Peter Hendra wrote:

bunch of snipped stuff

Thus
"Never try to teach a pig to sing; It wastes your time and annoys the
pig." -- Mark Twain - one of my favourite authors and philosophers

Ever so kindest regards
Peter

Peter,

You thus dismiss all arguments in response to your
original post eh? Usually you are more thoughtful
and at least try to communicate and understand the
other posters points.

If pressed you will find that others here are also
well read and can find historically popular
figures to quote as well. You don't even have to
read the entire reference works as there are books
full of quotes from notable figures to be taken
easily by those wishing to make speeches.

As it happens, my family lost blood in both the
parlimentarian upheaval in England, and (later)
the American revolutionary war. Our countries
founders had specific reasons for including the
1st amendment (freedom of speech), and 2nd
amendment (right to keep and bear arms) as well as
other rights in our constitution.

It may well be that the American political
experiment will end in tyranny and disaster like
so many political experiments before it, but I
doubt that you can safely conclude so or predict
the date of its demise. History will be the
ulitmate judge.

In the meantime, I wonder what other governments
are safe, and how long their citizens will
appreciate their general disarmament when the next
world upheaval bursts upon the scene. History
indicates it is just a matter of time.

Regards,

Don W.