Hmm.
This isn't a discussion I take part in lightly--those of you who know me, knowing of me what you do, will understand why this strikes such a deep chord with me, over and above the obvious 2nd Amendment apprehension.
Almost a year ago, I joined the Massachusetts State Guard (www.mastateguard.com). It's existed officially since 1863 and unofficially since 1620.
Basically, The MASG are what the very same Minutemen of Revolutionary days literally evolved into, and in spirit, so are the other 27 still-existing State Guards in the US.
It's the same function that the Minutemen performed: We are all volunteer, we recieve no pay and no benefits for our service, we all have other jobs, we maybe don't train as often, we maybe don't have the best equipment, but we're there to do what must be done till the regular forces have time to mobilize, just the same.
So you see.....being, basically, a direct part of that lineage, why this situation troubles me so.
Well, I know what my spiritual forebears would have said to the question of the right to bear arms, because historical records of the battles of Lexington and Concord tell us just exactly what they DID say......."Bang".
I'll give you the idea in a nutshell:
After the passage in 1774 of the Intolerable Acts by the British Parliament, unrest in the colonies increased. The British commander at Boston, Gen. Thomas Gage , sought to avoid armed rebellion by sending a column of royal infantry from Boston to capture colonial military stores at Concord. News of his plan was dispatched to the countryside by Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott. As the advance column under Major John Pitcairn reached Lexington, they came upon a group of militia (the Minutemen). After a brief exchange of shots in which several Americans were killed, the colonials withdrew, and the British continued to Concord. Here they destroyed some military supplies, fought another engagement, and began a harried withdrawal to Boston, which cost them over 200 casualties.
Forget any grade school bull**** about "Taxation without Representation" being what kicked off the war....that was indeed a contested "hot button" issue at the time, but we didn't fight, we didn't commit to *war* until they came to take our guns.
And so the mere fact that this issue must be taken before the Supreme Court at all leaves me in doubt as to just how much of America is left.
At this stage there is nothing written in stone as to how the future will go. It may yet still be saved.
But I'll be honest with you, I'm more than a little bit pissed that it has had to come to this, and all because there are so many Americans who seem to be just so apathetic about issues, or have no brain of their own to think with rather than just parrot what the media and politicians say about "gun control", or who know just exactly what is going on and would so willingly go along with it despite what our forebears had to go through to get this Republic to start with.And this, despite having several examples in just the last century alone of what happens when you do it.
And politicians of either party who have forgotten their duty is to the people and not themselves, and who circle like sharks over any political football they can get hold of for their own ends.
I have had the misfortune to be born and raised in Massachusetts.
I say "misfortune" because I should have every right to be able to be proud of living in the state where so much history had its birth. The state which once had the right to be called "The Cradle of American Liberty" for its citizens' willingness to fight excessive taxation, stand up for their right to take up arms, and be treated like human beings.
And instead I must grit my teeth in disgust at the bitter irony that the place of my birth is now among the most anti-gun, ultraliberal, financially oppressive, tax-ridden sinkholes of evil a person can live in in this country, twisted, warped, and corrupted the full 180 degrees away from what it was meant to be.
I'm not gonna lie, it literally hurts to see it this way, and the general population, totally undeserving of the privilege of being called American citizens, all wrapped up in themselves and all too willing to keep electing and reelecting the same breed of shark politicians that make it so.
It's at the point now where i feel I cannot have any sort of happy future life continuing to reside here, and am gone at my first chance.
But then--If this issue is going to the Supreme Court--and if they vote WRONG.....................
...then there will be NO place in America I will be able to feel I can have any sort of happy future life, because if the one thing that makes America fundamentally different from any other Western nation is taken away, America basically no longer exists at all. And I don't know if I could take seeing that happen.
Until I know what will happen, I think at this time I am going to decline public comment as to what I might or might not do in the event the Supreme Court should vote wrongly.
Granted, it isn't set in stone what will occur, but being who I am, how can I not feel apprehension at this?
But not every state is as irretrieveable as Massachusetts.
And not every American is undeserving of his/her citizenship.
And even a shark can bite off more than it can chew.
