...And the sound of liberty

[unixronin]

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 19, 2005

Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned:

In the wake of the most recent announcement by the BATF tightening restrictions on importing receivers and other components into the US, you might do well to contact your representatives and tell them to support H.R. 1703.

Comments

[sierra-nevada.livejournal.com]

Just to play Devil's Advocate for just a moment, what about bars and other establishments where alcohol is served?

We know that people have trouble holding their liquor. They do all kinds of stupid things under the influence.

How can we attempt to prevent drunken brawls from escalating into shootings?

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Up to the owner of the establishment. Any sane owner will tell folks check'em at the door... and I think it would be a reasonable time/place/manner restriction that a municipality could place, that in order to get your liquor license you must provide checking facilities...

But I've come out of too many beer-serving establishments late at night (and having had only soft drinks to drink myself) and wondered just what kind of miscreants might lie between me and the car... of course, in the days when I palled around with a dude who was 6'3", 320, and mostly muscle and attitude, I didn't worry *too* much, but he's 3000 miles away now, so I worry...

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

To REALLY play Devil's Advocate, one could suggest that drunken idiots shooting one another in brawls is a self-correcting problem. ;) Speaking strictly from the viewpoint of natural selection, I'm not entirely sure it would be such a bad thing as all that.

[bbwoof.livejournal.com]

I'd agree with you, but the natural selection thing only works if the idiots get themselves killed before they reproduce. In this day and age, we'd have to give legal alcohol and firearms to nine-year-olds to insure that.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Sad, but increasingly true ....



Of course, we could always try (gasp!) raising kids to have a sense of personal responsibility. You know, like people USED to.

[bbwoof.livejournal.com]

What a concept!

Unfortunately, a downward spiral is much harder to break than un upward one. After a generation or two of bad education, who will teach the teachers?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think there's enough competent teachers still left in the system to bootstrap it again, if all the damned political-hack administrators and religion-driven Boards of Education were off their backs. For how much longer, though, I don't know.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

ah but think of all the therapists and shrinks that would be unemployed then!

[midiamin.livejournal.com]

That only works where there's parity of idiocy since the gun-toting drunkards don't generally take themselves out. I suspect "natural selection" will claim more people who were stupid/unlucky enough to be next to the lone gun-toting idiot in the room when he gets drunk, which I think is not the effect you were after.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, I did say I was playing devil's advocate. ;)
I actually agree that check-at-the-door is possibly a better solution ... though so far, the lesson of Florida, Vermont, Alaska et al seems to be that it really isn't a significant problem in the first place.

(Of course, with universal Vermont-style carry, the bar would be lowered somewhat, and that might no longer be true.)