Anti-Government Musket Mentality Armed with an AR-15

Anti-Government Musket Mentality Armed with an AR-15

It came from outer space. The huge, soulless, amoeba like creature with freedom-snatching tentacles worming their way into our rights. Eeek! It's...THE GOVERNMENT! This seems to be the ideology driving the GOP (guns over people). If their 1950's Sci-Fi paranoia isn't enough of a hindrance to financial and social progress in our country, they are now promoting insurrection against "one nation, indivisible" in their anti-Government hysteria.

After the massacre at Sandy Hook, followed by the ambush of the New York firefighters, (both with an AR-15 Bushmaster), I was sure that we could all get behind a ban on this type of weapon. Surely any right thinking person would agree renewing the Assault Weapons Ban coupled with Universal Background Checks would be a positive start in a multi-prong approach to reduce gun violence in the U.S.

Arguments exploded against these ideas. What I heard was a pathological hatred of government. "It is our right to be armed with the same firepower as 'The Government.'" "We need to defend ourselves against 'The Government.'" This conjures up images of Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barbara Boxer sweeping Lower Broad with assault weapons à la Rambo. Will Rep. Sheila Butt and Rep. Marsha Blackburn be stationed in The Gulch with shoulder mounts -- ready to blast taxpaying, rights brandishing, God-fearing citizens? They are, after all, "The Government," too.

"Every single one of us from one end of the country to the other, we will stand and fight," was the NRA call to arms. Other gun "frenziods" in local government have demanded defiance of any yet to be enacted Federal gun control laws. They are stockpiling cans of food in case of ...whatever. The 13 century Magna Carta is referenced to justify their fears and actions. The Magna Carta!? The shelf life of their "end days" canned goods is shorter than the shelf life of the irrational fears and anti-government fervor of the Guns over People.

The government-phobes have hi-jacked the terms "freedom" and "rights" and The Constitution to serve their anti-government agenda. In the United States of America, we are the government. We, the people, the voters, are the government. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Sen. Bob Corker, Sen. Lamar Alexander, these people are "The Government." The Government isn't some disembodied evil. The Government is people. It's us.

Americans who choose fear ideology (and guns) over people, over children, concern me. I suggest arming with education, ideas, compromise and a drive to be one people of one country. Neither King John, nor King George, in any form, is coming to get us. A real danger is from those with a musket mentality armed with a fundamentalist ideology based on fear of us -- we the people -- we, The Government.

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