We're Americans; Guns are Part of Our Religion
Incrementalism is a real threat, and not to be underestimated.
The Second Amendment is absolute. And while I'm not going to advocate that anyone do anything moronic and get themselves prosecuted or killed, yes, every gun law is an "infringement" and therefore ultimately wrong. On Minds, stating this is mostly preaching to the choir, but it's worth affirming because it is good and true. But the real issue isn't so much the legality of RPG launchers as it is the slippery slope, the "baby steps" towards Australia. Let me tell you a true story.
I grew up in an environment where guns were fairly common and normal; my father (a combat veteran) actually hated them due to PTSD but he nevertheless showed me the basics of shooting, and later my stepfather (also a vet plus a retired LEO) showed me even more. I didn't shoot often or own any firearms of my own at the time, but I was nonetheless pro-gun in a general way even back when I was a "moderate Democrat" (don't worry, I got better).
An e-friend of mine from Australia used to talk to me about politics fairly often, as he was a Political Science major. He often was full of ideas on how to "fix" the USA, which annoyed me since most of our domestic affairs were none of his business, but you can't tell that to a person who feels that their college degree means that They Know Best(TM). Anyway, one day he started asking me about the feasibility of a buyback program similar to what they did in Oz in the 90's.
He didn't know my actual position and I just sort of casually told him that much of America was strongly pro-gun, that it was an important part of our culture, that efforts at gun control here were rarely successful (except in deep-blue strongholds), and that he should pretty much forget about it unless he also wanted to try starting a pork-sandwich business in Saudi Arabia. Because sometimes, you just have to leave other cultures alone to do their thing.
His response? "Well, it can still be accomplished one step at a time, like first we introduce some more safety measures and ban certain kinds of ammunition, then start to go after assault weapons, then from there we can finally do a buyback program." (I can't recall his exact words as I didn't save the convo, but that was very much the gist of it.)
I'm not making this up. He ACTUALLY ADMITTED to viewing any and all "minor safety regulations" as parts of a long-term plan for total disarmament of the U.S. populace.
And on that day, I became a 2A absolutist 😊😊😊 Good job, Aussie PoliSci Guy. (We're no longer friends.)
And then of course came the violent Maoist uprising during the 2020 Summer of Terror. Record gun sales all across the States. Even a lot of liberals are packing heat these days.
Anyway: Yes, if even foreigners (who presumably desire to "help" the U.S. "reform" our primitive and barbaric ways) are saying stuff like what my former friend was, then you can be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that when Beto O'Rourke says he wants to take your AR-15, he means it. When Sheila Jackson Lee sponsors a bill that would have required psych evaluations, fat tax penalties, and a mandatory public registry for all gun owners, she means it. When Michael Bloomberg spends millions grooming anti-gun candidates to run for local offices anywhere he thinks they can win, in the hopes of enacting some of those "baby steps" towards serfdom, he means it.
THIS is why it is our duty to oppose ANY further regulation or restriction of firearms. I myself do not use pistol braces or build my own guns (my small arsenal is pretty "vanilla"), but that's not the point. The point is that they are trying to turn up the heat on the pot of water in which the frog slowly boils. They will not stop. The document on which our entire society is founded plainly states "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED" but that doesn't seem to have deterred them.
Explain this, calmly and politely, to any "moderates" you know. A recent Pew poll found that slightly more than half of the U.S. populace "favors stricter gun control," HOWEVER, a lot of these are probably people who support the 2nd Amendment overall but just feel that "Oh, gosh, well, we should have a few more safety measures in place and maybe people shouldn't be allowed to own certain blah blah blah." THEY DO NOT KNOW (YET) that the forces of evil are relying upon people like them to help them gradually implement their plan to turn the USA into all those "other" countries, where the common people don't have a whole bunch of 5.56mm insurance policies against totalitarianism.
(Feel free to observe the correlation between "states where mandates and lockdowns have been minimal" and "states that are 2A-friendly." Correlation does not equal causation, but it nonetheless suggests a relationship between the two.)
These "common-sense gun control" people are not necessarily the enemy. They are naïve or ill-informed, so if you can enlighten them, so much the better. But ultimately, we are called upon by the spirits of all those who died in the defense of this country and its ideal of Liberty to oppose anyone who feels that America has some sort of "responsibility" to get with the program and make ourselves helpless so that Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates, George Soros, and the EUNSSR can fold us into their Galactic Empire of techno-socialist encuckenment.
No. Not only will we not give up our guns, we happily support the right of citizens in other countries to be armed as well. Canadians deserve to get their "aSsAuLt WeAPonS" back and to be able to carry .44 Magnums in bear country. Germans should be able to own pistol-caliber carbines, whether manufactured themselves as JStark1809 intended, or simply purchased from their friendly neighborhood gun store. The people of Adigrat, Ethiopia should have a rifle around the house in case the Eritrean Defense Forces show up again to try and split their parents' skulls with a machete while raping their daughters in front of them.
The one "moderate" thing I'll say though is that it's better to be smart. It's better not to do something really stupid that gets you thrown in jail or shot by the AFT / FIB. It's better to be safe and prudent in how you handle your guns. It's better to learn about how self-defense laws work in your jurisdiction so some loathsome Soros-backed prosecutor can't completely ruin your life by portraying you as a trigger-happy militia lunatic who killed a mostly-peaceful protester for no reason whatsoever. You can keep yourself out of unnecessary hassles while still standing completely firm in your rights. The U.S. is a very "lawfare"-oriented society and much of the struggle is to be won in the courts or legislatures before we over-worry about apocalyptic melodrama.
And the court of public opinion. It annoys me when Leftoids say things like "I feel like I need to be armed to protect myself from Trump's fiendish legions of Nazis" or similar such fabulist nonsense, but at least it means that they recognize the value of being armed. There are liberal, conservative, moderate, libertarian, and anarchist arguments in favor of the 2nd Amendment and I'm not going to bother disagreeing with any of them. Similarly, the organizations on our side (GOA, FPC, and I guess the NRA, sort of) as well as various websites like The Truth About Guns have plenty of information available to counteract the "Won't somebody please think of the children" arguments. Furthermore, for people who are simply uncomfortable with "gun culture" because they think it's all bigoted white male rednecks or something, there has been a definite increase in firearms ownership amongst ALL demographics and most of the 2A community is fine with anyone who agrees on the basic principle of our collective rights.
Gun control attempts in America generally do poorly, and that is encouraging. The pro-2A lobby is one of the largest, best-organized, and most effective in the USA. Only places that are already hopelessly corrupted by Neocommunist thinking ever seem to pass any major infringement measures; it would be better if those could be rolled back and the entirety of the country abided by the Constitution, but if you have to leave a "progressive" dictatorship, do so. (Just don't vote for what you fled.)
We are unique. There is no other nation where the civilian populace is as well-armed as we are or is able to behave like responsible adults instead of being treated by their governments like foolish, naughty children who cannot be trusted. (Weapons demand respect -- obviously, they're dangerous -- but the excessive fear of them is both infantile and effete.) Our Constitution assumes that this is the natural and correct way of things, and that only the artificial imposition of the nanny state makes it otherwise.
This is a good thing. We are not outliers because we're wrong, but because we're right. We are under no obligation to jump on the disarmament bandwagon with the "international community" or with any other country. Especially not Australia.
~ Airyaman, February 2022