LA Times have seen the enemy. And it is us. Gun owners

[karlobag]

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la ... tml#page=1

[Rip Van Winkle]

So in other words, in the name of "compromise" all we have to do is give up our guns, income, property and freedom. Then we can rely on our intellectual and moral superiors to support us.

Yeah, it's worked so well in the past.

[ttousi]

when I first see an LA times link my eye reads latrine..........first impressions are correct

[photogpat]

Actually I see him as having made a case FOR the 2nd Amendment. Not only as a last resort against a dictatorship, but as a defense against the armed militia of said dictator as well.

[ex-LT]

Actually I see him as having made a case FOR the 2nd Amendment. Not only as a last resort against a dictatorship, but as a defense against the armed militia of said dictator as well.

I'm sure that was entirely unintentional on his part, and while I didn't come away the impression that he was making a case for the Second Amendment, I also didn't get the impression that he considers gun owners to be the enemy, either.

[karlobag]

The following did not give me a "warm and fuzzy" feeling that the writer was supporting the 2A, but rather making a big leap, to compare US gun owners to Austrian Nazis.

"You may object that the American armed forces, unlike those in Chile or Indonesia or Spain, have no precedent at all for interfering in American politics. That's true. But consider what happened in 1933 in Austria, where private citizens had increasingly been arming themselves and forming private militias. When Austria's Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss abolished the country's legislature and established an authoritarian right-wing government, he didn't use an Austrian army to crush his left-wing political opponents. He did it with a militia of his own armed supporters.

Could that be possible here? Already, plenty of Americans are asserting the right to carry guns in previously unlikely places (such as in schools and government offices). Already, they are forming private militias for purposes such as patrolling the Mexican border and protecting a claimed right to graze cattle on federal lands. Again, when private citizen militias already carry guns for those purposes, it's "just" a matter of expanding the scope of an established principle to use guns for other purposes."

[Jeff Bergquist]

"You may object that the American armed forces, unlike those in Chile or Indonesia or Spain, have no precedent at all for interfering in American politics. That's true. But consider what happened in 1933 in Austria, where private citizens had increasingly been arming themselves and forming private militias. When Austria's Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss abolished the country's legislature and established an authoritarian right-wing government, he didn't use an Austrian army to crush his left-wing political opponents. He did it with a militia of his own armed supporters.

And how is this worse than using the armed forces to crush disarmed dissension as is usually the case?

[LarryFlew]

Actually I see him as having made a case FOR the 2nd Amendment. Not only as a last resort against a dictatorship, but as a defense against the armed militia of said dictator as well.

Until about the middle I thought so also and was wondering what was wrong with the LA Times and then came the rest...............................

[LePetomane]

My deceased parents are turning over in their grave. They fled eastern Europe to get away from this crap and it is now here. And we have nowhere to flee to.

[Nougat]

If our politicians continue to yield to pressure from extremists not to compromise and remain mired in gridlock, the majority of decent Americans may in frustration come to view an authoritarian government as the only solution to political gridlock — as a lesser evil that has to be tolerated.

wait just a minute... aren't the so called extremists the only thing slowing exactly that from occuring? so what he's saying is if ''the opposition'' just rolls over and gives up their rights and whatnot it will be more like a choice rather them having to continue to try and force it?

the majority of decent Americans may in frustration come to view an authoritarian government as the only solution

really how can this even be printed( wait I remember seeing something about official government propaganda being used on US citizens becoming legal something like a year ago )? how in the world can this even be suggested and not completely scoffed at

[photogpat]

I said "I see him making the case"... Not that he was intentionally doing it.

I still see the case to be made from this for the 2nd...look to dictators like Pinochet taking power in Chile as an example.

[Lumpy]

I see the article as primarily bemoaning political gridlock. But alas, too many people equate gun owners with right-wing yahoos; this despite that most gun owners I know of primarily want to be free of government interference, and politically are more likely to be libertarians than nascent Brownshirts.

I'm reminded of a rather shrill anti from the Straight Dope Message Board, user name Der Trish, who... well, let me quote him:

it's the gun lovers who are likely to be those "stupid but strong thugs" in the first place. If there's ever an outright descent in fascism into America, the Second Amendment advocates won't be heroically fighting the evil government, they'll be in pro-government death squads killing liberals.

That's one reason why the Republicans are so very pro-Second Amendment, in my opinion. They want their thugs to be armed.

[LePetomane]

I see the article as primarily bemoaning political gridlock. But alas, too many people equate gun owners with right-wing yahoos; this despite that most gun owners I know of primarily want to be free of government interference, and politically are more likely to be libertarians than nascent Brownshirts.

I'm reminded of a rather shrill anti from the Straight Dope Message Board, user name Der Trish, who... well, let me quote him:

it's the gun lovers who are likely to be those "stupid but strong thugs" in the first place. If there's ever an outright descent in fascism into America, the Second Amendment advocates won't be heroically fighting the evil government, they'll be in pro-government death squads killing liberals.

That's one reason why the Republicans are so very pro-Second Amendment, in my opinion. They want their thugs to be armed.

Der Trish obviously does not know his history too well.

[Grayskies]

Any else for selling california to the chinese to pay off our debt?

[djont57]

Any else for selling california to the chinese to pay off our debt?

Me!