There is no national gun registry. There are a few state registries. President Clinton attempted to have the FBI maintain a defacto registry nationally, even though to do so was illegal. The Bush Administration rightly had it destroyed. Those who do not undertand gun ownership issues, even among supporters of the Second Amendment, often do not readily see the dangers inherent in maintaining such a registry. Constitutionalists from the earliest times who understood the primary purpose of the Second Amendment have also readily understood that maintaining such a registry would provide a list for the kinds of tyrantical governments from which the USA was fleeing at the time of declaring independence realized then and those who understand gun ownership issues today, whether on the side for or against gun ownership, also recognize that a gun registry is the first step toward confiscation of all guns. On the one hand it is the fears of gun-owners, on the other it is the goal of gun-banners. Gun ownership was intended to be a deterent to heavy-handed government. It is.
So those who favor the government having ultimate rule over individual rights--dictating what is good and correct and right for its citizens necessarily favor abolishing the right for individuals to own guns. It is in fact considered a prerequisite to consolidating such governmental powers. There are many other pitfalls to having a central or even a local gun registry. An irresponsible action by a Liberal New York Newspaper in the wake of the heinous school shooting event in CT more-fully underlined some of the dangers of maintaining such a registry.
The New York Journal rightly or wrongly (it was up to county officials) obtained a gun registry for those who had gun permits for handguns. These were mostly law-enforcement officials in one capacity or another (unsupposed by the NYJ), or others who were able to meet the rather tall bar for obtaining such a permit in those gun-controlled locales. Such people might include those in imminent danger of stalking as ruled upon in the case of domestic violence, jewelers or others at high-risk due to their jobs requiring them to deal in valuables or large sums of cash, private investigators who are not at odds with the local law officials, and in some cases bail-bondsmen and private security guards. Also, military police, and some politicians mgiht wualify. It is actually a pretty limited and esoteric group within those jurisdictions--unlike jurisdictions that allow any private citizens to qualify and carry a handgun or possess them routinely I their homes.
In typical failure-to-understand gun ownership mode, the editors and owners of the New York Journal took it upon themselves to publish this list--without really thinking through the reprecussions. Their said intent was to embarass or intimidate and expose the gun owners in an effort to pressure them into geting rid of their guns. Such is the gulf of understanding between gun owners and non-gun owners. Note that gun ownership as permitted even in this very anti-gun jurisdiction is legal and perfectly sanctioned by the judicial system. But these idiots at the NYJ were taking it upon themselves to, at least in their own minds, to punish these legal gun owners. This is typical.
Gun owners don't generally think this way. It has been my experience that with gun ownership comes a sense of self-sufficiency that trascends merely owning guns. We tend to believe that we not only have individual rights as citizens, but that we have even greater individual responsibilities as citizens to look after ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our communities, our nation, and our world. And although there is no one profile of a gun-owner we tend to be very good citizens. We believe in one another. We recognize a predatory criminal fringe of society; we don't ignore them, but neither do we fear them. We face this reality as we face others--with preparation and tempered sanity.
But we for sure will not respond to antics by those unlike us who have no clue for understanding such individual responsibilities--to hold our legal actions of owning guns in contempt, as if it is a dirty thing. We share the spirit of those who founded this great country. We do not believe in a nanny-state. To them, it was u.nthinkable to consider dependence upon our government for the maintenance of our basic needs, nor of our basic rights.
People who lived at the time our country determined its own historical course unlike any country ever--through their views--these wise, strong, intelligent people. They held a vision for a country that embraced the Liberal views of the time, which included self-determinism and unalienable rights. Although it was a bold and novel view, it worked out. This view changed the world. There are those who languish as if this too was their destiny--to languish and depend upon others, upon the government, to make their every life-choice--and to except what the state doles out to them. They count themselves void of responsibilities that include individual participation. They believe in government, self, family, intellectualism, and God if at all, a god of tin who apeases them, but requires nothing of them. They scoff at any idea of accountability to God, to family, to community, to others, and most of all they do not believe in self-accountability.
Our United States Supreme Court has most recently reaffirmed the rights of individuals to own and to bear arms. This should be intuitive, given the nature of the times when the Second Amendment became one of the first provisions of the United States Constitution. Although this right was undoubtedly intuitive and implied by the state of the world in context with the times--those Constitutional framers found it necessary to underline these individual rights of citizens to own and bear arms in a specific amendment. This is not hard to understand when taken in context of the tyranny and oppressive yoke which they had chosen to shed by their own blood and arms.
Evil is not a new thing. It was with us from the start. Ugliness is as much a part of life as is beauty. In fact we cannot recognize the light without the darkness. But it is the light that guides those who open their eyes rather than hiding their heads. For those who hope and believe as do I, there will come a time, though no one knows exactly when, that the human race will first confront once and for all, and though struggling, light will triumph over darkness and light will prevail. But those who believe as I do, understand that this time has not yet arrived. To pronounce it prematurely so would be--is-- foolish. It would allow the ugly realities to disguise themselves as wolves in sheep's clothing until the lambs were, are, ensnared and slaughtered. It would betray the beautiful realities.
Until the time appointed for a greater human condition, there is no Utopia. There is no deliverer. There is no banishment of evil. Until that time appointed by the almighty, it is requisite that good men stand against bad men. And until God grants us that promised future, good men and women with guns must be vigilant against bad men and women with guns.
Until a future time frees us all from the oppression of evil in this world, we must not allow men in positions of power who command armies with guns to oppress us. They will try. Historically, these forces of evil have used sophistry of words and laws to disarm good citizens. Historians estimate that since the Turks disarmed then killed Armenians during the early parts of the last century, in the first modern act of genocide, that between two-hundred and five-hundred million people around the world have met similar fates. Nothing has changed. Until it does, men and governments will exhibit their inherent dispositions to control and oppress others.
A gun registry has long been recognized as the first step toward disarming Americans. Never have we been closer to having a gun registry--all in the name of greater safety for our children. Before good citizens ignorantly give in to legislation that could lead to the ultimate destruction of the American way of life, each must examine the greatness of America and speak NO to those voices who tear us down and tell us that we are worse than we are. We must acknowledge the bad but we must embrace the good. We need to shake off the propaganda-enduced confusion and think clearly. We must use common sense once more. We must not allow the sophistry of politicans, nor the self-proclaimed infallibilities of academics, nor man-made theories couched as facts, nor artificial religions posed as saviors--to falsely earn our collectively trust without substantial demonstration of theri true intentions.
Thankfully, evil tends to unveil itself through its own actions. Often evil does not even know of its own inherent evilness. Maybe those powers that be at he New York Journal have noble intentions in their ill-advised publication of lists of gun owners. I am suspicious of their own motives as mere sensationalism with a profit motive--but maybe I am wrong. Still, they have exposed themselves as being wrong. As sound thinking prevails, it becomes apparent how wrong they are at so many levels. In their attempt to paint legal gun owners as bad citizens--they have outed themselves and more importantly--they have demonstrated how a Federal Gun registry cna be abused.
A national gun registry must not be allowed. If it exists it will be abused sooner or later. Thank you NYJ for so clearly showing us how such a gun registry can be abused.
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