FREE SPEECH IS A BULLET FROM A GUN
Aug. 18th, 2009 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogITEM: A dozen people carrying guns, including at least two with assault rifles, were seen mingling among protesters outside a convention center where President Barack Obama was speaking.
Which is a good sign. Why, not even a year ago, openly carrying a firearm within two blocks of a venue where the President was speaking (or worse, wearing t-shirts with slogans critical of the president) would have gotten you arrested and possibly earned you a one-way ticket to Gitmo, no matter how many concealed-çarry licenses you had or whether it was legal in yr state to carry it out in the open. Now, it’s mysteriously okay again. And yr practically guaranteed a guest slot on Hardball.
Progress!
Still, I’m sure there’s absolutely no reason to assume any of this could possibly lead to trouble. I mean, just because armed protesters are attending events where emotions have been known to run a little high doesn’t mean it’s a recipe for disaster. It’s well known that conservative gun owners almost never shoot anyone, and no one’s actually taken a shot at a president since 2001, which was like a hundred years ago.
Srsly, what’s the worst that could happen?
In fact, there’s nothing wrong with expressing yrself whilst armed with a deadly weapon if the act of possessing the weapon where everyone can see it is a form of expression in itself. The Constitution guarantees the right to express yrself while armed.
And one doesn’t have any effect whatsoever on the other. If you don’t believe me, the next time you get into a lively discusion with a work colleague or yr boss or brother-in-law, just take yr gun out, put it on the table where he can see it (without pointing it at him – safety first!) and tell him to continue with his point. The gun will have no influence whatsoever on his reasoning, and if he suddenly agrees with you and suggests dropping the subject, it’s because you were right all along.
Obviously. Because guns don’t intimidate people – Big Liberal Governments do.
Guns: keeping free speech lively since 1781.
Talk is cheap,
This is dF
Which is a good sign. Why, not even a year ago, openly carrying a firearm within two blocks of a venue where the President was speaking (or worse, wearing t-shirts with slogans critical of the president) would have gotten you arrested and possibly earned you a one-way ticket to Gitmo, no matter how many concealed-çarry licenses you had or whether it was legal in yr state to carry it out in the open. Now, it’s mysteriously okay again. And yr practically guaranteed a guest slot on Hardball.
Progress!
Still, I’m sure there’s absolutely no reason to assume any of this could possibly lead to trouble. I mean, just because armed protesters are attending events where emotions have been known to run a little high doesn’t mean it’s a recipe for disaster. It’s well known that conservative gun owners almost never shoot anyone, and no one’s actually taken a shot at a president since 2001, which was like a hundred years ago.
Srsly, what’s the worst that could happen?
In fact, there’s nothing wrong with expressing yrself whilst armed with a deadly weapon if the act of possessing the weapon where everyone can see it is a form of expression in itself. The Constitution guarantees the right to express yrself while armed.
And one doesn’t have any effect whatsoever on the other. If you don’t believe me, the next time you get into a lively discusion with a work colleague or yr boss or brother-in-law, just take yr gun out, put it on the table where he can see it (without pointing it at him – safety first!) and tell him to continue with his point. The gun will have no influence whatsoever on his reasoning, and if he suddenly agrees with you and suggests dropping the subject, it’s because you were right all along.
Obviously. Because guns don’t intimidate people – Big Liberal Governments do.
Guns: keeping free speech lively since 1781.
Talk is cheap,
This is dF
