Take Insurrection off the Table (James Melton in Huffington Post)

[LuckyTheDog]

I think we would be courting many more problems than solutions if we responded to the Sandy Hook massacre by placing armed guards in all schools or arming teachers. But as bad as those proposals are, using firearms to protect our kids from bad guys isn't nearly as toxic to the American idea as using them to "protect" ourselves from our own government.

More than 236 years after we began forging the United States in the fire of revolution, it's time for Americans to finally take insurrection off the table and re-commit ourselves to our peaceful republican ideals.

We can and should maintain the right to keep and bear arms without holding on to the irrational fear that the only thing standing between us and tyranny is the potential for political violence. Doing that would not only provide a dose of sanity into our debate about guns; it could actually save us from a senseless, potentially suicidal second civil war.

Unfortunately, getting there means taking on the long and deeply held beliefs of many Americans.

More here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-melton/second-amendment_b_2469688.html

FYI: The writer is me.

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. Great OP ...

I recall having a discussion with a guy, while waiting for the press conference after the Gabby Gifford shooting, when a stereotypical looking man said, "See this is what happens when liberals refuse to listen to us."

When gun-rights advocates declare a right to take up arms against, they are really saying that killing police officers, American soldiers, private citizens, or democratically elected public officials can be an acceptable form of political expression.

That was almost a verbatim quote.

[LuckyTheDog]

2. The way I see it...

... is that once you take up arms and breach the rule of law to "defend the republic," the republic is already gone.

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. Yep n/t

[Mojorabbit]

4. I agree 100 percent n t

[LuckyTheDog]

5. And history shows that to be the case.

The Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla cast himself as the defender of republic, even as his army marched on the capital. Later tyrants, such as Francisco Franco and Benito Mussolini, also cited traditional values to justify their regimes.

The result in each case was the erosion of legitimacy, corruption, violence, murder and war.

Likewise, I think it's reasonable to assume that nothing good would happen if the Napolitanos and Yeagers of the world started shooting people.

[Katashi_itto]

6. Agreed, however you have to remember most of these twits live in a Bruce Willis

fantasy world, easy to mouth off. It's only a small % of this % we have to worry about.

However look how fast Yeager is trying to "temper" his first statement.


The majority of right wingers and are soft, simple dimwits, unable to carry a real insurrection off.

[LuckyTheDog]

7. But even if they tried and failed...

... the potential damage to the economy could be enormous.

[Katashi_itto]

8. I could go along with that, however it might wake people up

to what a threat right wingers in general are.