Demand to be a Subject!

Over the last weekend we witnessed the March For Life… or March for a lifestyle… or was it March for Our Lives? (I wonder if Planned Parenthood was consulted first on the use of that name?)

In any event, coinciding with the demonstrations were a number of “interesting” speeches, Facebook snap shots, and one demonstrably disturbing picture.

One of the youth leaders of this putative anti-civil rights movement was interviewed and offered a profanity laced tirade displaying a paranoia bordering on potential mental illness.  In his missive, he seemed to harbor a particular vindictiveness towards older generations.  (Evidently “ageism” is only tangentially a suspect class.  When circumstances dictate, they can conveniently be used for ginning up the crowd.)  According to this youth, the root cause of our social ills is not guns, not video games, not social awkwardness, not a culture of violence… it is old people who are not capable of using Apple’s iMessage.

Ok.

He also seemed miffed that he cannot control the levers of the State the way he wants.  A new law in Florida mandates that students in schools have clear backpacks and ID cards.

Sac re blu!  That is a violation of their 1st and 4th Amendment rights!  (Well, 4th, and possibly 5th, not 1st… but since he is playing fast and loose with the Constitution anyway, whose counting?)

He and his gang are demanding that rights be taken away by the government, but is he then shocked that rights he wants to hold on to are also subject to government revocation?

Apparently, the answer is yes…

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Facebook posts popped up with the authors noting: “Exercising our First Amendment Rights!”  Signs were held high that said, “NRA=Terrorist Organization,”  or my favorite, “Yes, we do want to take your guns!”

Think about this:  With the level of vitriol thrown at us as gun owners by the Antis… with the Antis knowing we are armed, and in their mind, mentally unstable, what do you think they would be willing to do to dissenting voices if we were unarmed?

So… here is a modest proposal:

Before we talk of gun control…  Before we talk of guns “being fired on full semi-automatic”… Before we talk about restricting any more of our rights… I want to do a little limiting of the 1st Amendment.

I want a federal law banning the discussion of firearms, and their use, by anyone who has not gone through a firearms training course, and showed proof of ownership of at least one handgun and one rifle.

I will be the first to tell you that I have little to no experience in animal husbandry.  As such, I would be the last person in the world to seek to enact legislation that seeks to regulate, mitigate, or ultimately decimate the animal husbandry industry.

If I were so inclined to delve into the world of animal husbandry, it is not outside the possibility that I might notice certain practices or procedures that might be modified to make the practice more efficient or safe… but that would not… could not… come without extensive knowledge of the process first.

To act, without first establishing that knowledge, is an act of unilateralism.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. once wrote “unilateralism breeds the arrogance of ignorance… and ignorance breeds bad policy.”

The Bill of Rights stands as a bulwark against the passions of the majority.  When the majority seeks to use the power of democracy to switch the levers of government against a minority, they are hamstrung by the protections enumerated in the Constitution.

When the majority seeks a complete abrogation of the Bill of Rights…. we have the Second.