(Originally posted September 7, 2007, just re-read it and thought you guys would dig it.)
Sometimes, when I go on a rant about freedom -- the basic human right to be left alone as long as you aren't harming anyone -- I get puzzled looks and questions that indicate a severe lack of understanding.
"What freedoms have you lost?"
"What are you so upset about?"
"Aren't you just a rebel without a cause?"
And so forth. These things really tick me off, because it's an unconscionable indictment on our culture when people simply accept the chains as a given. What happened to the fiercely independent American? What happened to our love of freedom?
Recently, I was flipping through an old Guns magazine (September 1957 issue), and saw some stuff that really hit home. Ads in the back of the magazine offered every kind of gun for sale, through mail order, at rock-bottom prices. It's a perfect illustration of how much freedom we've lost in a mere fifty years:
Check out that last one in particular. British Sten machine guns were sold through the freakin' mail for $12.95 ($92.79 in 2006 dollars) and at the time, our murder rate was lower than it is now. Now ask yourself if all this regulation is doing a damn bit of good.
And the sad thing is... I know fellow shooters who'll look at this and shrug as though it's no big loss.
Sometimes, when I go on a rant about freedom -- the basic human right to be left alone as long as you aren't harming anyone -- I get puzzled looks and questions that indicate a severe lack of understanding.
"What freedoms have you lost?"
"What are you so upset about?"
"Aren't you just a rebel without a cause?"
And so forth. These things really tick me off, because it's an unconscionable indictment on our culture when people simply accept the chains as a given. What happened to the fiercely independent American? What happened to our love of freedom?
Recently, I was flipping through an old Guns magazine (September 1957 issue), and saw some stuff that really hit home. Ads in the back of the magazine offered every kind of gun for sale, through mail order, at rock-bottom prices. It's a perfect illustration of how much freedom we've lost in a mere fifty years:
Check out that last one in particular. British Sten machine guns were sold through the freakin' mail for $12.95 ($92.79 in 2006 dollars) and at the time, our murder rate was lower than it is now. Now ask yourself if all this regulation is doing a damn bit of good.
And the sad thing is... I know fellow shooters who'll look at this and shrug as though it's no big loss.
