The 20 Craziest Pro-Gun Arguments you'll ever read

Take each of these statements and substitute the word {guns} every time you see {x}.

1. Taking away {x} violates my Constitutional rights.
2. Nobody should have to register {x}. It's a private matter.
3. Allowing access to {x} is necessary to save lives.
4. If someone can't afford {x}, tax payers should help them pay for it, even if they don't agree.
5. The right to {x} is only a problem for religious people. It's nobody's business who buys or sells {x}.
6. Teenagers are old enough to make their own decisions about whether or not they want {x}.
7. Teenagers should be able to get [x}without parental consent or notification.
8. The world would be a better place with less people in it. That's why we need {x} - to help reduce the population.
9. The mentally ill should be given {x} whether they want them or not. After all, if they don't need them, nobody does.
10. People should be able to get {x} whenever they want and as often as they want for any reason or no reason at all. It's a right, and nobody should be able to stop you from exercising your rights.
11. Women need {x} to protect themselves.
12. Women are empowered by the ability to have {x}, and that's why it's important to keep them legal.
13. The government shouldn't have a say in who gets {x}.
14. People who are opposed to {x} are just trying to force their beliefs on other people.
15. Nobody should have to be educated about {x} before being allowed to get one.
16. Anyone who wants {x} should be able to just walk in and get them.
17. So what if {x} do kill people? The world would be better off with fewer people in it, anyway.
18. Making {x} illegal will only result in more deaths.
19. Giving poor people {x} helps them to reduce the number of children they have, and saves the government money.  Poor people need {x}.
20. If you don't like {x}, you just shouldn't get one.

Sounds totally insane to you, doesn't it? I know. It is.  It would be absolutely insane to pass out guns to people with mental conditions, or to encourage poor people to reduce their family sizes using guns. It would be insane to say that we should use guns to help reduce the world's population, or to say that nobody should have to be educated about guns before buying one.

Yet, these are the 20 most common arguments used to justify abortion - an act that kills a living human being without just cause or provocation and without benefit of a trial by jury solely for the crime of being "unwanted".  If it sounds insane to you to advocate guns because guns kill people, imagine how I feel when you spend your time arguing for abortion.  Abortion kills people. Get it?

Abortion kills more people than guns do every single day. It's not even a close race. almost 55 million deaths in the last 40 years.  It doesn't just kill the babies. It kills the mothers, too. How many more deaths are going to have to take place before you realize that banning guns without teaching people respect for life is a futile exercise?

Obama's Database and You

I read a statement this morning that disturbed me greatly from a conservative newsfeed.  The words were quoted as being from Maxine Waters, the U.S. Representative for California's 43rd District. This is the exact quote I read

"The President has put in place an  organization with the kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life," Representative Maxine Waters told Roland Martin on Monday.  "That's going to be very, very powerful," Waters said. "That database will have information about everything on every individual on ways that  it's never been done before and whoever runs for President on the Democratic ticket has to deal with that. They're going to go down with that database and the concerns of those people because they can't get around it. And he's [President Obama] been very smart. It's very powerful what he's leaving in place."

What is the name of the organization she was referring to? Organizing for America, which has now become the nonprofit organization Organizing for Action.   The video on the front page of Organizing for Action has a video of Michelle Obama in which she states Organizing for Action is "the next phase in our movement for change".  What kind of plans do they have that require a massive database of information "about everything on every individual" in America?  Why is it that this database is being held in the hands of a private organization? What right do they have to assemble and keep this information?

Lest this post be mistaken for just unsubstantiated hype, here is the interview Roland Martin conducted with Maxine Waters. You can listen and decide for yourself whether to be concerned.



What kind of information does this database contain? According to a report by NBC News:

"it contains the names of at least 4 million Obama donors – as well as millions of others (the campaign has consistently refused to say how many) compiled from voter registration rolls and other public databases. In addition, the campaign used sophisticated computer programs — with code names like “Narwhal” — to collect information through social media: Anybody who contacted the campaign through Facebook had their friends and “likes” downloaded. If they contacted the campaign website through mobile apps, cellphone numbers and address books were downloaded. Computer “cookies” captured Web browsing and online spending habits."

That's a whole lot of information in the hands of an organization whose intentions aren't all that clear. It isn't just Obama supporters who are in this database, either, and since the database was compiled from public records and voter registrations it could be every adult in America.  Since it's in the hands of a private organization, there's no requirement for them to inform anyone and no way to monitor what they do with this information. It's a fairly effective way to shut down the Freedom of Information Act and ensure that nosy reporters and bloggers can't peek under the hood to see just what's going on.