(01-01-2013, 12:22 PM)kandrathe Wrote: But... It's not only them. It's really anyone. Going back to "the rights of humanity" -- we have the "right" to self defense.
I also have the right to defend myself...I think most people in most countries have that. I just don't find a 6 year old stands much of a chance against a guy with a semi-automatic rifle. It is great the kid has the right, but practically that is not worth anything.
SO what the NRA suggest is armed guards at schools (all of the time). I guess they also suggest this for firemen, etc. etc. etc.
So in what sense does that make a society safer? Because of a fear your government wants to harm you you start creating more and more government jobs (or in the US case you of course use private companies) that require more and more armed people around.....is this not just the thing you want to prevent?
What would tell you that the guy that has to protect your kids isn't a bit unstable and wants to kill people himself??
(01-01-2013, 12:22 PM)kandrathe Wrote: No. Our laws (and Constitution) are built upon the foundation of the ages of political thought. The Magna Carta, John Locke, Voltaire, Cicero, Demosthenes, Aristotle... etc. Patrick Henry, (one of our founding revolutionaries) said, "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined."
The mechanism of government being necessary to ensure that rights are secure and covenants are kept -- without which we descend into the anarchy of "might over rights".
So in order to argue against what I said you mention even older documents? Most of which don't mention heavy automatic weaponry I presume.
Again, it seems to me a religious zeal with which NRA people defend this right. I guess you agree with me that many life rules out of the bible and similar documents are very much based on the times in which they were written (the not eating pork for example, because of diseases).
But this is actually a whole different discussion and doesn't have anything to do with weapons per se.