by The comment of the day actually comes from this past Saturday. Sebastian had a post on the Melissa Bachman non-controversial lion hunt that has been made into a hate-filled cause ce’le’bre by the world-wide anti-hunting element. Sebastian pointed out the hunting variation of the “I’m a gun owner but…” rationale.
Clayton Cramer had this great comment in the comments section:
Whenever I run into a Fudd, I remind them of one really ugly fact: most of us “extremists” are trying to defend gun rights because of self-defense. If the right to protect yourself from a murderer, rapist, or robber isn’t sufficient reason to own a gun, what makes you think that having a gun for entertainment is going to be a good enough reason?
We all hang together, or we will most assuredly all hang separately.
While a counter-argument could be made that a firearm is necessary to feed one’s family, very few people in this country exist anymore on what they hunt or what they gather.
Clayton’s assertion that we need to hang together is spot-on. I rarely hunt anymore but I’ll defend both meat hunters and trophy hunters against the PETAfiles. I just ask that they try and return the favor.
Just about all the pickup trucks in my neighborhood sport Buck Marks but no NRA sticker. Fortunately I know from plenty of discussions, late on a summer evening with our elbows on the truck bed, that they realize that confiscation is the goal of the anti's, and "sporting purpose" will not be a test that gets you exempt.
I think, in the event of a serious attempt to overthrow the Second Amendment, the anti's will be sorely surprised by the sportsmen they discounted.
By the way, my pickup has an FN sticker and an Arfcom bolt face sticker. Oh, yes, I own a Browning, but I want to mix it up.
Clayton is exactly right. That was the whole reason for "sporting purpose" in the Nazi gun ban, err, sorry, the 1968 Gun Control Act. "Can I get me a' huntin' license?" said John Kerry.
Once you define "sporting use" as the only legal gun use, it is a simple matter to peck away at sporting use until all guns must be kept at clubs, no ammo at home, until pretty soon, the whole of the people are disarmed, in utter contravention of the 2nd Amendment and the Founders' intent.
Except for the machine gun ban, this totally backfired. The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in the country, and has been for years. And there are legal devices that replicate the rate of fire of a real M-16, in skilled hands.
This is why the gun-banners are having it snit fit.