Open Letter to My Gun-Control Friends... Alas, You Are Right!

This is an open letter to one of my friends who is pro-gun control... Well, that's not exactly true; he doesn’t just want gun control. He wants to make all guns completely illegal.

Dear Jean (his real name),

About gun control: I agree with you. We need to protect the children. I understand that the best entity to do that is undoubtedly the US government. They have a proven record of success that cannot be matched!

Perhaps you should tell everyone who is against gun control about how the U.S. government protected them when they killed about 1 million Native Americans (who, by the way, didn't have guns). Those Native Americans were savages and they had to die to make way for our God-given manifest destiny and us.

Also remind people not to forget the great protection the US government gave its own citizens when it waged a war against them and killed nearly 700,000 of them in a war to protect sanctity of the state between 1861 and 1865? A war that killed citizens that had voted in that government to protect them! 

Or how, as late as about 1890, the US government righteously executed over 150 American Indians (80% were women and children) in a legal gun seizure raid at Wounded Knee? Or freeing those evil Branch Davidians at Waco, TX in 1993, killing 76 men, women and children?

Don’t forget to mention the now rarely disputed view that FDR knew about and encouraged the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor - and didn't allow his commanders to know about it, so that 2400+ Americans died? FDR did that to save lives!

Sure, sometimes there are tough choices to make, right? But remind everyone that the US government are always the Good Guys, with God on our side. Everyone makes mistakes, but at least our government means well.

Isn’t it wonderful living in the greatest country in the world?

Oh, and don’t forget to mention about how the U.S. government - which would never turn on its citizens - imprisoned about 112,000 peaceful Japanese Americans during WWII? And also imprisoned peaceful German Americans during both world wars (over 2,000 in World War I and over 11,000 in World War II.)

Or, don’t forget to mention shooting peaceful student protestors and killing them at Kent State in 1970! Sure, those things happened... But it was for those students' own protection!

9/11? What? There another 3000 died. But no one could possibly imagine that our benevolent leaders would intentionally allow the world's most powerful, most feared, air force to sit at base doing nothing at the time, right?

Some nutcases will argue that US history is replete with the US government committing gross crimes against humanity (Hiroshima, Nagasaki) and a litany of atrocities against its own people. But these cases are all hearsay. What proof do they have?

Blowing away a few to several hundred troublesome Americans matters to no one except conspiracy nuts and terrorists, right? I mean, if they are troublesome, they can’t be “real Americans,” anyway!

We need to protect the children. We need to take guns out of the hands of the citizens and give it back to the government….

After all, history shows that the US government is our best protector. They've proven, over and over, that they will take care of us!

Thanks to my friend, David Kramer

What is an "Assault Rifle"? Should They Be Banned? The Facts:

I have been railing on the idea that guns should be controlled or banned in the USA. I do that because it is obvious that inanimate objects do not control human behavior. (For more on that read: Obesity is the Number 1 Problem Facing America Killing Over 300,000 a Year! - Ban Spoons! Enforce a "No Pie Zone" Over the USA!)

Usually when I do write about "gun control" I get some silly illogical mail from some people that merely tout nonsense and has no sound logic as a basis for discussion. Basically, I get the "You are a member of the NRA!!!!" (Nope. I don't even think there is an NRA in Japan.)

But today, I did get one email that is rational. It's from Bill.

Please read:

I think there is a misunderstanding about gun control and gun bans. I personally do not own a gun and have only fired a hunting rifle. But I do think that in America that there should be a right to own guns. But my question to the people that want to own assault weapons is this: why? Anyway, this gun violence in America is more than just guns. It's violence. And mental health. The country after Reagan closed most of the Federally funded mental institutes in the 80's let all of those individuals out on the streets. The place that many of them now reside. The other home for them is prisons. As if that's not a tax payer burden. So maybe the country is not doing enough to assist and protect its citizens. Instead the gov't spend tons on wars. And another reason that all of this violence? The society here in America. Or better yet, the government breeds violence. We're violent country. There were 20 kids killed in CT recently and that's horrible. But American troops kill endless amount of children in foreign wars all the time. Where's the outrage about that? But back to my first question. Why do you or anybody need to own an assault rifle? And the answer is not the 2nd Amendment. That's not a good enough answer. I wouldn't mind hearing one.

- Bill

Thanks Bill. It's nice to get a mail that's not written from someone who is foaming at the mouth. I agree about the foreign wars and killing kid and violent country part, but I think, Bill, that your argument is solid up to that point. Please see the video below as to why.

Anyway, thanks Bill. Here is what I wrote back:

Bill, Thanks. You ask a good question. May I humbly suggest that you get better information on what you are talking about? Specifically, "What is an 'Assault rifle'? Please watch this video made by a former policeman with testimony from the Bureau of Tobacco Alcohol and Firearms: "What Is An "Assault Rifle"? - You've Probably Been Lied To" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yATeti5GmI8)

Now, you tell me: In a nation that was built on violent revolution and gun ownership with such a violent history of murder (War Between the States killing over 700,000 Americas), genocide (American natives estimated over 4 million dead), the largest prison population in the world (over 2 million people in prison), an out of control level of urban violence (gangs) and constant foreign war and police brutality in general - along with the fact that there are now over 300 million guns in a nation with the population of 311 million people... The utter idea that gun control will work seems preposterous on the face of it.

I wonder if Head-banger Jason, now a member of the Crips, or Renaldo, member of the bloods, will turn in their guns... Sure if they trust each other to do so...)

For more on the absurdity of thinking inanimate objects cause crimes, see: Obesity is the Number 1 Problem Facing America Killing Over 300,000 a Year! - Ban Spoons! Enforce a "No Pie Zone" Over the USA!

Also watch: "Choose Your Own Crime Stats" (The stats they'd rather you not hear). (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooa98FHuaU0)

NOTE: I have owned guns before and hunted before. But I don't like guns at all and, of course, do not own one now. (If I lived in the USA, I would and I'd be trained on how to use one)... But my entire reason for writing these things is that I don't believe that I have the right to tell you how you should live and what you should do. Nor do you have the right to tell me what to do and how to live. The federal government certainly does not.

To outlaw law abiding citizens from owning an inanimate object on their property (and on themselves) is the opposite of freedom. I write these things because people need to wake up and see that this is not really an issue about guns, it is an issue about freedoms.

To control guns means that you just create another excuse for the police to come on your private property and take away your right to peace and privacy. Why people cannot see that astounds me.