almost doubled each year. in Japan it has almost tripled. I just would like someone to tell me how these people we vote for, they are supposed to be so smart, why do they deny the truth that is right in front of them.

We are free beacuse we take a uneified stand.

Are we really free? Think of all the things you CAN'T do, and I would suggest otherwise.

Politicians use crime as a reason to ban guns, its about control and power, not about crime.

 

[Walt_Jabsco]

I keep seeing all tese adds in my American Rifleman and Field and Stream books, about the brady bill. I do not understand all of it, although I do have a question, for all those poloticians. look at the countries so far that have done away with citizens owning firearms. (Alstralia) for one. Ever sence they abolished the right to bare arms, the crime rate has almost doubled each year. in Japan it has almost tripled. I just would like someone to tell me how these people we vote for, they are supposed to be so smart, why do they deny the truth that is right in front of them.

We are free beacuse we take a uneified stand.

I just... I don't even...

My liberal arts/writer side just had a minor stroke.

 

[pack-indy]

^

As long as the general public believes we are free, who cares? The same goes for feeling safe. As long as people feel safe, they don't complain.

 

[rockhopper46038]

Are we free? According to my taxes we are damn expensive.

We're about as free as we insist on being. For most, that ain't much.

 

[jayhawk]

Ever sence they abolished the right to bare arms, the crime rate has almost doubled each year. in Japan it has almost tripled. I just would like someone to tell me how these people we vote for, they are supposed to be so smart, why do they deny the truth that is right in front of them.

We are free beacuse we take a uneified stand.

Uh...I don't know about the hard numbers, but I just got back from Japan. Not a lot of crime there. People leave their bikes unlocked on the street in Tokyo. When I was there, a guy got stabbed in the subway. It was a big deal, all over the local news. This is a city of 9mil people, roughly the same size as NYC. I don't know...the violent crime rate seemed pretty damn low. Anecdotal evidence sure, and no they don't enjoy all of the freedoms we do. But what does tripled mean...they went from one shooting to 3? I'm guessing the rates are still much much lower than ours.

According to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

The most recent data for Japan (2010) puts their homicide rate at .83 per 100,000. I'm not sure when Japan banned owning firearms (in fact, they are not banned, but highly regulated), but their homicide rate was 1.1 per 100,000 in 1989.

The US homicide rate as of 2010 is 4.8 per 100,000

So, I'm a bit curious as to what the source might be for the data and the correlation you're basing your argument on.

(apologies in advance to Walt and his writer side)

 

[357 Terms]

Scottbird:


You need to get factcheck, along with spellcheck.

 

[tv1217]

Freedom isn't free, it takes folks like you and me, and if you don't throw in your $1.05, who will? (Freedom costs a buck o'five)

 

[Sylvain]

I guess you are just asking about gun rights.
The answer is simple: No we are not free.
We are not free to buy guns without the government's approval (FBI backgroud checks, NFA weapons ...), we are not free to carry guns without the state's approval (LTCH), we just cannot buy some kinds of guns (modern full auto guns)... at all.
Sure some countries are less free when it comes to guns, and some are also more free with less anti-gun laws.

 

[Bunnykid68]

Doug Henning said it best "It's an Illusion"

 

[IndyDave1776]

I keep seeing all tese adds in my American Rifleman and Field and Stream books, about the brady bill. I do not understand all of it, although I do have a question, for all those poloticians. look at the countries so far that have done away with citizens owning firearms. (Alstralia) for one. Ever sence they abolished the right to bare arms, the crime rate has almost doubled each year. in Japan it has almost tripled. I just would like someone to tell me how these people we vote for, they are supposed to be so smart, why do they deny the truth that is right in front of them.

We are free beacuse we take a uneified stand.

You ask why politicians would eliminate privately owned guns if they are so smart (implying that they aren't). I would say that they are in fact very smart, they simply have goals which are radically different from ours. It has been wisely said that guns have only two enemies: rust and politicians. The reason for the politicians acting as the do is that people given power generally develop a lust for more power which works like cocaine. You start off using a little, but you need more and more to get an equally good fix. With the cocaine, you face social and legal problems that you can evade maybe, but you cannot overcome. Politicians see that the reason they cannot overcome the limits on their power is that they have us out here armed if they try too big of a power grab, so the obvious solution is to condition the sheep to 1., be afraid, 2., believe that if no one other than .gov had guns, then they would be safe, 3., after accomplishing those goals, then the impediment to unlimited power can be removed with the cheers of the majority of voters who have also been conditioned to have no understanding in the universe of the Constitution or of limited government. As a footnote, politicians also understand very well that people will accept infringements that are presented incrementally under the guise of necessity that they would not accept if they knew the score up front, which is why it is happening piecemeal through the legislation you mentioned and numerous other pieces of equally abhorrent legislation, all of which should be repealed or else declared unconstitutional immediately.

I would add that historically, the Japanese have had a low crime rate. Conversely, in most western societies, disarming the public generally does cause in increase in crime, particularly as demonstrated by Australia. I recall reading the news at the time which indicated that their crime rate approximately tripled in most areas. Nevertheless, the effects of gun restrictions on crime are really irrelevant. What is relevant is that all 'infringements' are illegal according to the Constitution, which, unfortunately, is routinely ignored.

 

[scottbird]

IndyDave1776

thank you for that response it is most informative. I do not understand though, why have we just sat back and done nothing? is there nothing we can do? or is it that we are to afraid to stand? I am a member of the NRA but in the way you put this, it does not sound like I am doing enough. if we all were to get together and sign a Petition against them, would this help, after all there are a lot of us.

 

[indykid]

Unfortunately there is not much we can do but write our congress critters and post things on the internet. When you consider how many firearm owners sit back and won't even vote, there is not much we who do vote can do.

Look at commiefornia. I can't believe that a concerted effort by firearm owners to vote against Feinstein and Boxer, as well as the entrenched house member, couldn't vote these anti-Americans out of office. Unfortunately too many believe that as long as they leave hunters alone, things are ok. Too many still subscribe to that adage, "They are banning semi-auto rifles, and since I hunt with a pump action shot gun, I don't care". Until these people realize that it doesn't matter what firearm you hunt with, it is your overall freedoms, we the people don't stand a chance against a government that can afford to do what ever it wants.

 

[tv1217]

Freedom isn't free, it takes folks like you and me, and if you don't throw in your $1.05, who will? (Freedom costs a buck o'five)

I love it when I find my posts