{"id":8522,"date":"2009-08-17T18:34:45","date_gmt":"2009-08-18T01:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=8522"},"modified":"2009-08-17T18:34:45","modified_gmt":"2009-08-18T01:34:45","slug":"when-i-held-that-gun-in-my-hand-i-felt-a-surge-of-power-like-god-must-feel-when-hes-holding-a-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=8522","title":{"rendered":"When I Held That Gun in My Hand I Felt a Surge of Power — Like God Must Feel When He's Holding a Gun"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have a whole bunch of rights in this country, and by and large, that’s a good thing. But just because you have a right, that doesn’t mean you should always choose to exercise it. You shouldn’t go up to random passersby on the street and insult them, for example, even though you have the right to free speech. With rights come the responsibility to use those rights in a sane and sensible manner.<\/p>\n

One of those things that we used to agree on was that you shouldn’t bring a loaded gun to a political debate. Oh, perhaps you have the legal right to — you may have all the proper permits to carry a concealed weapon, or you may have the right under your state’s law to openly carry a weapon. But like standing outside a funeral and telling people their loved ones are burning in Hell, it’s an irresponsible use of your rights.<\/p>\n

Or, if you’re Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., it’s a perfectly cromulent thing to do.<\/p>\n

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Now, just as we can’t arrest Fred Phelps and the Pips for preaching anti-gay, anti-military, anti-human hatred, nor can we arrest those people who are blinkered enough to think it’s a good idea to carry a gun to an anti-government protest. But that doesn’t mean we should embrace it. That doesn’t mean we should encourage it. That doesn’t mean we should say that rights are rights, and any exercise of those rights is a good thing. Because sometimes exercising those rights is the wrong thing to do.<\/p>\n

Look, I’m a radical civil libertarian, and even with regards to guns, I’m mostly agnostic<\/a>. But carrying a gun to a town hall meeting or an anti-government protest is, if not illegal, then deeply immoral. And it’s not anti-liberty to say so, any more than it’s anti-liberty to condemn Fred Phelps. Indeed, there was a time when conservatives could be counted on to defend social order and the responsible use of rights. But of course, modern conservatives are radicals in all but name; they bear as much relationship to the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt as they do to the Socialist Workers Party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have a whole bunch of rights in this country, and by and large, that’s a good thing. But just because you have a right, that doesn’t mean you should always choose to exercise it. You shouldn’t go up to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservative-zaniness-right-wingers-etc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}