This isn't a discussion I take part in lightly--those of you who know me, knowing of me what you do, will understand why this strikes such a deep chord with me, over and above the obvious 2nd Amendment apprehension.
Almost a year ago, I joined the Massachusetts State Guard (www.mastateguard.com). It's existed officially since 1863 and unofficially since 1620.
Basically, The MASG are what the very same Minutemen of Revolutionary days literally evolved into, and in spirit, so are the other 27 still-existing State Guards in the US.
It's the same function that the Minutemen performed: We are all volunteer, we recieve no pay and no benefits for our service, we all have other jobs, we maybe don't train as often, we maybe don't have the best equipment, but we're there to do what must be done till the regular forces have time to mobilize, just the same.
So you see.....being, basically, a direct part of that lineage, why this situation troubles me so.
Well, I know what my spiritual forebears would have said to the question of the right to bear arms, because historical records of the battles of Lexington and Concord tell us just exactly what they DID say......."Bang".
I'll give you the idea in a nutshell:
After the passage in 1774 of the Intolerable Acts by the British Parliament, unrest in the colonies increased. The British commander at Boston, Gen. Thomas Gage , sought to avoid armed rebellion by sending a column of royal infantry from Boston to capture colonial military stores at Concord. News of his plan was dispatched to the countryside by Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott. As the advance column under Major John Pitcairn reached Lexington, they came upon a group of militia (the Minutemen). After a brief exchange of shots in which several Americans were killed, the colonials withdrew, and the British continued to Concord. Here they destroyed some military supplies, fought another engagement, and began a harried withdrawal to Boston, which cost them over 200 casualties.
Forget any grade school bull**** about "Taxation without Representation" being what kicked off the war....that was indeed a contested "hot button" issue at the time, but we didn't fight, we didn't commit to *war* until they came to take our guns.
And so the mere fact that this issue must be taken before the Supreme Court at all leaves me in doubt as to just how much of America is left.
At this stage there is nothing written in stone as to how the future will go. It may yet still be saved.
But I'll be honest with you, I'm more than a little bit pissed that it has had to come to this, and all because there are so many Americans who seem to be just so apathetic about issues, or have no brain of their own to think with rather than just parrot what the media and politicians say about "gun control", or who know just exactly what is going on and would so willingly go along with it despite what our forebears had to go through to get this Republic to start with.And this, despite having several examples in just the last century alone of what happens when you do it.
And politicians of either party who have forgotten their duty is to the people and not themselves, and who circle like sharks over any political football they can get hold of for their own ends.
I have had the misfortune to be born and raised in Massachusetts.
I say "misfortune" because I should have every right to be able to be proud of living in the state where so much history had its birth. The state which once had the right to be called "The Cradle of American Liberty" for its citizens' willingness to fight excessive taxation, stand up for their right to take up arms, and be treated like human beings.
And instead I must grit my teeth in disgust at the bitter irony that the place of my birth is now among the most anti-gun, ultraliberal, financially oppressive, tax-ridden sinkholes of evil a person can live in in this country, twisted, warped, and corrupted the full 180 degrees away from what it was meant to be.
I'm not gonna lie, it literally hurts to see it this way, and the general population, totally undeserving of the privilege of being called American citizens, all wrapped up in themselves and all too willing to keep electing and reelecting the same breed of shark politicians that make it so.
It's at the point now where i feel I cannot have any sort of happy future life continuing to reside here, and am gone at my first chance.
But then--If this issue is going to the Supreme Court--and if they vote WRONG.....................
...then there will be NO place in America I will be able to feel I can have any sort of happy future life, because if the one thing that makes America fundamentally different from any other Western nation is taken away, America basically no longer exists at all. And I don't know if I could take seeing that happen.
Until I know what will happen, I think at this time I am going to decline public comment as to what I might or might not do in the event the Supreme Court should vote wrongly.
Granted, it isn't set in stone what will occur, but being who I am, how can I not feel apprehension at this?
But not every state is as irretrieveable as Massachusetts.
And not every American is undeserving of his/her citizenship.
And even a shark can bite off more than it can chew.
