Quote from Martinghoul:
DUH! Shouldn't this be obvious?
A gun would have been about as much use to a Russian dissident during Stalin's 1937 purges as it would have been to an innocent Kurd in Halabja in 1988.
Dude, honestly, are you capable of logic?Quote from fhl:
Your comments are like an advertisement for the need of the 2nd ammendment.
You think people who don't share your views are contemptable, and that they shouldn't be allowed to own guns, they are lesser than people than you and, obviously, that you should be in power over them telling them what they can and can't do.
So tell me, ghoul, should i be allowed to live?
Quote from Martinghoul:
Dude, honestly, are you capable of logic?
When did I ever say that I am for or against the 2nd amendment and/or gun control? When did I ever say that people who don't share my views shouldn't be allowed to own guns? When did I ever say that I should be in power and tell anyone what they can and can't do? Finally, when did I ever express a view about you deserving to live or not? Did you even read what I actually said?
Let me repeat. The only thing I have said was that the particular argument you quoted was silly and had no merit whatsoever.
Firstly, you clearly failed to recognize that my comment was not addressed at you, but rather at the author whom you quoted. Secondly, I also said that the person who made this argument and specifically referred to Soviet dissidents (i.e. the author) "lacks a functioning brain". Did you take that seriously also? I was hoping that such exaggeration on my part would be sufficient to communicate the irony, but, sadly, it was not meant to be. It's not the first time my sense of humour fails me.Quote from fhl:
How about your very first comment on this thread, when you stated unequivacally that people who held the views expressed in the op shouldn't be allowed to own guns.
And you tell me I'm not capable of logic. lol
I'm through with you.
Goodbye
Quote from Martinghoul:
The part that the ability of the citizenry to bear arms can help against tyranny somehow. My point is that making arms illegal has never prevented a civil war or a massacre or some sort of conflict. It's always about organization and leadership, rather than the tools, to make it even more specific. Where there is a will to bear arms, there the arms will be found, regardless of whether it's legal to bear them or not.
As to the Saddam and Kurds, if I am not mistaken, Kurds have always been armed (definitely the Peshmerga), which was one of the reasons for Saddam's use of chemical weapons and other scorched earth tactics.
Quote from fhl:
1. In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
2. In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
3. Germany established gun control in 1938, and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
4. China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
5. Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
6. Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
7. Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
8. Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
As the old adage goes: âWith guns, we are citizens. Without them, we are subjects.â*
*from Doug Giles column at townhall.com
Quote from BSAM:
Do you gun loonies think whatever guns and ammo you got would defeat the US government if an internal war broke out?
Quote from Martinghoul:
This is the most ridiculous, illogical load of hogwash I have heard.
I won't speak of the other stuff, but, as to 1, to imagine that the ability to legally bear arms would have helped Russian dissidents to resist Stalin's purges is beyond ludicrous. Moreover, we know for a fact that it didn't help senior Red Army officers, like Marshal Tukhachevsky, who could and did bear arms.
Whoever suggests such a thing is delusional. I think people like that shouldn't be allowed to own firearms, as they clearly lack a functioning brain.
P.S.: On a somewhat separate note, if the only thing that qualifies me as a citizen of a country, rather than its subject, is my ability to own a gun, it's not a country I'd want to live in.