Apparently, Dan Simpson has never read the Constitution. If he has, then he is showing off his ignorance. Either way, it’s clear that he has no respect for an American’s rights.

Because I have little or no power to influence the “if” part of the issue, I will stick with the “how.” And before anyone starts to hyperventilate and think I’m a crazed liberal zealot wanting to take his gun from his cold, dead hands, let me share my experience of guns.

As a child I played cowboys and Indians with cap guns. I had a Daisy Red Ryder B-B gun. My father had in his bedside table drawer an old pistol which I examined surreptitiously from time to time. When assigned to the American embassy in Beirut during the war in Lebanon, I sometimes carried a .357 Magnum, which I could fire accurately. I also learned to handle and fire a variety of weapons while I was there, including Uzis and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

I don’t have any problem with hunting, although blowing away animals with high-powered weapons seems a pointless, no-contest affair to me. I suppose I would enjoy the fellowship of the experience with other friends who are hunters.

Its obvious that he thinks that by appearing to have “no problem” with guns, that those of us who cherish our right to bear arms will either listen to what he has to say or figure that he has no agenda. He is wrong of course, but that didn’t stop him from trying.

Next, he proposes that every American voluntarily turn in each and every one of their firearms within a three month period, under penalty of a $1,000 fine for each firearm not turned in. Hunting weapons would have to be stored in a heavily guarded arsenal, and hunters would have to submit a request to withdrawal them. After the request is submitted, the hunter would be submitted to a check to make sure they have not broken any laws since the last time they used their weapons, and the arsenal personnel would examine the hunter to make sure he isn’t “unhinged.” Also, assault rifles and grenade launchers could not be classified as hunting weapons.

Oh my, where to begin? Fining an American for the exercise of his guaranteed right to bear arms has got to be the ultimate fantasy for liberals like this. Not only is he going to disarm you, but if you don’t do what he says he going to take away your money as well. Next, he wants to take away your hunting firearms and “store” them in an arsenal, where if they agree that you’re not “unhinged” they’ll let you use them. Excuse me, exactly who is going to insure that all of the people who work at the arsenal are medically trained to recognize someone who is “unhinged”? What if the hunter disagrees with the arsenal employee, who decides? Also, I wasn’t aware that grenade launchers were currently classified as hunting weapons in the U.S.

Think this guy is insane? Wait, you haven’t heard the half of it:

The disarmament process would begin after the initial three-month amnesty. Special squads of police would be formed and trained to carry out the work. Then, on a random basis to permit no advance warning, city blocks and stretches of suburban and rural areas would be cordoned off and searches carried out in every business, dwelling, and empty building. All firearms would be seized. The owners of weapons found in the searches would be prosecuted: $1,000 and one year in prison for each firearm.

Clearly, since such sweeps could not take place all across the country at the same time. But fairly quickly there would begin to be gun-swept, gun-free areas where there should be no firearms. If there were, those carrying them would be subject to quick confiscation and prosecution. On the streets it would be a question of stop-and-search of anyone, even grandma with her walker, with the same penalties for “carrying.”

Am I the only one here thinking about Stalin, dictators, jack-booted police, late-night no probable cause searches and a whole lot of other non-Constitutionally approved abuses of our rights? Looking at this liberal’s fantasy of how our country should be run makes me wonder why no one is calling him fascist.

Bluntly put, this man’s ideas scare me. He wants to eliminate Constitutionally protected freedoms, for which millions of Americans have fought and died, and institute what can only be described as a police state where late-night random searches are carried out without obtaining search warrants. He not only wants to deprive you of your Second Amendment rights, he also wants to subject you to unreasonable search and seizure and to deprive you of your lawfully acquired property. Does he know we live in America, the land of the free and home of the brave? You need to remember that this man is not alone in his thinking. The majority of liberals in this country would like nothing better than for this man’s wet-dream to come true.

One last thing to think about. It is mentioned by gun advocates a lot, but it bears repeating: Disarming America will do nothing but ensure that only criminals will have guns, and that law-abiding citizens will be helpless to defend themselves against them. Think of it as two or three wolves among a hundred sheep. The wolves get fed whenever they want and the sheep can do nothing but live in fear.

Not while I’m alive.

Hat Tip: Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 28th, 2007 at 7:34 pm by Nick, and is filed under Bad Ideas, Culture War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.