Letter to the gun-grabbers of San Francisco

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 06 Mar 2006 17:29:57 GMT  <== RKBA ==> 

Jim March at The High Road - a letter to the Brady Bunch about the Proposition H situation (handgun ban) in San Francisco. Wonderful description of when non-violent protest makes sense, and when only violence will do. [geekwitha.45]

My point is this: I'm possibly the only person you've ever talked to who has actually used the civil disobedience techniques of Dr. King to effect social change related to a civil right. You may think you have a monopoly on pacifism, and that a "gun nut" like me couldn't possibly demonstrate it, and you'd be wrong.

Pacifism however isn't a universal philosophy. It's a "tool in the toolbox" to be used when appropriate. Gandhi used it against a Democracy with a free press, with great success. Dr. King did likewise. While elements of each were evil, the basic nature of each (Britain and the US) were fundamentally just. Had Gandhi or Dr. King tried it with a truly evil bunch like the Nazis or the old Soviet Union, they'd have failed rather miserably. Only force took them down -- outright killing in the case of the Nazis, economic sabotage killing probably tens of thousands (at the hands of the US) in the case of the USSR - go feed google the terms:

Siberian pipeline sabotage explosion

...if you don't believe me.

So when dealing with any civil rights violation by a government or individual (remember, ALL crimes with a victim are civil rights violations from murder on down) it is necessary to sort out whether their level of evil more closely corresponds to Germany in 1940ish or Britain at the same time and the US circa 1965.

I judged the San Diego elections officials and the criminal justice system supporting them as being morally equivalent to the people Gandhi and King dealt with, and hence used similar tactics. In doing so I raised awareness of elections oversight issues and this is now a subject of reform legislation.

Faced with a violent mugger I'd make another decision entirely, and you bet I'd want a gun on me. Because I assure you, its use would be completely appropriate under any rational moral system and current California law.

In other words, you've misunderstood the lessons of the civil rights movement. It will be a very expensive mistake if you succeed with your plans for disarmament of all but government agents.

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