The difference between Republicans and Democrats . . .

[jhetley]

. . . lies mainly in which rights they think we can get along just fine without. 

The other side of the coin, counterpoint to all the unconstitutional excesses of the Bush Debacle:  Gun shops experiencing an uptick in sales, in the face of a bad economy.

http://www.bangornews.com/detail/92892.html

" . . . shall not be infringed."

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

The other side of that metaphor is that even a criminal record (one not related to driving, of course) doesn't bar you from owning a car and having a driver's license. And I don't care for national laws that require the wilds of Maine to live by Atlanta (or Chicago, or D.C.) standards. You got a problem in Chicago, make a law in Chicago.

However, I'm more worried about the habitual Democratic administration's problem with my right to keep and bear money.

[wolfette]

what would you use an AK47 for in the wilds of Maine?

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Rutting moose.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Our recent problems have involved black bears going after livestock. Two or three shot in the space of a week, down-east.

I think I'd prefer something a bit more potent, for either moose or bear.

[wolfette]

goodness! no need to be rude ;-)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Some people actually use them for hunting. With a 5-round magazine, of course, because that's the legal limit.

Myself, I prefer something more accurate. However, definitions get slippery. The US Army used to issue the M1903-A3 rifle to troops, better known as the .30-06 Springfield. That _is_ the type of rifle and cartridge I used to use for deer hunting.

Several of the proposed bans have included "military-issue weapons" without further definition.

[trilca.livejournal.com]

Well, as was just adjucated this past summer or fall, our 2nd Amendment rights shall NOT be infringed, especially when it concerns any sort of total ban such as Washington D.C. has to now fix. As the daughter of a legally registered law-abiding firearms dealer, I grew up with firearms in my life from before I can remember. My sons have both grown up with guns in their lives, and my husband owns several of those "military issue weapons" such as his treasured M1 Garand. I think if there were any attempt to blanket-ban military issue weapons, the outcry and uproar would be beyond belief. It's bad enough they ban other stupid stuff "For Our Safety (and Their Control of Us)", but there is a limit and I'm pretty sure they're at or close to at our limits as it is.

Ugh *steps off her soapbox* sorry for the lecture!

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Barack Obama has already shown his "respect" (and I use the word loosely) for not just the Second Amendment, but the Constitution as a whole. He is on record recently as apparently lamenting that the Constitution does not give the government the power to do things like enforced redistribution of wealth.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, his students of Constitutional Law all agree... no, wait, they don't. (Steerike three! Yer out!)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

John, WTF are you babbling about this time?

(Aside: I wonder what he taught his students that the Second Amendment means....)

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Hint: he taught Constitutional law, and none of his students think the word "respect" needs to be scare quoted nor used loosely.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

7.62x39 is a dandy little cartridge for coyote and small deer (whitetails, say).

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

In the interests of international clarity here, I have to add that we are not discussing true AK47 "assault rifles", just as the weapons in that newspaper photo are not true M-16s. The discussion centers on "civilian" versions, capable of semi-automatic fire only.

Full-auto weapons require a special Federal license, expensive and difficult to get. The same applies to various other non-sport weapons.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I assume you've seen the various reports that the Democrats plan to seize private 401(k) accounts and and IRAs, and turn them into mandatory Guaranteed Retirement Accounts making "guaranteed" interest rates that won't keep pace with inflation?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Well, see, I'm old enough to withdraw my money from our IRA without penalty . . .

(According to current rules, yes.)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I know my parents have moved most of their retirement savings and investments (all but short-term spending money, actually) overseas and out of the US banking system altogether.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, "tax and spend". Well, y'know something -- I'm a helluva lot more comfortable with people who understand that the money has to come from somewhere than I am with the Republican "borrow and spend and cut taxes for the top 2%" pattern. Your great-grandchildren are still going to be paying off the debt this Administration has run up... and that was after Clinton left us with a budget SURPLUS. I don't have a lot of patience with "tax and spend" whining right now.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

If you think I'm defending the current administration's fiscal shenanigans, you're dead wrong.

But, we're over 60. We've saved and lived within our means, as have our parents and grandparents, both sides. And I greatly suspect that we will be targets for "means tests" on both Social Security and Medicare, for increased "Fat Cat" capital-gains taxation on non-existent* gains, negative real interest rates on savings, and other measures to punish us for being frugal when half this country was borrowing money to buy big-screen TVs and new cars. And buying houses they couldn't afford.

*One classic -- we own some non-residential property, purchased 30 years ago, which is probably worth three to four times what we paid for it -- in current dollars. In purchasing power, inflation has eaten that difference. Yet we would be paying capital "gains" tax on the whole increase.

[trilca.livejournal.com]

I'm jumping in on this one because it *always* gripes me. Mr Clinton did NOT leave us with a massive windfall. Reaganomics did, and Mr Clinton reaped the rewards from that hugely unpopular budget plan. Just as President Bush 'benefitted' from Mr Clinton's budget plan, as Barack Obama will 'benefit' from President Bush's and on down the line. The budget plans which a sitting President put into place are generally felt a couple of terms later.