I used to be an NRA member but let my membership lapse as I found they were not nearly hardcore enough for my tastes. That no doubt makes me a "gun nut", a nice, loaded term that helps the "gun grabbers" (another loaded term, from the other side of the debate) de-humanize me and those who think like me.

So be it.

TIA: Yes, I'm a member of a well-regulated militia and, if you are a male between the ages of 18 and 45, so are you. Read our founders writings on the subject.

Can't remember who posted it but... the fact that a court in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia decided the 2nd amendment doesn't mean what it says is no surprise to me. And no, the decision won't stand up.

Our Bill Of Rights is not a "choose one from column A, two from column B" document. It was ratified as a whole (the first 10 anyways) and stands as a whole.

Except it's being torn to flinders now. And, though Bush Jr. is indeed a bozo, much of the damage happened during the Clinton reign, so conveniently scapegoating the Shrub is in fashion it is not accurate.

I hasten to add that he is certainly continuing and increasing the lousy trend.

How the anti-2nd forces can stand up and say that "the people" means "all of us" in every amendment *except* the 2nd is a source of constant amazement to me. If I were to assert that "the people" in the 1st amendment *actually* meant only "government sanctioned media organs" the screech from the left would resound from coast-to-coast and the vitriol heaped on me would be staggering.

For all of you I repeat: read our founders words, not just press releases from Rosie O'Donnell (who says *you* can't have a gun for your protection while arming her kid's bodyguard) or Ted Kennedy (who utilizes handguns daily, both at home and work, for personal protection... same as any other congress-critter) or Dianne Feinstein (sp?) (who rants about gun control but has been caught with a pistol in her purse) or any of the other two-faced proponents of *cough*"sensible gun control"*cough*.

Or press releases from any of the more right-wing orgs either. Read what the founders said.

The first "gun control laws" were Jim Crow laws designed to disarm newly freed blacks shortly after the Civil War. They haven't improved since.

It's not about gun control folks, it's about *control*. If you think things are bad in the rights department now, think about how it'll be when the elitist ruling class feels we no longer represent a threat.

I know it's hard but people on both sides of this issue, try to *think*.

I'm gone.