Time to start keeping count, folks. The police in Ferguson, Mo., were not armed like the military to protect themselves against kids throwing bottles. They were protecting themselves from someone with a semiautomatic assault rifle using body-armor-piercing bullets.
Closer to home, an election observer recently showed up at the county auditor’s office wearing a semiautomatic pistol strapped to his hip. His quote in the Aug. 8 story “Election observer shows up with gun” that he “can’t predict when I walk out the door what’s going to happen” speaks volumes about his fears of the heavily armed world he lives in.
Even if every gun control law in this country were 100 percent enforced, decades of intensive lobbying by the National Rifle Association have ensured that any convicted felon or person with mental health issues can obtain whatever gun they want and all the ammunition they need. And so what should we be counting? The number of times our clearly stated First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly are being infringed upon by the Second Amendment.
As for the intimidation factor when you are carrying a gun? Come on, guys, at least be honest with yourselves. In the Old West, Samuel Colt’s six-shooter was nicknamed “The Great Equalizer” for a reason.
