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Long-running debate over 'secret weapons'

ne1

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Concerning the issue of gun control and the right to bear arms, we - editorially speaking - usually have marched down the middle of the road, criticizing the extremists shouting at us from each berm.
The debate over this issue never would have been so nasty if the authors of the Bill of Rights had not been so ambiguous in their writing of the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
As it is, we have one fringe claiming the government can and should confiscate everyone's guns, and the other fringe claiming that we'd all be better off if everyone carried a gun.
We do not question the right of law-abiding citizens to protect their homes, but we have questioned why so many people have acquired licenses to carry concealed weapons, and we wonder why many of them feel the need to do so.

What is the rationale for an average citizen - a newspaper editor, if you will - to have a permit to carry a pistol in the glove compartment of his car?
The debate is hardly a new one. We need only go back 130 years to prove it. The following are excerpts from an editorial published right here in The Daily Evening Reporter in March 7, 1878, under the headline, "Secret Weapons":
"Why any man, young or old, should carry an offensive weapon upon his person in a community like this, seems to us unaccountable except upon two considerations; either he is savagely inclined and meditates a cowardly assault upon some person, or he is a coward who fears that some person will make an assault upon him which can only be repelled by the use of the knife or pistol. A man who gives no cause of offense to any body, must certainly be moved by great fear, when he supposes it necessary to be armed for self defense ...
http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/6-04--Gun-editorial--

There does seem to be some sort of screening function, so anything you submit may not appear immediately.
 

imperialism2024

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Why do I need to carry a pistol?

Because I'd be imprisoned and/or shot on site for carrying a FA AK-47.

The cowardly man is he who desires to sit by and watch harm come upon others, knowing that he made the choice to not be able to stop that harm.

Call me a coward for stopping a rape with a .44 magnum round to the head of the assailant instead of being "brave" by bitch-slapping the assailant until he kills me and continues his assault. On a more individual level, I'd rather be a live man carrying a gun than a "real man" six feet under.


ETA: The best comment I've seen so far on it is "Because when we carry OPENLY (as is our right) there just aren't enough public restroom facilities for you panty-wetters to relieve yourselves in a socially acceptable manner." Anyone here want to claim that?
 

fullauto223cal

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WOW!!! So The Daily Evening Reporter has a liberal bias. How do I know? I need only go back 130 years to prove it!!!!

MY REPLY ON THEIR SITE:
The folks who wrote that editorial 130 years ago need only have looked back to the writings of a man who died 88 years prior who had already explained it in detail. He said that “[t]he very fame of our strength and readiness would be a means of discouraging our enemies; for 'tis a wise and true saying, that one sword often keeps another in the scabbard. The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war. They that are on their guard, and appear ready to receive their adversaries, are in much less danger of being attacked than the supine, secure and negligent. His name was Benjamin Franklin.
 

imperialism2024

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I think it also needs to be said that the quote was perhaps taken out of context... concealed carry is a recent invention, and historically has been seen as suspicious and deviant. Real men carried guns openly, and didn't have a reason to hide them. I'm assuming that's why the headline was "Secret Weapons"... perhaps the editor pulled up a piece of history that supports open carry.
 

deepdiver

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fullauto223cal wrote:
WOW!!! So The Daily Evening Reporter has a liberal bias. How do I know? I need only go back 130 years to prove it!!!!

MY REPLY ON THEIR SITE:
The folks who wrote that editorial 130 years ago need only have looked back to the writings of a man who died 88 years prior who had already explained it in detail. He said that “[t]he very fame of our strength and readiness would be a means of discouraging our enemies; for 'tis a wise and true saying, that one sword often keeps another in the scabbard. The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war. They that are on their guard, and appear ready to receive their adversaries, are in much less danger of being attacked than the supine, secure and negligent. His name was Benjamin Franklin.

imperialism2024 wrote:
I think it also needs to be said that the quote was perhaps taken out of context... concealed carry is a recent invention, and historically has been seen as suspicious and deviant. Real men carried guns openly, and didn't have a reason to hide them. I'm assuming that's why the headline was "Secret Weapons"... perhaps the editor pulled up a piece of history that supports open carry.

+1 to both of you
 

tarzan1888

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imperialism2024 wrote:
Why do I need to carry a pistol?

Because I'd be imprisoned and/or shot on site for carrying a FA AK-47.

The cowardly man is he who desires to sit by and watch harm come upon others, knowing that he made the choice to not be able to stop that harm.

Call me a coward for stopping a rape with a .44 magnum round to the head of the assailant instead of being "brave" by bitch-slapping the assailant until he kills me and continues his assault. On a more individual level, I'd rather be a live man carrying a gun than a "real man" six feet under.


ETA: The best comment I've seen so far on it is "Because when we carry OPENLY (as is our right) there just aren't enough public restroom facilities for you panty-wetters to relieve yourselves in a socially acceptable manner." Anyone here want to claim that?


YES !


Tarzan
 

tarzan1888

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imperialism2024 wrote:
I think it also needs to be said that the quote was perhaps taken out of context... concealed carry is a recent invention, and historically has been seen as suspicious and deviant. Real men carried guns openly, and didn't have a reason to hide them. I'm assuming that's why the headline was "Secret Weapons"... perhaps the editor pulled up a piece of history that supports open carry.

AND YES AGAIN !


Tarzan
 

XD40coyote

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I am sure if countless thousands of murder victims could speak, they would say they wish they had been carrying a handgun the day they were murdered. Add to that millions of raped women who might say the same thing " I wish I had been carrying a gun on that day".

Geeze, why is it these lefty reporters and writers just don't get it? Criminals are more brazen and dangerous than ever these days, and the courts continue their revolving door policies allowing these scum to be out there. Many of these scumbags carry guns themselves and could care less they are doing so illegally. And the rest of us are to fight them off with our fists or hot pepper juice?

Being as I live in one of the most dangerous states, I know all too well about the craziness of carjackers and common thugs and the "murder for 5.00" deal , but what's even crazier is the gov't of this state has the same inane attitudeas the writer of the drivel above.
 
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