Posted: 4/23/2007 8:51:39 PM EDT
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"There are evil people in this world. Some use weapons to accomplish their evil goals. Some use their fists, some use knives, some use guns, some of the most evil and vile ones use words. Some people, like me, aren't going to let these evil people get away with their evil schemes. Sometimes, our words alone are not enough to stop them. Thus, we use guns." <shrugs> |
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This answer is not particularly 2nd-oriented, but is a "pragmatic" approach: Ask her why people need smoke alarms and fire extinguishers. Then, explain that much like smoke alarms and fire extinguishers help protect people and their property until the firemen arrive, guns help protect people and their property until the police arrive. |
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Someone asked me that once, they were in their late 30's, and I told them in case they break into my home I can kill them (in self defense of course). And of course I meant I would only shoot until the threat was stopped. They never talked to me after that. The guy was a tool and was trying to start trouble. I don't recommend telling a 12 year old that though. It does seem like a strange assignment and maybe the school is trying to get data on any kids that might have what the libs call access to firearms. |
To borrow from other civil rights movements... Say it loud...I'm a gun owner and I'm proud! We're here. We're armed...we're not going away! |
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"Those who beat their swords into plowshares plow for those who keep theirs" -Ben Franklin Adolph Hitler: "1935 will go down in history! For the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!" I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters. Frank Lloyd Wright "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" "Who will protect us from our protectors?" Banning guns is taking away the right of a person by a government whose legitimacy is determined by a document that specifically allows that right! "The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good." - George Washington "The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." - Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 1884-1888. "A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves ... and include all men capable of bearing arms." - Senator Richard Henry Lee, 1788, on "militia" in the 2nd Amendment. "That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United states who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms..." - Samuel Adams, in Phila. Independent Gazetteer, August 20, 1789. "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" -Benjamin Franklin- gun control: Teenagers are roaring through town at 90, the speed limit is 25. Your solution is to lower the speed limit to 20. My favorite analogy: An educated populace, being necessary for the preservation of a free state, the right to keep and read books, shall not be infringed. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created by an act of Congress in 1917. Buahhahhahhaaaa :) lol Private citizens don't need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection. Common sense gun control has been championed by some of the most brilliant political minds of the Twentieth Century... like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot. .... There's tons more but this should do as 'food for thought'. |
To murder innocent Iraqi children for oil and kill unarmed minorities? Because I'd imagine that's how the teacher will interpret it. |
your niece is nothing like mine... she want's to know when she gets an AR. |
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We have a duty to ensure our own protection. To be able to hunt as a sportsman or target shoot competitively are additional benefits. As adults we are supposed to achieve independence from others controlling us, so why would you be dependent on somebody to safeguard your right to breathe free? |
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"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms." Tench Coxe in "Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal Constitution." Under the pseudonym "A Pennsylvanian" in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789 at 2 col. 1. Coxe sent a copy of his essay to James Madison along with a letter of the same date. This is a start. "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops" Noah Webster, "An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution" (1787) in Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States (P. Ford, 1888) "To disarm the people [is] the best and most effectual way to enslave them " George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 380 (June 14, 1788). "The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us." Patrick Henry, "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death" speech delivered on March 23, 1775. "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined." Patrick Henry, 3 Elliot, Debates at 45 (Virginia Convention, June 5, 1788). "The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them." Joseph Story, Dane Professor of Law in Harvard University, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833), Book III at 746, § 1858.Chapter. Whole Book. " but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens... who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist.'' Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers # 29. "Every man who loves peace, every man who loves his country, every man who loves liberty, ought to have it ever before his eyes, that he may cherish in his heart a due attachment to the Union of America, and be able to set a due value on the means of preserving it." James Madison, The Federalist Papers # 41. "False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one may drown in it; that has no remedy for evils, except destruction. "The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes....Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” Thomas Jefferson's "Commonplace Book," 1774-1776, quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria in Chapter 40 of "On Crimes and Punishment", 176.Chapter. Whole Book. Print these out for her. She may not understand these quotes at first, but explaining them to here could change her perspective in a good way and change her life forever. Open her eyes early. |
Firearms are inanimate objects and can not possibly be either "good" or "bad". They just lie there until someone picks them up, then they can be used for good or evil. |
I would just tell her that you found a gun on the street and decided that you would shoot cans near the subway and the rest is history. 
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