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2009
Soap Box Archives Guns in America There are a lot of people in this country who will tell you that we have a terrible problem with guns. Actually, that is a misstatement, what we really have is a terrible problem involving guns. The truth of the matter is that the problem we have lies in people, not the guns themselves, and I will grant you that there are some in this nation who have no business whatsoever having a gun of any kind in their possession. There has been a lot of talk about recently passed legislation in Tennessee which makes it legal for gun owners with carry permits to bring a gun into a restaurant, bar or state park. Local governments do, however, have the ability to "opt out" of the legislation. Some people on the left have been up in arms about the possibility of citizens legally carrying guns into parks or bars and expecting that Tennessee will all of a sudden turn into the Wild West. The truth is that a law does little to keep someone who intends to commit a crime with a gun out of state parks or bars; it only makes the intended victims defenseless. The fact of the matter is that a lot of the people who are causing the problems have been in trouble with society before and it is totally illegal for them to own a gun to start with, but what's one more law to them. They just buy their guns off the street. Now it is against the law to sell guns on the street, but it is a lucrative industry and the people who do this are just criminals selling guns to other criminals. So let's say that the lunatic left was able to pass a law that citizens of the United States could not own or have access to guns. Would the illegal sale of guns in the street stop? Would it be any more illegal to sell them than it is now? Do you think the people selling and the people buying the guns would actually care about one more law. I'm all for taking guns out of the hands of criminals and putting the hoods who sell to them out of business and in jail, but a sweeping piece of gun legislation which would confiscate the guns of law-abiding citizens would do nothing to shut down the illegal trade and absolutely nothing about taking the guns out of the hands of the people who use them to harm other people. This type of legislation would only leave families defenseless, even more susceptible to home invasions, murder and intimidation. It would be a stupid move and one that I have reason to believe would be much more difficult to pass than it would have been just a couple of years ago. Bear with me and I'll tell you why. One of the most thriving businesses in this nation since the Obama election has been the sale of firearms and ammunition. Where once sporting goods sections shelves of many retailers were crammed with any kind of bullets or shells you wanted to buy, now the selection and amounts are limited. Ask anybody who runs a retail gun store and they will more than likely tell you that they can't keep guns in stock, people are buying firearms and ammunition in record amounts. The citizens of this nation are scared, scared that a runaway liberal President and Democrat Congress will make it impossible for citizens to buy guns, scared of being harmed by criminals, scared of terrorist attack. This year we've already had H.R. 45, likely the first of many attempts by the Democrats and this administration to trample on the 2nd Amendment, which would require legal handgun owners to file a picture, health records, fingerprints, address, and a firearm safety test with the government. Criminals, however, are not likely to participate. There are a lot more American citizens who are legal gun owners now than there has ever been in modern history and when an out of touch Congress gets ready to take those legal guns away they are going to have millions of new people who will join the fight against them. They're going to think a buzz saw hit them. We don't have a gun problem in this country, we have a people problem and even if it were possible to take every gun way from every citizen in this nation including the criminals they would resort to butcher knives and baseball bats. Bad people are just bad people. Get them off the street and our most of gun problem will just go away. What do you think? Pray for our troops, and for our country God Bless America Charlie Daniels
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