And your point is?

I’ve read Half-Truth Henigan’s most recent post several times now and I still don’t really get what his point is. I think he is trying to claim the NRA is saying if gun owners don’t get their way they will start shooting politicians. But the data he presents doesn’t read that way to me. And Half-Truth doesn’t come right out and say that either. He just alludes to it.


Even the guy he quotes says things that I find completely appropriate and would feel comfortable defending in a debate against anyone:



We’re screaming! We’re protesting! We’re faxing! We’re phoning and marching and yelling….


But still…they ignore us.


I hear the clank of metal on metal in the distance, but not so distant today as it was yesterday or the day before, or the day before, or the day before.


I have a feeling, just a feeling, that I’m not alone. There are a lot of people out there like me who will no longer tolerate the arrogance of politicians who ignore us. I’ve been told that there’s only one thing worse than being abused, and that’s being ignored. If you kick me, at least I know I exist. But if you ignore me, then I’m not even worth the trouble.


My question to everyone reading this article is this: “For you, as an individual, when do you draw your saber? When do you say “Yes, I am willing to rise up and overthrow an oppressive, totalitarian government?”


Is it when the government takes away your  private business?
Is it when the government rigs elections?
Is it when the government imposes martial law?
Is it when the government takes away your firearms?


Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating the immediate use of force against the government. It isn’t time, and hopefully that time will never come. But one thing is certain:  “Now is the time to rattle your sabers.” If not now, then when?


When the government ignores the First Amendment, it is time to rattle the Second Amendment sabers. It’s all about accountability. So long as our elected officials believe we will rise up and overthrow them under certain conditions, then they will not allow those conditions to occur. Their jobs and their very lives depend on it.


Even after Half-Truth Henigan removes half of what was actually said there isn’t anything I really have a problem with:



We the people have been exercising our First Amendment right to the hilt. We’re screaming! We’re protesting! We’re faxing! We’re phoning and marching and yelling….But still…they ignore us….There are a lot of people out there like me who will no longer tolerate the arrogance of politicians who ignore us….And here’s the million-dollar question: What happens if the First Amendment fails?…When the government ignores the First Amendment, it is time to rattle the Second Amendment sabers…As long as our elected officials believe we will rise up and overthrow them under certain conditions, then they will not allow those conditions to occur. Their jobs and their very lives depend on it.


I guess it is just a different mindset. I have to conclude that Half-Truth Henigan is of the mind that no matter what the government decides that is what you have to live (or die) with. I guess in his world view those 60 million (give or a take few 10’s of millions) innocent people murdered by their own government in the last century deserved what they got.


I am not of that mindset. I learned the hard way that even if you have a contract with someone or an organization it is meaningless unless you have a means of enforcing that contract. And you have to be willing to use that enforcement means in order for the other party to adhere to the contract.


The Second Amendment is the people’s means to enforce the contracts known as our State and Federal constitutions. Those constitutions are the granting of certain powers to the government. When discussing (First Amendment) and pleading (the courts) about contract violation fails and the violations are too egregious to ignore the means to break the contract must reside with the people who granted the government those powers to begin with. Or has Henigan conveniently forgotten these words?



We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,[71] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.


The Second Amendment protects the ability of people, like me, to have a reasonable chance of saying, “Please don’t do that” in the right tone of voice and being heard in such a way that the politician and their hired thugs who have overstepped the authority given to him or her by the Constitution gets a chill down their back and then scans the area every time they step outside. The enforcement of all contracts ultimate boils down to someone with a gun and a willingness to pull the trigger if necessary. Half-Truth Henigan and all politicians should know that and I don’t have a problem with them being given a gentle reminder every once in a while.


Update: Sebastian posts what I wish I had written on this topic. The sarcasm is strong.

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