I’ve been largely ignoring editorials calling for more gun control in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, because, quite frankly, I can’t believe a month later they are still using this tragedy as a springboard to try to convince the public that all we need is more gun control. This one comes from Peter Durantine in the Philadelphia Daily News.
Do we fear doing something to change? Has the NRA convinced us more guns are the answer? Do we really value a firearm over life? Is a gun really essential to our freedom and way of life?
Regardless of what anyone says, this nation was not forged by firearms and blood – it was formed on ideas. And ideas and ideals are what make great nations.
How can you even take this stuff seriously? Let alone seriously enough to print it. How about this little exercise. Some street urchin decides to put a gun to your head and demand your wallet. Now, start thinking up the idea in your head that if you don’t turn over your wallet, even if the robber pulled the trigger, it won’t splatter your brains all over the sidewalk. Feel comfortable with the idea of risking him pulling the trigger? No? Congratulations, you’ve just learned how power works.
Our country is what is is not just because of ideas, but because men believed in those ideas so much that they were willing to fight and die for them. Ideas themselves mean nothing if people aren’t willing to fight for them. Whether that idea is that we want to live in a free constitutional republic, or that our lives and the lives of those around us are worth defending, those ideas have no meaning without men with guns willing to do violence to preserve them.
Regardless of what anyone says, this nation was not forged by firearms and blood – it was formed on ideas.
WTF? So the war of independence was just a debate? They used harsh language?
Starting to get tired of using the phrase ‘And what’s with this handbasket?’…
I disagree with you on many occassions, but when you nail it, you really nail it. Amen, brother.