Thread:Comments:Gun background checks a no-go in US Senate/The mission of the U.S. government is not to keep the people SAFE; it is to keep them FREE

Here we go again with the mob mentality people saying that their opinion is the obviously correct one and that anyone who disagrees with them is an imbecile or worse. Innoculation: Intelligent people with the same core values can disagree about how best to pursue them.

An ex marine who was a close friend of mine once showed me his "assault rifle" and said, "Do you know the difference between an 'assault' rifle and any other rifle?" I said, "No." He continued, "None. The phrase 'assault rifle' is the creation of the media.  The only significant difference is that 'assault rifles' don't have expensive hardwood stocks."

The mass killings at Columbine and Sandy Hook raise important questions for society. It is important for us to discuss those questions respectfully and vigorously and to give serious consideration to all viewpoints. This begins with refraining from mob mode blogging, which is akin to a religious service and just as tolerant of heretics.

IMO, rather than disarm the population, we should be focused on why the population has become so childlike, so immoral, and so psychotic that the need to discuss disarming the population even arises. The correct response, in my opinion, is for us to raise up our children into good, strong adult men and women who know how to fight, know how to shoot, and know when to make peace and to keep it.

Freedom is not free, and it is not safe. But neither is the alternative.