Side story on the recent gun spree

[Surferbeetle]

It seems to me that that Founding Fathers came down pretty forcefully on the side of natural rights. That is the basis upon which our laws and gov are established. Some progressive thinkers don't like that at all but that is the way it is. And just to make sure that everybody was clear on that, the Founders reiterated things in the Bill of Rights.

Agree

Self defense is a responsibility, not a choice. If as a free citizen, you expect somebody else to help you with criminals and thieves, you have to help them help you. You aren't a employer of servants who commands and expects people to come help them out without a concomitant responsibility to try and help yourself. You want help, you better be willing to pitch in.

There is indeed a real and ongoing cost/responsibility that comes with accepting the goodies that a society offers: security, infrastructure, rule of law, etc. This includes flesh and blood individuals as well as 'paper' individuals (corporations).

A petite, 110 pound 55 year old women with a gun, is as formidable an opponent as 3 NFL all pro linebackers. If you take that gun away from her, then she is unable to defend herself against most of the people out there, and especially against groups of people. You have deprived her of her right to self-defense. That is a right conferred upon her by her simple existence. Nobody can legitimately take that away from her.

Free markets and natural rights are interesting to think about and experience in this context.

During my travels in Iraq it was my observation that free markets very much in effect. I was aware of various 'impromptu' bazaars that had a number of items on offer to include long rifles and handguns. Tribal and personal responsibility was not an abstract topic to many, on either side.

It was my observation that 'rights' that we take for granted here in the West were not won/kept there solely through discourse.

As to violent video games and movies, perhaps they are a deep societal response to the bicycle helmet/pads/safety belt/risk averse forces of darkness?