Ben,
Your observations have merit in that most of us would love to have peace be prevelent in our lives. What I find curious however is I have personally known two British citizens that won the lottery to imigrate to the U.S. Both of these great guys are now enjoying citizenship. I met each one shortly after their arrival in Boise. The first thing they did was to buy a hand gun. They did this for the enjoyment factor, because they could and not as personal defense. One of the fellows took to riding mules in the mountains surrounding Boise and quickly took to the persona of being a "mountain man", complete with all the appropriate dress. The other fellow loves to fire his weapon at targets which was an activity so regulated at home as to be nearly impossible. Thankfully there are numerous places one can go here to partake in this pastime.
We have spent many hours discussing the differences between the United States and the U.K. One of the common observations they had made was that violent crimes against women and burglaries were much more common in the U.K. than here and both of these guys felt much safer in the states than home. They both expressed surprise that life in this country is much different than what it's portrayed to be by the media where they came from. Both of these guys loved their homeland and missed many aspects of living there but felt that living in this country offered more of everything life is about.
One of the biggest differences that they brought to my attention is that our immigration policies provide access to all peoples from all countries around the globe while the U.K. has joint citizenship as a result of expansionist policies from long ago. It's my understanding, as an example, that people form India, which was a "posession" of Great Britian, can move to the U.K. at will and this has greatly affected the "feel" of what was their home. The United States keeps it's feel because of open immigration. Granted, the feel is changing through illegal immigration, but that is another topic.
One thing struck me as very insightful coming from these two imigrants. They both instantly recognized that private gun ownership in this country ensures that our own government cannot run roughshod over the population. Of course, these guys are old enough to have studied 20th century European history shortly after it unfolded and were aware that one of the first things a corrupt government does is disarm the populace. They both recognized that even if the United States wanted to disarm the common man that it could only be done in theory. Most weapons are not registered since they were made and owned prior to such legislation. Nobody that owns one of these weapons would ever comply with turning them in.
The point I'm trying to get to is this: Our violence with guns and the deaths that occur in that fashion may be a less costly price to pay to ensure that freedom will always prevail here because of private gun ownership. Let's face it. We don't have friends in government, at least in this country. Citizens are a commodity; a natural resource. If our government really cared about we citizens (after 9/11) then we would be organized on the block level to care for one another and prevent chaos in the event of more terrorist activity. This was done during WWII but is not being done today. Why not?
The movie Brave Heart should be required viewing in all free countries since it's a fairly accurate portrayal of events of that period and should show that maintaining ones freedom is less costly than gaining ones freedom in terms of blood shed and lives lost. This is why a well armed populace is necessary once freedom is gained.
What is not discussed by Michael Moore is the accuracy of the gun death data. Many of the deaths are suicide. Many others are from police. Many are from self defense. Many are hunting related. Many are accidents. They are all rolled into one set of data to make us look as bad as possible for the purpose of disarming us. I for one am comfortable that the bureaucrats, police and elected officials can only do as much as we allow them to do.
Your observations have merit in that most of us would love to have peace be prevelent in our lives. What I find curious however is I have personally known two British citizens that won the lottery to imigrate to the U.S. Both of these great guys are now enjoying citizenship. I met each one shortly after their arrival in Boise. The first thing they did was to buy a hand gun. They did this for the enjoyment factor, because they could and not as personal defense. One of the fellows took to riding mules in the mountains surrounding Boise and quickly took to the persona of being a "mountain man", complete with all the appropriate dress. The other fellow loves to fire his weapon at targets which was an activity so regulated at home as to be nearly impossible. Thankfully there are numerous places one can go here to partake in this pastime.
We have spent many hours discussing the differences between the United States and the U.K. One of the common observations they had made was that violent crimes against women and burglaries were much more common in the U.K. than here and both of these guys felt much safer in the states than home. They both expressed surprise that life in this country is much different than what it's portrayed to be by the media where they came from. Both of these guys loved their homeland and missed many aspects of living there but felt that living in this country offered more of everything life is about.
One of the biggest differences that they brought to my attention is that our immigration policies provide access to all peoples from all countries around the globe while the U.K. has joint citizenship as a result of expansionist policies from long ago. It's my understanding, as an example, that people form India, which was a "posession" of Great Britian, can move to the U.K. at will and this has greatly affected the "feel" of what was their home. The United States keeps it's feel because of open immigration. Granted, the feel is changing through illegal immigration, but that is another topic.
One thing struck me as very insightful coming from these two imigrants. They both instantly recognized that private gun ownership in this country ensures that our own government cannot run roughshod over the population. Of course, these guys are old enough to have studied 20th century European history shortly after it unfolded and were aware that one of the first things a corrupt government does is disarm the populace. They both recognized that even if the United States wanted to disarm the common man that it could only be done in theory. Most weapons are not registered since they were made and owned prior to such legislation. Nobody that owns one of these weapons would ever comply with turning them in.
The point I'm trying to get to is this: Our violence with guns and the deaths that occur in that fashion may be a less costly price to pay to ensure that freedom will always prevail here because of private gun ownership. Let's face it. We don't have friends in government, at least in this country. Citizens are a commodity; a natural resource. If our government really cared about we citizens (after 9/11) then we would be organized on the block level to care for one another and prevent chaos in the event of more terrorist activity. This was done during WWII but is not being done today. Why not?
The movie Brave Heart should be required viewing in all free countries since it's a fairly accurate portrayal of events of that period and should show that maintaining ones freedom is less costly than gaining ones freedom in terms of blood shed and lives lost. This is why a well armed populace is necessary once freedom is gained.
What is not discussed by Michael Moore is the accuracy of the gun death data. Many of the deaths are suicide. Many others are from police. Many are from self defense. Many are hunting related. Many are accidents. They are all rolled into one set of data to make us look as bad as possible for the purpose of disarming us. I for one am comfortable that the bureaucrats, police and elected officials can only do as much as we allow them to do.