I’ve noticed the pro-gun guys seem to categorize people into distinct groups good or bad, honest or dishonest, law-abiding or criminal.
I don’t think it’s so simple. I think there are many people in a gray area, they’re law-abiding but they take some shortcuts. They’re certainly not criminals but they aren’t afraid to take some liberties with the letter of the law.
It’s the folks in this gray area that would be affected most by additional gun laws. For example those sellers on the Bloomberg video. I would imagine some of them are in this gray area. They’ll cheat a little but they’re not criminals really. Some of these guys would stop doing what they do if it became a little harder.
They’re certainly not criminals but they aren’t afraid to take some liberties with the letter of the law.
criminality and law-breaking, i don’t think it works the way mikeb thinks it works.
if the law bans manufacturing firearms named “AR-15”, and i switch out the roll-mark die on my CNC machine such as to start it manufacturing “BS-16″‘s instead, i am not taking any liberties with the letter of the law. i am violating its spirit, perhaps, but i am obeying its letter and hence am not a criminal.
if the law bans possessing black tea (let’s say) and i happen to have a box of Lapsang Souchong in my cupboard — just sitting there, understand, not going anywhere or harming anyone — then i am breaking the letter of the law and am a criminal. doesn’t matter if the intention of the law was originally that i should do noone any harm, nor that i am not in fact doing anyone any harm; i’d be a criminal because i violated the literal meaning of the law.
sometimes it can be hard to tell whether a given case falls into one or the other of these categories, or both. but telling the difference between the categories themselves really shouldn’t be as hard as it seems to be for mikeb.
I’ve noticed that you “notice” a lot of things about gun owners, such as your claim that we all stick together, no matter what. Perhaps you should scroll down a bit and stick that argument in one of the open-carry discussions, because they seem to have forgotten.
Forgive me if your “notice” doesn’t carry a lot of weight.
October 14th, 2009 at 5:01 am
I’ve noticed the pro-gun guys seem to categorize people into distinct groups good or bad, honest or dishonest, law-abiding or criminal.
I don’t think it’s so simple. I think there are many people in a gray area, they’re law-abiding but they take some shortcuts. They’re certainly not criminals but they aren’t afraid to take some liberties with the letter of the law.
It’s the folks in this gray area that would be affected most by additional gun laws. For example those sellers on the Bloomberg video. I would imagine some of them are in this gray area. They’ll cheat a little but they’re not criminals really. Some of these guys would stop doing what they do if it became a little harder.
October 14th, 2009 at 8:44 am
I’ve noticed the anti-gun guys seem to categorize objects into distinct groups good or bad, honest or dishonest, law-abiding or criminal.
The difference is that objects are inherently neutral and people can actually be good or bad, honest or dishonest, law-abiding or criminal.
October 14th, 2009 at 10:04 am
OMG MikeB just used the “make it illegaler” argument!
October 14th, 2009 at 11:41 am
criminality and law-breaking, i don’t think it works the way mikeb thinks it works.
if the law bans manufacturing firearms named “AR-15”, and i switch out the roll-mark die on my CNC machine such as to start it manufacturing “BS-16″‘s instead, i am not taking any liberties with the letter of the law. i am violating its spirit, perhaps, but i am obeying its letter and hence am not a criminal.
if the law bans possessing black tea (let’s say) and i happen to have a box of Lapsang Souchong in my cupboard — just sitting there, understand, not going anywhere or harming anyone — then i am breaking the letter of the law and am a criminal. doesn’t matter if the intention of the law was originally that i should do noone any harm, nor that i am not in fact doing anyone any harm; i’d be a criminal because i violated the literal meaning of the law.
sometimes it can be hard to tell whether a given case falls into one or the other of these categories, or both. but telling the difference between the categories themselves really shouldn’t be as hard as it seems to be for mikeb.
October 14th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Whatever happened to intent being a component of a crime?
October 14th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Mike,
I’ve noticed that you “notice” a lot of things about gun owners, such as your claim that we all stick together, no matter what. Perhaps you should scroll down a bit and stick that argument in one of the open-carry discussions, because they seem to have forgotten.
Forgive me if your “notice” doesn’t carry a lot of weight.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I noticed that that gray scale would be very convenient to a man who admits to having a criminal past:
http://weerdbeard.livejournal.com/568583.html
Much easier to lock up the guns, rather than MikeB and his ilk!
At least for MikeB!