# No ma'am - A Marine's Letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100 "2013-01-04T20:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/61 "2013-01-05T07:53:59Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Why are no soldiers coming forward to protest their rights to have sex with horses or drive drunk? They’re veterans, they deserve their freedoms! I must’ve missed those parts of the Constitution. You might disagree about the scope of the 2nd, but you can’t forget that it exists, and certain other “rights” aren’t enumerated. > [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Hunt your deer and turkeys and ducks to your hearts desire, but don’t tell me you need your ar 47s and your clips and your semi-automatics or whatever. No deer is so crafty you must spray a cloud of bullets to kill it. Those weapons are meant to mow down humans and do not belong in the hands of people who are not in war zones. “Assault weapons” are identical to, or weaker than, regular hunting rifles. If you are referring to magazine capacity, many states already put limits on that for hunting, thus at least in those places, anyone “spray[ing] a cloud of bullets” is doing something illegal. But beyond that, the firing rate isn’t much affected. Also, I don’t know many people who use the hunting argument. Also, I _almost_ (meaning not really, but it does mean lowered reliability) want every mass killer to bring the largest magazine possible. When I heard Loughner brought a AR-15 100 round drum magazine, I though to myself, “I bet it jammed on him.” That apparently happened. He was still able to do a lot of destruction otherwise, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/62 "2013-01-05T15:08:37Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The letter makes a good point that law abiding citizens and people that fought to protect this country shouldn’t be punished for the actions of a few mentally ill criminals. \ :rolleyes: Requiring you to register your firearm /= punishing you. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/63 "2013-01-05T15:39:01Z")
Why should I give a flying fuck about someone’s opinion just because he’s a Marine? All that letter shows is that it doesn’t take a lot of intellect to make it into the Corps, the letter is quite poorly written. You might well ask why your obsession with a metallic phallus should be allowed to interfere with our right to live. Ooh, a MARINE said it! Oooooooohhhhh, golly golly golly! Oooooooooh, gush gush gush. Let us all fall to our knees for the mandatory verbal fellation that our wonderful wonderful troops deserve! ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/64 "2013-01-05T15:45:40Z")
So i assume i am not supposed to think he is a god damn idiot? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/65 "2013-01-05T16:11:02Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > This asshole uses his service to this country to back up his position, while at the same time threatening to willfully disobey a (hypothetical) law of the land. > > Which is it? Do you support this nation and its flaws, or does your sense of honor and duty only go so far as the laws and rules that appeal to you? What other laws do you feel like you have a right to disobey because you are an ex-soldier? Yes. > [@](#): > > As an elected representative, it most certainly is her domain. A thousand times yes. > [@](#): > > I get where he’s going here, I think; that an elected representative serves the people (and we are not her peasants to squash at will, or something), but this bit comes off as creepy, disgusting, and anti-democratic. There is a strong implication that because he was a soldier, that he is in a position of authority over another person. Fuck that noise. Yes, it’s very creepy. The whole diatribe struck me as fascistic. and, yes, a U.S. senator is a servant of the people. A member of the armed services is also a servant of the people. In fact, the latter is a servant serving under the authority of the former. So, the letter writer is, in fact, a lower-ranked servant. If his point is that he’s a citizen, well, so is a U.S. senator, so they’re equal in that respect. **aceplace57** , what about this letter caused you to endorse it? That the guy put a senator in her place? That he will refuse to obey the law if it is enacted? That the dude was a soldier, and so his rant is more worthy of note than the scrawlings of an ordinary citizen? **ETA:** ah, on review, it looks like it’s because there are ex-soldiers who don’t want to give up guns, and their opinions count more. Gotcha. Won’t someone think of the veterans! [/QUOTE] Yeah, any time someone uses “I am a veteran” as part of a policy argument, it’s reprehensible. > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Why are no soldiers coming forward to protest their rights to have sex with horses or drive drunk? They’re veterans, they deserve their freedoms! Exactly! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/66 "2013-01-05T16:24:28Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Dianne Feinstein has long expressed a desire to implement a total gun ban. Total. Every last one of them. > > > [@](#): > > > > [Discussing her failure in passing a ban on semi-automatic weapons, Feinstein said on CBS-TV’s 60 Minutes, February 5, 1995, “If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in, I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren’t here.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Dianne_Feinstein#Gun_politics) > > Yet she has one of the permits to carry in San Francisco, the number of which can be counted using only your fingers, so she can carry around a firearm, something that she has devoted considerable time and energy to deprive you of. You said “total gun ban” but the Wikipedia article refers to a ban on semi-automatic weapons. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/67 "2013-01-05T17:14:21Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Veterans do have excellent training in firearms. They know how to handle them safely. The combat vets fought for this country and helped preserve our freedoms. We’d all be goose stepping and saying heil Hitler if it weren’t for the WWII vets. If anyone has the right to own and enjoy guns it’s our vets. Not all veterans. I spent two years in the Navy and never once did I ever handle a live weapon. The closest I got was a disabled weapon that we used for drill. Hell, I’ve known a lot of fellow veterans who never handled a live weapon, either. If there’s no reason for you to use a gun, you won’t receive that training. That being said, veterans aren’t any more special than anyone else just because they’re vets. We have the same problems as anyone else, and there are people who happen to be veterans who shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun, just as some non-veterans shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun. Vets don’t deserve to own a gun just because they’re vets; they should have to satisfy the same criteria a non-vet does. If a vet shows himself (or herself) to be mentally unstable enough to prevent his buying a gun, then so be it. