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Firearms Info With Marginal Commentary
Dec. 17th, 2012 08:55 amIf you want to have a quick overview of where other countries are in relation to the United States in relation to guns, GunPolicy.org is a good place to look. It gives the details for First World examples of countries that let you own guns for self-defense yet have moderate to strict gun control.
Militias: Like with many other topics, anyone saying "We don't really know how the Founding Fathers defined this" only indicates that someone hasn't actually read the Founding Fathers' work (or has limited themselves to fake Internet quotes). They considered militias (especially "well-regulated" ones) to be what we would now call "first responders". Thomas Jefferson put this most succinctly in his 1801 State of the Union address. While he did think standing armies were unnecessary in peacetime (but not standing Navies), he added, "but if (an invasion) threatens to be permanent" then the militia was there "to maintain the defense until regulars may be engaged to relieve them."
Founding Father quotes about guns: Just about all the ones floating around the Internet these past few days are fake. A good rule of thumb is that if it's something on the Internet and credited to Washington or Jefferson with no source listed then it almost certainly is fake. Here is a good site popping several of those.
What I don't understand is why these are so popular when real ones, like one given in the above site where John Adams supports gun ownership for self-defense, are ignored. The only reason I can figure out is that the real quotes are more substantial than sound bites and are written at higher than a 5th grade level.
Militias: Like with many other topics, anyone saying "We don't really know how the Founding Fathers defined this" only indicates that someone hasn't actually read the Founding Fathers' work (or has limited themselves to fake Internet quotes). They considered militias (especially "well-regulated" ones) to be what we would now call "first responders". Thomas Jefferson put this most succinctly in his 1801 State of the Union address. While he did think standing armies were unnecessary in peacetime (but not standing Navies), he added, "but if (an invasion) threatens to be permanent" then the militia was there "to maintain the defense until regulars may be engaged to relieve them."
Founding Father quotes about guns: Just about all the ones floating around the Internet these past few days are fake. A good rule of thumb is that if it's something on the Internet and credited to Washington or Jefferson with no source listed then it almost certainly is fake. Here is a good site popping several of those.
What I don't understand is why these are so popular when real ones, like one given in the above site where John Adams supports gun ownership for self-defense, are ignored. The only reason I can figure out is that the real quotes are more substantial than sound bites and are written at higher than a 5th grade level.
