Elsewhere in this forum, and all over the internet, there has been discussion of the event in Los Vegas. Many people have expressed the thought that bump fire stocks should be banned. Others say that the banning would lead to greater eroding of our rights. I agree with the latter.
The NRA has taken the stance that another look at bump fire stocks is warranted. If my gun club did not require an NRA membership as part of the price of admission, I would demand a refund of my dues.
As evidenced by history, morality can not be legislated. Most-but not all- laws are written in an attempt to codify what was already written over 2000 years ago. Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, etc.
Hear is my thought. Instead of defining ourselves as "law abiding citizens", how about we start defining ourselves as "Morally Just" citizens. Or a phrase that rolls of the tongue better.
As we know, there is a movement to bring into reality the old adage, "When guns are outlawed, only Outlaws will have guns". I spent a career trying to apprehend those that would steal and murder, and I'll be damned if sometime in the future I'll be defined as an Outlaw.
So, my Morally Just brothers and sisters, let us not allow ourselves to be made into Outlaws!
You're on to something but missing a key point. Morality can't be legislated. Why? Simply and only because it cannot be empirically defined. Culture is determinant of morality and culture is non-phenomenological. You can't systematize jurisprudence from a root of vagueness. So, if we want to do something like this then the root word "moral" needs to be extricated and replaced with something that has a definite and simple meaning. It must be simple because law which is so complex that an average person can't grok it is prima facie unenforceable.
You could easily get buy-in with something like "Certified 6th Commandment Compliant" where weapons are concerned and "8th Commandment Compliant" where things like theft and fraud are concerned. Simply calling ourselves law abiding won't work because everyone knows that's a lie. Most folks commit on average 10 felonies a day without even knowing it so we are anything but law abiding generally. We're actually highly selective about our obedience to statute law and moreso with regard to administrative law.
All that said, we can be 100% certain daily that we don't steal, bear false witness, covet, murder, etc... So the easy and sure way to flip the narrative is to identify the commandment you're obeying and note that you are in full compliance with that commandment. So, I'm officially 6th-10th commandment compliant.
ballisticxlr,
I 'm going to go out on a limb and state that the biggest detriment in discussing religion, morality, or philosophy is imperfect humans trying to explain, using another imperfect tool-language- something that we think we understand, shaded by our differing experiences.
I think we both agree on the concept, but may not come to an agreement on how to express it.
Coming from a Judeo-Christian background, my belief is that the Ten Commandments are THE definition of morality, especially as they pertain to life in the modern world.
Any culture that puts money before God, celebrates the shenanigans that sometimes passes for "entertainment', raises children who disrespect their parents and on and on in my (not-nearly-as-humble-as-it-should-be) opinion, is doomed.
I'm not a great student of history, but I see a parallel between us and the Romans. They had the "entertainment" at the Coloseum, we have the Kardashians-and worse. There's probably more, but that's good enough for me!
The laws of man... For over 30 years I made a career of enforcing SOME of the laws written by men. Why only some, you may ask? My motto was-and still is-"Don't let the law prevent you from doing what is right!" Some man made laws-no, I'm going to try to call them rules in the future, are so blatantly against what is right that they need to be ignored. Others are a nuisance, but following them does no harm to the spirit.
Life may be tough when one choses not to follow the rules of Man, but it certainly is tougher when one does not follow God's laws.
We've all had ups and downs, trials and tribulations, or however one is inclined to put it, but so far, my life has been pretty danged good. Good luck? Nope, a good upbringing by two parents who taught me right from wrong and never let me stray too far from the path. My dad used to tell me, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, render unto God that which is God's" It took many a moon before I got what he was telling me.
Good grief, I'm long winded!
I took a rather long route to say that I agree with being "Certified Compliant" with whatever commandment is in question, but think most people need something short and sweet to latch onto, and neither of our phrases rolls of the tongue well enough to capture the imagination. Hope to meet you next year at one of Rex's events!
TTAG has an interesting take on the NRA's stance. I encourage you to read the attached...
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2017/10/johannes-paulsen/nras-position-bump-fire-stocks-genius/
The nice thing about the folks here is that they can voice their opinions without all of the nonsense that you see elsewhere on the internet. I get so disappointed with the lack of civility that seems to fun rampant. I read the comments on TTAG and think, how can people be so rude? As a recently retired supervisor in law enforcement, let me present a different view.
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2017/10/luis-valdes/police-officers-view-bump-fire-stocks-nra/
After you have read the above, please watch this. Pelosi or Feinstien-it matters not one- when asked about incremental restrictions leading to total bans on guns, said, "I hope so". Keep taking losses until you have nothing left is not a winning strategy.
I think it's easier to have civil discourse among people who are civil to begin with. I see a lot of that in Rex's fans/followers/family or whatever we all might label ourselves. I have never found a more universally congenial group than the people that attend Rex events. I look forward to greeting you at one of them.