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From: dbongard@netcom.com (Dan Bongard)
Subject: Re: Quake, Violence, Guns, Constitution, et al
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Date: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 22:55:07 GMT
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Jason Nyte (nyte@ods.ods.net) wrote:
: Dan Bongard <dbongard@netcom.com> wrote:

:>: I've been asked if I want to got "beat a nigger"

:> You've been asked to go "beat a nigger", ergo the government is free
:> from tyranny and I can't be trusted to own weapons of my choice?
:> Could you please explain your reasoning?

: Now take the quote in context rather than using it as a mindless bash.

You never _gave_ a context. You have yet to explain why your "lets go bash
a nigger" friends and neighbors have any bearing on (a) my right to own
whatever guns I please and (b) the usefulness of guns in defending against
tyranny. You seem to be implying that your friends are representative of
typical gun advocates, which is of coruse utterly false. Your "my friends
asked me to go beat up black people story" is meaningless and irrelevant.

>:> : Would this be the random beatings of anyone with darker skin or a
>:> : slightly different face? 

>:> Are you insane?
:> Yes, but that's besides the point.
:> I've been asked if I want to got "beat a nigger"

: SImply put, I don't beleive that anyone with this kind of mindset would do
: anything to avoid "tyranny" and would more likely make one hell of an
: attempt to restore Hitler's "Master Race"

Why do I care? So you know some racist gun nuts -- so what? The fact that
they are racist is irrelevant. If I knew a free speech advocate who also
advocated a return to slavery, would I be justified in saying that the first 
amendment should be considered null and void? That's the kind of logic
you're using here.

: Oh, sorry, it's only tyranny if it effects YOU, not the <insert derogetory
: racial comments here.>

If the racist gun nuts of Ass Fuck, WI, decide to come down off their mountain
and run for political office, I will work to prevent them from winning. If
they win, I will work to get them out of office. If they begin instituting
Nazi-like policies I will take more direct action. If they try to kill me,
I will defend myself with lethal force.

But you know what? They _aren't_ in power. A _different_ set of tyrants run
our government, and it is _them_ that I am worried about at the moment. 

Furthermore, what would you do if your Nazi friends _did_ get elected and
start implementing their policies? Answer: you would do nothing. If your
votes fail to prevent the rise of a dictatorial government, you're shit out
of luck. But at least, when they herd you into a concentration camp, you can
console yourself with the knowledge that you -- upstanding fellow that you 
are -- never stooped to own a gun.

: In that case, Nazi Germany wasn't any worse than any other country at war.

The Nazis were elected by people like yourself -- people who think "well,
they aren't as bad as <insert foreign dictatorship here -- Russia, in the
case of Nazi Germany>, so we don't have to worry. We can slowly give up our
rights to free speech, gun ownership, and due process. So long as the
trains run on time and _I_ am safe and cozy in my little house."

-- Dan