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/68 "2013-01-05T17:30:19Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > Not all veterans. I spent two years in the Navy and never once did I ever handle a live weapon. The closest I got was a disabled weapon that we used for drill. Hell, I’ve known a lot of fellow veterans who never handled a live weapon, either. If there’s no reason for you to use a gun, you won’t receive that training. > > That being said, veterans aren’t any more special than anyone else just because they’re vets. We have the same problems as anyone else, and there are people who happen to be veterans who shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun, just as some non-veterans shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun. Vets don’t deserve to own a gun just because they’re vets; they should have to satisfy the same criteria a non-vet does. If a vet shows himself (or herself) to be mentally unstable enough to prevent his buying a gun, then so be it. True dat. In fact, former combat vets are more likely to be unstable than the ordinary citizen. Not to the point of shooting up a school, but the percentage of vets with mental baggage has got to be higher than that of the non-vet group. As a retired vet myself, who fired most of the weapons in the military arsenal of the time, I can say that while I respect military service, it doesn’t accord me or anyone any special privileges under the law. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/69 "2013-01-05T18:14:58Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Why should I give a flying fuck about someone’s opinion just because he’s a Marine? All that letter shows is that it doesn’t take a lot of intellect to make it into the Corps, the letter is quite poorly written. You might well ask why your obsession with a metallic phallus should be allowed to interfere with our right to live. What’s the old joke? Muscles are required, intelligence non-essential… ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/70 "2013-01-05T18:26:02Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I must’ve missed those parts of the Constitution. You might disagree about the scope of the 2nd, but you can’t forget that it exists, and certain other “rights” aren’t enumerated. And the Constitution is never, ever, ever wrong which is why we have slavery and can’t buy alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/71 "2013-01-05T19:48:38Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > “You will not tell me that I must register my semi-automatic AR-15 because of the actions of some evil man.” > > I wonder if this person goes through the rest of his life with this same attitude. “I am a marine. You will not tell me to stop my car at red lights. You will not tell me to pay my income taxes. I am an American and as such I am entitled to break all of the American laws I want to. Because, again: marine.” > > Um, OK. The muster of the Continental Marines in 1775 causes some to say proudly that there was a Marine Corps before there was a United States. Some of those “some” are going to take that to its logical conclusion. The Marines are an elite warrior caste created to serve a democratic republic. Most serve it with loyalty and humility, but there will always be a certain number with contempt for those who are not the warrior elite. ---
**Author:** ![momosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@momosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/momosa)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/72 "2013-01-05T20:30:31Z")
What a kook…there ain’t no way, that anyone will stand for such silliness as a gun ban again…There are more checks heading to the NRA right now than Nobama could ever imagine. No Hitler, No Stalin,…NOBAMA !! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/73 "2013-01-05T20:48:45Z")
> [@momosa](#): > > What a kook…there ain’t no way, that anyone will stand for such silliness as a gun ban again. Again? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/74 "2013-01-05T21:04:05Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > And the Constitution is never, ever, ever wrong which is why we have slavery and can’t buy alcohol. Your missing the point. The analogy was spurious. You could’ve named any crime which some people do, even troll the internet for some of those questionable “men may not have moustaches from February to August in Podunk, IN” type lists. Also, alcohol is part of an amendment, not the original document, so it has been changed (twice.) And I don’t believe slavery is mentioned at all except to abolish it in the 13th. All the Constitution says is “three fifths of **all other Persons**.” ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/75 "2013-01-05T21:17:38Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You said “total gun ban” but the Wikipedia article refers to a ban on semi-automatic weapons. It’s OK, you don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s more: > [@](#): > > [Also in 1983, Feinstein proposed banning handguns in San Francisco, and became subject to a recall attempt organized by the White Panther Party. She won the April 26, 1983 recall election by 81%.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayoralty_of_Dianne_Feinstein#1983_recall_election) I don’t know why you guys are so resistant to the fact that she wants all firearms banned. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/76 "2013-01-05T21:36:50Z")
Feinstein has always been totally anti gun. She’s smarter now and more dangerous. The bill shes talking about now is against assualt weapons. But I’d bet that she won’t stop there. She’s been looking for the right opportunity for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/77 "2013-01-05T21:39:13Z")
Semi automatics and handguns are not all firearms, either. I’d support general civilian bans on both but do not support a total US firearms ban. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/78 "2013-01-05T21:59:27Z")
Incidentally, this particular rendition of the Assault Weapons Ban is (IMO) dead on arrival. Why? She thinks that the Newtown shootings have changed things so much that she can ask for the sun, moon and stars. The bill, as submitted, is far too overreaching. For instance: she wants every single existing “assault weapon” to be reclassified as an NFA weapon, requiring every single one of them to be registered with the BATFE. Anyone want to estimate the cost of running full background checks on every single owner? The NRA loved seeing her propose that, I promise you. As proposed, it doesn’t have a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/79 "2013-01-05T23:04:03Z")
> [@momosa](#): > > What a kook…there ain’t no way, that anyone will stand for such silliness as a gun ban again…There are more checks heading to the NRA right now than Nobama could ever imagine. No Hitler, No Stalin,…NOBAMA !! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100/80 "2013-01-05T23:06:44Z")
Eh, check the join date, and just ignore it until it goes away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-maam-a-marines-letter-to-senator-dianne-feinstein/646100.md?page=5)