Reader comments span the range from flattering to vitriolic on any post. But occasionally, you will get one so absolutely bizarre that it's worth taking a break from the battle to just wonder at it.
In my recent post, Could I have been WRONG about Ron Paul?, I mentioned that, like all sensible Texans, I have a Concealed Handgun License (CHL) and carry a handgun with me when I'm out and about.
Not only is this a right guaranteed by the Second Amendment (except to Rudy Guiliani and Hillary Clinton, to name two), it reduces crime because the criminal has to think twice before attacking someone as they may be armed. In fact, a significant number of CHL's are issued to woman and senior citizens.
And it's not that easy to get a CHL in Texas as opposed to Vermont where if you live there, you can carry (Good for you, Vermont!) Here we go through 11 hours of classroom instruction and range proficiency testing, fingerprinting, photographing, a Texas DPS and FBI background check, and pay about $100 for all the above. Really not too much of an inconvenience considering, though.
The one thing that is drilled into you during classroom instruction is PRAY you never have to use your handgun on someone. Even though the shooting may be totally justified, you will have to go before a Grand Jury (big legal bills). To date, no CHL holder has ever been indited by the Grand Jury, but you still will probably have to go through it (big legal bills).
After the Grand Jury has acquitted you, you're still not home free. The parents/brothers/cousins of the victim will cry "My son may have been a crack dealer, an armed robber and a drug user, but he could have been a rocket scientist!" and they will file a multi-million dollar civil suit against you (real big legal bills). To date, no court in Texas has found against the CHL holder but you still have to pay those big legal bills.
Then there's the dark side to the CHL laws. Let's say a mugger is charging me with a knife. I have seconds before he stabs me to death. I shoot him. That's OK under the law. But lets say the bullet passes through him and strikes an innocent person walking down the street. Suddenly, I lose all my legal protections under the CHL law. I and I alone am responsible for where that bullet ends up once I pull the trigger.
Moral reasons aside (no sane person wants to kill another human being unless they have to) being involved in a legal shooting is no fun matter. We CHL holders take the responsibility very seriously.
So with that background, here's the Reader Comment in question:
Anonymous said...
"I carry a gun when I go out."
Wow... just wow. I'm not from the US so I don't understand the 2nd amendment at all. The fact that you carry a gun sounds so incredibly insane to me, you have no idea! I think you might be psychotic and you need help. Get your head checked, you don't need a gun and you don't need a 2nd amendment.
In my country crime levels are lower and we're doing very well economically, we're not in war, have a democratic system (multiple parties, even one for animals) and always get lots of medals in the Winter Olympics. WE DO NOT CARRY GUNS WHEN WE GO OUT! There are so many important and beautiful things in life and you focus on the ultimate personal death bringer? Good luck with your life, all I can hope is that you will NEVER EVER use that gun.
December 8, 2007 3:26 PM
His country has a political party for ANIMALS? That opens up a plethora of questions. How does a Moose get his name on the ballot? How do animals vote in Parliament? Do they moo, stamp their hoof once for yes and two times for no? Do they have their own restroom or if they're a female animal, they use the ladies room? Or do they just let go on the Parliament floor and someone cleans it up? How do they write legislation? Has a Kangaroo ever been Prime Minister? Do they receive Secret Service Protection when visiting the US? If the Animal Legislator is a Turkey and visiting the US during Thanksgiving, do they get diplomatic immunity from becoming the White House dinner? Do they have two animal parties: one for carnivores and one for herbivores? Has there ever been a scandal about a carnivore eating a herbivore to break a tie vote?
I'm getting lectured and called psychotic by a citizen of a country who has to decide whether to vote for the Zebra or the Penguin at election time?
I do agree with the person who left the comment that I too hope I never have to use my handgun on another human being. But that will be the attackers choice, not mine.
The person who left the comment is willing governed by goats and caribou. Who is the crazier one, him or me?
I really wished he had identified the country he lives in. I hope it's one that really exists and he's not locked away in a home somewhere. If any of you know which country has an Animal Party, please post it in comments. It might be fun to visit.......kind of like Disney World.
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3 comments:
I think he gave plenty of information in that post.
First is the fascination with Olympic medals - which makes me think it is a Northern European country. Sweden, Norway, Denmark. I think the fact that he is pointing out the democratic system is further evidence to that.
He says that they have a good economy, which tells me that he probably well off and oblivious to his country's unemployment rate of 7-8% for those "good economies". So he sits there and writes comments on stuff he doesn't understand (he said he doesn't the 2nd amendment), and is a sissy coward who's so afraid of a gun that not only does he not want to have one, he is afraid to post his real name and his real country on a blog run by a gun owner.
Hope he never wishes he'd had a gun, when one of the bears from the Parliament charges his apartment and rapes his dog.
My guess would be Japan where there is more than likely a Nature Party (Basically Green Party - The Japnese revere nature and respect it far more than westerners do). The 'animal' thing could have just been lack of a better translation.
A far as guns go, they don't have them. Their cops don't even have them. There is no second ammendment and there is significant less crime. And, yeah, a lot of them do think we are nuts for everyone having guns.
It's just a different way of living and thinking. I lived there for three years and sometimes miss the safety I had there. Do bad guys still get guns..sure. But the entire country only experienced 53 gun related homicides in 2006. I live in Salt Lake City and I'm pretty sure we had more than 53 last month alone.
You really have to live somewhere that has no guns to appreciate that there is a different way of thinking that maybe isn't that bad. Now, getting Americans to think that way is an entirely different beast.
Forget what the two above said - we all know he's from France.
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