Thursday, June 02, 2016

"Going To The Bullet Box"

WTF, Larry, were you thinking?
 Larry Pratt, the executive director emeritus of Gun Owners of America, said on his “Gun Owners News Hour” radio program this weekend that if a Democrat wins the White House and the Supreme Court starts issuing decisions in favor of gun regulations, conservatives may turn to the “bullet box” to rectify the situation.
What does "Going To The Bullet Box" mean?

I doubt that Mr. Pratt intended a threat.

I think he 'mis-spoke' on a talk show where one makes statements "off the cuff" which would have been phrased differently in an essay.   It's subject to personal interpretation; some of which may be accusatory.

Pratt may seem to have subtly offered violence to those who do not support his political views.  I'm morally certain that this was NOT Mr. Pratt's intention.  He wasn't making a call for a civil war.

He may have been trying to notify a presumptive Democratic Administration that gun-owners will 'stringently' oppose attempts to undermine our Second Amendment Rights.

By peaceful measures.  
The preferred method of protesting laws which contravene the obvious intent of the Second Amendment involve, primarily, "nonviolent civil disobedience". 

"I Will Not Comply" is one of the more recent methods (within this century) of Civil Disobedience.

When firearms owners are confronted by onerous and anti-constitutional measures (such as limitations on "high capacity magazines" or "assault weapons" or "Registration", they often quietly fail to register their guns, or turn in their magazines.

If it's not obvious, this approach is analogous ( if not the same ) as Ghandi's "Non-Violent Civil Disobedience" (see link above) which this Indian Saint used during the transition in India from British to "Indigenous" political control of one of the most populous nations in the world.

Acknowledging that interpretations of the Second Amendment by its advocates includes accepting the right of civilians to possess arms to resist a Totalitarian Government, most of 'us' (gun owners) don't really expect that the Constitutional rights will be repealed.   Yes, we have concerns that oure rights will be 'chipped away' by niggling little rules and regulations .. often on a states' level .. with future Supreme Court interpretations.

Yes, we are concerned that a Democratic Administration will nominate and seat Supreme Court Judges who are unfriendly to the Second Amendment.

And yes, we do not trust a Democratic Administration to hold the Second Amendment in the same reverence as we do.   A political philosophy which dismisses the Constitution as a "living document" is subject to the whims of an ungrateful nation.

But ...  "Going To The Bullet Box"?

That's not a Threat.
That's Rhetoric.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a good thing that the American Colonists back in 1776 had the same philosophy towards British suppression.

Archer said...

@Anonymous: I'm assuming that's offered sarcastically, but in case it's not....

The American Colonists had been tolerating British rulers growing ever more tyrannical for decades. They attempted every available peaceful solution possible and gave the Crown more warnings and chances to reconsider than they are often given credit for. In short, the American Colonists were extremely patient for a very long time, and declared their independence (and necessarily took up arms) as a last resort; when the very next royal decree would have forcibly removed those arms.

We are not there yet. I pray we turn this ship around before we ever get there, because God help us all if it comes to that.