How Much Do You Want To Keep Your Guns?

http://www.webleyweb.com/lneil/howmuchg.html

by L. Neil Smith

Would you agree to permit adults to buy, sell, read, write, make,
listen to, or watch whatever books, magazines, records, tapes, or movies
they want, no matter how pornographic — if they agreed to let you keep your
guns?
Would you agree to tolerate Buddhists, Moslems, Taoists,
Scientologists, Satanists, atheists — if they agreed to let you keep your
guns?
Would you agree to let women control their own reproductive
process, have abortions (at their own expense) — if they agreed to let you
keep your guns?
Would you agree to allow people their own sexual preference,
homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual — if they agreed to let you keep your
guns?
Would you agree to halt the “War on Drugs”, to leave others alone,
even to ruin their lives with alcohol, nicotine, heroin, cocaine, marijuana,
LSD, or any other substance — if they agreed to let you keep your guns?
Would you agree to respect the rights of anyone, no matter their
race or national origin — if they agreed to let you keep your guns?

***
No sane human being would sacrifice the rights he personally
considers precious just for the sake of imposing his own tastes or opinions
on others. Yet often it seems each of us disapproves of, and wants to
outlaw, some one little thing that somebody else cares about or wants.
Little things add up: with over 200,000,000 of us, split into
thousands of pressure groups, all working at the same time for one kind of
Prohibition or another, it’s no wonder government controls ratchet tighter
around our lives every day. Until now, it’s been a one-way process, with
everyone on every side winding up the loser — except, of course, for
politicians, bureaucrats, and lawyers.
But we can work together to reverse that process, by making a
commitment to respect and defend each other’s rights, no matter how much
each of us may personally disapprove of any particular exercise of those
rights. That doesn’t mean you have to do anything bizarre or perverse
yourself. I’m married, straight, don’t use drugs (I’m literally an Eagle
Scout) and I don’t even drink. But also, I don’t give a damn what my allies
do with their own lives, as long as they want to be free and can help me
stay that way, too.
The one limit is an obligation never to initiate force against
another person — since that’s how we began losing our rights in the first
place.
Would this change the way we’re accustomed to thinking about
freedom? No, it would make our thinking consistent, put teeth into the Bill
of Rights, and limit the power of politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers — and
Prohibitionists — to control the way we live.
Which means that every man, woman, and responsible child in this
country, would be free once again to obtain, own, and carry, openly or
concealed, any weapon — rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything –
you feel is desirable for sport or self-defense, any time, any place you
want, without asking anyone’s permission.
The other side’s counting on us to remain divided and intolerant.
That’s how they got us where they want us to start with.
How do you get started? Try writing the Libertarian Party,
DEPARTMENT LSAC, 1528 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E., Washington, DC 20003. Or call
their toll-free number, 1-(800)-682-1776. If you have the courage and
intelligence to renew your commitment to the American tradition of
individual liberty, they need to hear from you now.
I intend to keep my guns, and the rest of my rights, as well.
How about you?

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L. Neil Smith is the award-winning author of 19 books including The
Probability Broach, The Crystal Empire, Henry Martyn, The Lando Calrissian
Adventures, Pallas, and (forthcoming) Bretta Martyn and Lever Action. An NRA
Life Member and founder of the Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus, he has
been active in the Libertarian movement for 34 years and is its most
prolific and widely-published living novelist.
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