Second Amendment

I was poking around one of my regular gun-board haunts, and saw a thread about a news report on the BBC about how us gun-crazed Americans are actually more tranquil and civil than might be expected - moreso than British society. Since, as I've noted here recently, I enjoy the UK, I thought I'd check it out.

The discussion was about what I expected, right up until someone started spouting . . . well, here's what the guy said:

First they gave up their guns, then they gave up their God. No Jesus, no peace, know Jesus, know peace.

If you know me at all, from personal experience or just from my writings, you might be a bit surprised to know that when I was a kid I was considered bookish, uninterested in athletics, a bit nerdy. I distinctly remember being pushed to close whatever book I was quietly reading, and to go outside and play 'like a real boy'.

It's happened again: based on a tip, a local police department used SWAT-team tactics to kick in the door of a private home and invaded with over a dozen heavily armed officers, using smoke bombs and intimidation. The only problem: the tip was wrong, and the person they were looking for wasn't there. This happened in Elgin, IL, two weeks ago. From the Courier News:

Search warrant in hand, perhaps 15 officers with the department's tactical response team burst into the Ann Street home of Frank and Betty Granger about 7:30 a.m., looking for an individual and a weapon. The officers damaged doors and broke windows, scorched a carpet and handcuffed the Grangers, who both are in their early 60s, as well as their son and three high-school-age grandchildren, according to the couple. But the search turned up neither the man nor the gun.

I find that many Republicans have a specific stereotypical "liberal" that they think of and use in their own personal mental maps whenever a "liberal" is needed to fill out the position of "bad guy" or "ACLU enemy".

This strawman is generally an effete, tree-hugging environmentalist who is a current member of P.E.T.A., a card-carrying ACLU member, someone who favors gun control, and persecutes good, wholesome Christian folks for kicks.

Forgive me if I don't recognize this person.

I am a liberal in the sense that I agree with and favor progressive political positions. I think that gay folks deserve to marry each other, that abortions should be at the woman who happens to be carrying the baby's choice, and that church and state should be kept completely and utterly separate.

However, I am a hunter. Yup. I own many firearms, and I enjoy hunting. I strongly support the Second Amendment and believe that the right to keep and bear arms is one of the most important civil liberties that we Americans posses. In fact, I am going Javalina hunting in February and I hope like hell that I can bring home a good-sized pig so that we can have a fantastic barbecue out in the backyard and feed the family well.

My take on firearms is that they stand as a proxy for our essential right to defend ourselves against our own government if it happens to go insane and get too big for it's collective britches. What the heck else are we going to do to defend ourselves? Take our government to court? Plus, firearms serve as an wonderful tool for connecting with our roots as a predatory animal. There is nothing quite like bringing down your own kill and securing and preparing it for your family. I think that it is healthy to step out of our artificially-constructed, scripted lives and re-connect with the human animal that lives within all of us. And no, I am not romanticizing it. I do not advocate a return to a savage, primitive lifestyle because it's somehow "closer to nature". That's bullshit.

In any case, I am going hunting in February. I will hopefully bring down a Javelina. I am really looking forward to it.

Does anyone else like to hunt or shoot besides me - or am I the only one?