“A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of
a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms
shall not be infringed.”
Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
According to this McVeigh was inspired by Militia ideas: http://www.arizonarepublic.com/special26/articles/0506cooper06.html
Since a large majority of americans believe McVeigh is evil,
why isn’t this the perfect argument to use for repealing
the second ammendment? Doesn’t it basically say that there
should be no laws to prevent people like McVeigh from
arming themselves?
Yes, an absolutely perfect argument, with no flaws whatsoever. I got a tear in my eye reading it, a lightbulb flashed brightly in my mind, choirs of angels sang at my new understanding.
Now, elsewhere I’ve been lumped in with “gun nuts” before (I once made an otherwise very intelligent journalist lady incoherent and sputtering with rage when I suggested that, just possibly, the way gun issues got reported in the press had more to do with trying to sell papers than with rational analysis), but even I have to admit that I’m troubled by the thought of private citizens having access to easily-concealed handguns that can blow up entire buildings. Times do change. In the time of our founding fathers, “arms” were bulky black-powder muskets that could, at best, blow up a small tree; they never foresaw the modern age where a single small “assault style” Saturday Night Special can kill hundreds of people and cause millions nad millions of property damage. Sadly, it’s time to put this relic of our past behind us.
Your question was whether McVeigh should be used as a reason for legalized gun control. Your question was not whether legalized gun control should exist. At least I am making that assumption when answering your question.
The answer is NO.
McVeigh did not kill or even injure a single US citizen with a gun. He built a huge bomb out of fertilizer and chemicals. Any sort of handgun ban would not have prevented what happened.
The fact that some monsterous, low life sub-human such as McVeigh holds a particular view does not make that view automatically wrong. Yes, McVeigh was anti-gun control. He was also pro-Democracy. He liked hamburgers. Using the fact that McVeigh was in favor of something as an argument against it is no more than variation of Godwin’s Law.
Um, , , -I never got busted so I don’t really know, but there is a federal legal limit for posession of raw explosives, and it is measured in ounces. The exception is for something considered a finished product, such as commercially produced fireworks or even gun propellant, which isn’t really technically classed as an explosive anyway. ~ Anyhoo, I’d bet a truckload of anything is over the limit by quite a bit. - MC
Methinks Mr. deadcat is either trying to be funny or doesn’t know what militiarefered to in the late 19th Century…and the difference between that and what loopoids like McVeigh use(d) the term for. If the first, it fell flat. If the second…since I’m firmly pro-Second Amendment I LIKE seeing this sort of argument, so I’m not gonna be the one to enlighten him.
This board is dedicated to fighting ignorance so maybe you can help me out. Can you tell me which handgun is available that enables one to blow up entire buildings? Is it made by Glock, Ruger, or Colt? And does it use some sort of atomic bullet?
**
And printing presses took hours to prepare and much more time to print then the presses of today. Oh, and by the way, I have several rifles and pistols and I don’t know which one of them can blow up a small tree. Maybe after a few shots I could cut down a sapling but other then that? I don’t think so.
Can you give me any examples of hundreds of people being killed by an assailant with any kind of pistol or rifle? What rifle or pistol can cause millions and millions of property damage?
Dagnabbit, MysterEcks, you’ve ruined it. We could have had an entire long thread of people steadfastly refusing to use any form of sarcasm-smilies, and made something truly and beautifully confusing for some poor readers. In my dream, they’d get to page 2 or thereabouts before someone spilled the beans, causing them to comically smack their foreheads, but noooo.
I used to be much more against smiley use than I am now. I readily admit that it’s a streak of sadism in me, but I always get a little smile when I see people legitimately not get it.
Never mind the Second Amendment, McVeigh is a prime reason why fertilizer should be banned. Ghastly stuff in the wrong hands.
A couple years ago I went into a store to buy a 40-pound bag of nitrogenous fertilizer (I won’t reveal the store’s name, except that it was Southwest Fertilizer). The clerk, ever-vigilant, fixed me with a suspicious glare and asked, insinuatingly, what I planned to do with it. I was able to fool him by explaining that I wanted to spread it on my vegetable garden. Little did he realize that I planned to use it to blow up small trees.