Quote of the day—John Yemma

It is a shame that we are still a species that feels comfortable, even celebrates, an instrument built solely to maim or kill. We are, after all, the same species that believes in persuasion and reason and has seen the efficacy of nonviolent movements. Yet ending tyranny and oppression and defending life and liberty still seem to require firearms.

John Yemma
March 12, 2012
Guns and freedom: the American paradox
[For the Christian Science Monitor it’s actually a pretty favorable opinion. My impression is that Yemma in transition from an anti-gun position to something neutral or even positive. He sees the tragedy of firearms misuse but recognizes that at least in worst case situations they are necessary.

We need to keep coming out of the closet and showing the benefits of gun ownership. It’s fun, it decreases crime, and it is a deterrent to tyranny.—Joe]

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5 thoughts on “Quote of the day—John Yemma

  1. I was especially tickled by the commenter who misinterprets the term “global apex predator” and asserts that violent criminals couldn’t possibly be characterized as predators since they don’t eat their victims. “Predation always results in death and the absorption of the preys flesh through consumption.” {rolleyes}

    Practical note: CSM limits the width of the comment region, so if comments get nested too deeply they become an unreadable single column of letters. I’ve reported this issue to Disqus, but for the moment you can read the deep comments if you turn off stylesheets (View -> Page Style -> No Style in FireFox).

  2. Starting down the path, yes, but starting from a logical fallacy.

    I guarantee you that the STI that adorns many a USPSA shooter’s hips was designed solely and specifically to be as accurate as possible with the intent that it is used for punching holes in paper targets. Alas, intent is non-transferrable.

    I have a safe full of guns, most of which I use for nothing more than enjoyment and would never be brought to bear against another living thing, much less a human. Even my Mosin Nagant, a weapon that probably was used in a war and possibly has been used to take life, now is nothing more than something I pull out once every blue moon to be not much more than a firecracker.

    The celebration isn’t that they can cause death, but that they can protect life and liberty; a point he seems to understand but just misses.

  3. ” ending tyranny and oppression and defending life and liberty still seem to require firearms.”

    Well duh. Holding hands and singing kumbaya didn’t put Hitler in the dirt. It didn’t Put Tojo down. More recently It didn’t put Bin Laden down either. It won’t help you in a dark alley against some punk who has decided he wants your money, your body, or your life either.
    Bad people exist, and sometimes it takes lethal force to stop them.

  4. How about this?
    “It is a shame that we are still a species that feels comfortable, even celebrates, an instrument (leftist/Progressive government) built solely to initiate force against peaceable citizens.”

    or

    “It is a shame that we are still a species that feels comfortable, even celebrates, the erosion of the rights to self determination.”

  5. Sometimes we forget that even the most modest criminal is a tyrant–after all, a tyrant is anyone who disrupts our lives, liberties, ownership of property, and pursuit of happiness, without due process of law. The only difference between a criminal tyrant and a governmental one, is that the latter does so under the color of so-called Law.

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