Originally posted by EMDDIESEL
Ok, everybody is entitled to there own opinion, but this is just stupid, "Crash AF" when you responded to the question "Do you really think somebody should be able to walk into a store and buy a gun without a background check" you Replied:
"Yes, I do. I am not saying that I am opposed to firearms training, but I am opposed to having to write my name down and say that I own this gun and here's where I live. That is a violation of the Second Amendment. "
Let me ask you a question, did you ever have a friend shot to death by somebody who bought the murder weapon (a 12ga. shotgun) and walked out in 10 minutes without a background check? And that somebody was on probation for a previous assult charge? Well guess what, I DID, all because there WAS NO BACKGROUND CHECK becuase alot of people are PARANOID AND THINK THE GOVERMENT IS "Coming to get them" so they cry to the NRA to make sure that they never have to let the government know that they have a gun, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF? WHAT ARE YOU HIDING? why do you care if the goverment knows? Do you honestly have nightmares that the government will come in the night and kick your door down? the only reason they would is if YOU WERE A CRIMINAL or threatened someone, and if thats the case, you SHOULD have your guns taken away. I lost another friend 2 years later to a random shooting because he parked to close to some "Tough Guys" car, he was shot DEAD in the parking lot. Its called REALITY.
Every gun i own was legally obtained and is registered with the state. I submitted fingerprints and had a background check, i have nothing to hide. It did not inconvienince me. And i dont care if the government knows where i live. I am just tired of these people who are so caught up in the second ammendment "Speech" and dont look at the big picture. All you really seem to care about is YOUR rights, what about the families of people killed by guns?, what about them, did the second ammendment protect them?. do you care about them? No, all you care about is being able to horde guns with 50 round mags so when the government comes to get you, you will be ready, isnt that right?.
One of hte answers to your comment is very clear... Shot by a man out on parole for a crime... ahem. Did it ever occur to you the fault lay not with the gun, but with ending the confinement of someone who was KNOWN to commit violent crime?
I ask again, and this time with force... What is the purpose of restricting my liberty? Safety? And this <b> intended </b> safety, is it real? Has enacting gun control laws affected a large and beneficial change in the death rate due to voilence? No. So why take my liberty?
If the general "safety" of the populace is your goal... why do you drive an 8000 pound vehicle that will protect you, at the cost of massacering anyone in a small car you may collide with? I can answer... Your own self-interest. You have NO NEED TO DEFEND that. It is self-evident. In some words I hope you recognize:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are create equal, and are endowed by thier creator with certain <b> inalienable</b> rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. "
The founding fathers believed that liberty was our born heritage, not for who our parents or nation was, but because we merely EXIST. It puts the pursuit of happiness, liberty, and LIFE on equal footing. We would not dream of suggesting that our government casually take the lives of it's citizens, merely as a convenience. NO, we have a hearing, a trial, appeals without end, and override privelidges by our elected leaders before we officially take a life. And we do so only for the most heinous of crimes, where we believe that doing so will save other lives.
Yet, for no demonstrated value AT ALL, you cavalierly suggest we give up liberty, many liberties. Just because <b> YOU </b> do not value those particular liberties. Many people place no personal value on driving a 400 HP ISB powered QC 3500... But some do. You would be outraged, in fact, screaming angry, if suddenly you were told that whatever you choose was not to be allowed because, well, someone else didn't think you really needed it. Well, I have no need, nor any obligation WHATSOEVER to explain to you my "need" for any particular weapon or even a 50 round clip. I don't need to. It is, in my estimation, my right, by virtue of the liberty I inherited at birth, to own such, if I so choose. So, too, the car I choose to drive, the occupation I choose, the color I paint my house, the style of clothes I wear, and even, if I feel like it, to be a vegetarian... or live solely on beef.
This liberty, this idea that only those things that clearly endanger all of us should be proscribed, has given us blessings beyond measure. It is to this, that a lady carrying a torch symbolizing the illumination of the entire world, stands in a New York harbor. It was not our money, our science, our genes, our scenery or even open spaces, but our liberty, that caused those outside our nation to present us with this award.
This liberty has given us unequaled personal prosperity... it has allowed previouisly unknown personal achievement and advancement. It has turned loose the most inspiring thinkers, to speak, it has defended the helpless, abolished slavery, made racism and many other hideous "ism's" a pariah, where law respects and defends our humanity. This liberty built the greatest nation on earth, and loosed the greatest people to walk it... to twice save civilzation from the designs of madmen who sought to eradicate even the mention of liberty.
And even those things which present risk are not to be proscribed, as the founding fathers wrote a long list of rights that government must NEVER take away, even if the popularity of doing so increased... the ability to arm yourself, the ability to speak ideas, the ability to worship God or not worship, as you see fit. The ability to control our government by direct persuasion of those elected to it. Private property, the respect of our domicile as INVIOLABLE without a court order, and the list goes on and on.
These things were considered of sufficient value to die for. Those who signed the Declaration of Independence did, many of thier families and friends did, as well. Yet, they considered thier life a small price for liberty.
Do you then, so casually, so without regard to it's cost to purchase, then give it away? What's more, do you see it as your right to take <b>MINE</b> away?
I return to the question: What is it you wish to actually DO? Is it your passion to save life? If so, campaign for those things that will accomplish that goal. If memory serves, more people die from lightning strikes than are killed by these weapons you're talking about. More children die from bathtubs and pools than from accidental shootings. More people die from simply consuming too much LEGAL alcohol than from these firearms.
Oh, and lest you diverge yet again from the real issue. I own no firearms of any kind. I don't own a 400 HP ISB powered 3500 QC, either. Nor do I have a Masarati in the yard. I don't even have a hot tub in my back yard... Yet, I value the liberty that gives me the option of having them, if I so choose and am willing to work for and sacrafice other things to get them.
So, do not come to me and ask me to justify the "need" for liberty. Instead, you come to me and ask how much I value my liberty, and if I consent to relinquesh that liberty for the "benefits" you offer. If I do not, and indeed, if ONE man does not, I believe you have no right to take a liberty by force from him.
One of our patriots once said "Give me liberty, or give me death". He wasn't making a bad bargain... we're all going to die. Death is certain... But he got liberty until that death did come. Another said: "Those who would exchange liberty for safety will have neither. " Your taking my freedom, even if it's to have nothing more than a 50 round clip, will NOT solve the problem of crime. In fact, you can eventually remove EVERY liberty man posses, and yet STILL have crime - and then not have liberty or it's blessings.
And so now I ask... CAN YOU JUSTIFY what you ask for? Will it bring what you say, and then ask, am ** I ** willing to trade it? If not, what right have you to then take it without my consent?
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
The anti-gun folks will take what they can get... a little at a time... and come back for more! Just as the environmentalists will close a road here, a forest there and soon, we will only be able to take guided tours through "public" lands. It is a very slippery slope we are on and I for one am glad to be a senior citizen that has seen this country at its best but am fearful I may live long enough to see it at its worst!
And I 'am proud to be a life member, (Give an inch, and they WILL take a mile. )
Okay, maybe 65 yrs & up. 
