Thursday, May 10, 2012

Gun Owners: We're Just Like Rosa Parks (Except Armed)

The Morning Call reports

Kim Stolfer compares his crusade to the Civil Rights movement.

The chairman of Firearm Owners Against Crime, said at a Capitol rally this morning that in 1954, Rosa Parks stood up for her constitutional rights  —  as many gun owners do today.

Stolfer, one of more than a half-dozen speakers at the rally, said afterward that there is a “dawning realization among gun owners across the nation that their rights have been eviscerated, and like the civil rights movement, they are determined to see them restored.”

What's your opinion? Is that a bit grandiose to compare the gun rights movement to the civil rights movement? Isn't there a built-in lie involved in such a comparison?

Where is the oppression of gun owners? Aren't they often the ones doing the oppressing? Isn't that the very reason for gun control laws in the first place?

No, what Stolfer's doing here is a typical trick of the gun-rights argument.  They often try to turn the tables and accuse their opponents of exactly what they themselves are guilty of. If anyone is oppressed here it's the non-gun-owning public.  They are the victims of gun owners gone berserk and the terribly gun availability to criminals in the US.

Gun rights fanatics love to use the feigned position of "grandiose victimism."  Poor oppressed people they are, denied their freedom and rights, at least that's what they pretend.  The truth is they are the aggressive infringers of other people's rights.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

14 comments:

  1. I guess it must be encouraging that some gun rights advocates actually respect and appreciate the stance taken by Rosa Parks. Maybe this will stimulate new interest in the bus boycott and non-violent civil disobedience. I guess if they really sought to utilize the power of non-violent resistance, their guns would be somewhat extraneous.

    Who would have thunk that these maniacs would pay homage to MLK Jr. and the post WWII civil rights movement?

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    1. As an academic, I can't respect Martin Luther King, Jr., thanks to his repeated plagiarism. Rosa Parks is a different matter. See below.

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  2. "[A]ggressive infringers of other people's rights" - Really?

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    1. Yeah, like the guys who want to carry guns into Starbucks when I bring my kids there. Infringers, I made that word up.

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    2. Your children are in no danger when I'm in Starbucks--not from me, at least. I can't guarantee what others will do, but I won't hurt them.

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    3. That's the point Greg. To me, you look just like all the other fanatics who want to carry guns around. And as long as the qualifications are as low as they are, I know there's a chance that one of you is really a hidden criminal or a hidden time bomb.

      That's fucking up my freedom. Get it?

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    4. No, I don't get it. You call us paranoid, and yet you run around worrying about gun nuts, even though the evidence tells us that we're not the real problem. You're worried about hidden criminals, but we are preparing ourselves against actual criminals.

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    5. MikeB it's not my fault that you think anyone who wants options for self defense is dangerous.

      A person wearing a firearm doesn't scare me. A person who acts disrespectfully and with disdain towards other people scares me. If a person doesn't value fellow citizens, they are quite literally capable of anything. Those are the people you have to watch in public.

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  3. There's no comparison to be made. Gun rights are civil rights. They're not like civil rights. They're not close to civil rights. They are civil rights--and natural rights as well.

    You asked about where the oppression is. Look around. Look at gun grabbing states. Look at gun bans and gun-free zones. Look at the attitude that many hold towards gun owners. Look at Dog Gone's comments about us. Then substitute "black" for gun owner in all of that.

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    1. Yeah, and they're god-given and Constitutionally protected. Also, they're basic and human and natural.

      All this is what you pretend to assign to the act of carrying a particular inanimate object in your pocket.

      Is it any wonder that normal people think you gun guys are nuts?

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    2. As I asked you on the article about the amendment in North Carolina, when many voters admit that they had no idea what they were voting for, why don't you support voting control?

      But think carefully here. Do I not have the right to have a legal object in my pocket, if I wish? It's my property. It's also my right to defend myself against an attack on my life.

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  4. Just sit unarmed at the back of the bus and be quiet.
    orlin sellers

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  5. Yes this is a civil rights infringement. And yes it does bother me a lot. It's a combination of the public and/or government interfering with my options to defend myself effectively in the event of a violent attack. (Right to life.) It's also a problem because the public/government are interfering with my desire to carry an inanimate object with me ... one that I want to carry with no criminal intentions and no malice aforethought. (Right to property.)

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