I must preface this with the facts: I neither own powder-burning firearms nor do I support the idea of a ban or prohibition on them. I do think that if people want to own guns they should have to adhere to established and lawful safety regulations: I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how a person's right to own a weapon are violated if you are able to touch that weapon whenever you wish. You still have it. Who cares if you actually have to keep it locked up or otherwise secured from children and others who do not need to touch your gun. If you still have your gun, you still have your rights.
There now: On with the show.
I wrote this piece because of reading about the 3D printable gun and reading some of the rationalization about this:
A Computer-aided design (CAD) file that would allow others with 3-D printers to create their own handguns was made available for free on Monday.
“I recognize that this tool might be used to harm people,” Wilson told Forbes. “That’s what it is — it’s a gun. But I don’t think that’s a reason to not put it out there. I think that liberty in the end is a better interest.”
So....."Liberty" is my right to be injured or killed by, or to injure or kill somebody with a cheapshit plastic gun.
And I don't have liberty until I do have one of these pieces of shit?
So, the reality is now people can make their own gun at home. HOMEGROWN.
So we can print GUNS "legally or illegally" and consider this 'freedom and liberty".
Well, same goes for my marijuana. I can grow it at home and use it on my own despite the fact it is illegal and considered FAR more dangerous than guns but the dumb motherfuckers who run this Liberty-challenged country.
Marijuana smokers are human beings and AMERICANS who deserve far more liberty from their oppressive government than they have. What liberties we have we have to take by force.
We can grow at home (I don't because police kill you for that here in the South) and make our own liberty but the government and the law have an absolute jihad against the nearly harmless cannabis plant.
Yes: nearly harmless. Virtually without known harms, especially if you set aside the questionable act of inhaling burning fumes, you have a plant that is the most enjoyed and used 'drug' in the whole wide world with exactly ZERO deaths associated with it.
Guns kill 30000+ every year in America. Please buy as many as you can afford. Keep at least 1 in your child's room and buy a fighting rifle so you can be trained to fight off oppression when Obama's ACORN thugs come to your house for your precious gun(s).
So that means, very clearly, that marijuana IS a bigger threat to you and your child, your family, your dog, pooties, raccoons, that old lady's squash plants down the road: everything in the world is at constant threat of destruction and mayheme from the Evil Weed™.
My righteous, bitter sarcasm aside, it is one of The Most Fucked-Up Things Ever that we can have all the firearms we want but cops will use firearms against harmless marijuana smokers/cannabis culture.
The Obama Admin ships machine guns to Mexico and doesn't think this is a big deal: we get tons of marijuana in exchange and we are supposed to wad our panties in abject horror.
Since 12/14 thousands of people have been killed accidently or murdered by guns. In that same time, nobody has been injured or killed or maimed by marijuana.
What has the US government spent their time on?
What are the priorities of one of the most advanced, powerful and (historically wealthy) nations on earth as evidenced by what they spend their money on and accomplish?
Republicans and much of the Democratic Party have masterfully failed to do much of anything about the mayhem and carnage of Gun Liberty.
But, buddy, they have been very active against marijuana, raiding dispensaries, recriminalizing weed possessing in Washington immediately after THE PEOPLE voted it legal, shaking down doctors and patients in Oregon.
They have protected you from exactly goddamned nothing.
Pot is NOT a problem.
Pot smokers are NOT a problem,
Medical Marijuana is NOT a problem.
Hyperbole
We have had several children kill themselves or other children since 12/14. They found a gun or, worse, got one for their 5th birthday.
What would happen if we took some of these ugly tragedies and replaced "guns" with "Marijuana"?
5 yo boy finds father's marijuana: burns self with lighter. Lives.
13 yo boy finds moms marijuana, smokes it with 9 yo sister: both in trouble but still alive with full lives ahead of them.
Speaking from my own experience, I have never had my bong go off accidentally, though I did spill half a bowl of good weed once when I tried to clean the bong (I didn't know it was still loaded. High capacity bowl, I guess).
A joint exploded back in the day and burnt little holes in my shirt. Thank God I was smoking it at work where there was no dress code.
You can't overdose on marijuana: friends of mine in college treid once: they had come back from Ecuador with some amazing shit - I never got any - and they made some killer pan of brownies. They got really high and were famous for being found crawling on the floor, but they lived and finished college.
Here's what happens when somebody leaves marijuana confections around: you get high, you freak out and go to the hospital where....you live and haven't 'really' been harmed. Don't wat shit that isn't yours is the lesson here.
Then there is this genius who steals pot from people he pulls over, then makes brownies himself, too stupid to know what he's doing:
Rest assured this cop did NOT die, was not dying, and, like most cops, is just totally ignorant about marijuana. I highlight this because cops kill people for being near marijuana. They consider this "saving lives".
The Point
The point is that gun culture seems to equate 'freedom and liberty" with owning a powderburning firearm and, further, that "liberty" is limited when one has to consider the rights of others, such as not accidentally shooting people in another room of a house or down the street (you cannot shoot a firearm inside city limits: where is the NRA in their attempts to undo this savage assault on 'liberty'?).
That one can grow a gun at home out of PLASTIC while I can be shot to death for growing a harmless weed (yes, it's too much work to always qualify the term when pot doesn't kill anybody, it just gets tiresome). That is just totally fucked up and saying "well, them's the laws" doesn't really justify jack fucking shit.
Americans are demanding and working for reforms on BOTH issues: Oddly, both issues scream for BETTER GOVERNMENT REGULATION.
Guns just are not regulated enough, marijuana isn't regulated at all. it's prohibited, which means it is OUT OF CONTROL. It's not the plant's fault so much crime grows out of it being prohibited: that's just a law of physics. Ban guns and see what happens.
Marijuana 'reform" means "regulation". It means cops are involved in structuring the process, though it will likely take training to convince them every pot smoker doesn't need to be gunned down to save lives.
Gun regulation doesn't mean "banning them": listening to the whining of gun culture, one would think limiting the # of bullets in a clip is similar to being arrested without cause. or that having to NOT leave your Glock on the coffee table and secure it is some sort of evil gummint oppression.
So I am ending by re-writing the little blurb I began with
“I recognize that this weed might not harm people,” Wilson told Forbes. “That’s what it is — it’s a weed. But I don’t think that’s a reason to not put it out there. I think that liberty in the end is a better interest.”
If we define liberty by retaining the option to hurt or kill people, maybe, just maybe we can tolerate a weed that DOESN'T HURT PEOPLE.
God forbid our social policies make any sense.