> Well,
> I think that some short-sighted individuals within our
> "elected"
> government would probably like to go home at night feeling safe that
> some
> military vehicle nut won't come tearing throught his house with an
> armored
> vehicle. Laughing at this?
>
> You shouldn't. There are lots of people out there who really have
> lost
> complete faith in the ability of the Federal Government to justly and
> reasonably govern the Citizens of the United States. Including many
> members
> of the US Government. And they are afraid of fringe elements. Don't
> you
> think that every government worker doesn't look at rental trucks
> parked
> outside their offices with some sort of trepidation? They do. And
> government workers are having unprecedented numbers of hours of
> training in
> counter-terrorism, disaster management, etc. I know, as I work for
> the
> Department of Defense.
>
> The Citizens and Government workers are not afraid of you in your
> little
> WWII jeep. But they are afraid of groups who buy tanks and armored
> vehicles
> and perform combat training with them. And that is what this
> executive
> branch wrangling is about. They essentially cut out the availability
> of
> armored vehicles to the public by demilling the majority of them. But
> they
> could not control the importation of foreign vehicles. Or at least
> they did
> not have a reason to mess with this practice. Evidently, they feel
> that
> they need to stop this flow into the country, for whatever reason.
> Are the
> reasons benign, like trying to control access to armor by hate groups,
> ultra
> left and right, etc? Or do they just not trust any US citizens with
> this
> type of technology any more? Hey, all you have to do is watch Jerry
> or
> Oprah to realize that John Q Public with an easily available
> destructive
> device and a tank will not resolve his conflicts in a positive and
> constructive manner.
If you think Jerry Springer is showing you John Q. Public, you need to
have the government health work checj the circulation in your cubical.
>
>
> You can cry and moan about how your freedom is being subverted when
> they ban
> tanks, and cannons, and other devices. But do you really want them
> openly
> available to anybody who has a checkbook? You need to REALLY think
> about
> that one before you answer.
You tell me that if you got a checkbook you cann't get what you want
anyway? Drugs have been illegal in this country for years. The same
arguement is made by the gun control people. Out law the gund and then
the bad guys won't get them. Well one of the little publicized
interveiews with a drug trafficer stated that if they outlawed gun sales
he would quit drugs and import guns exclusively. Think about how much
tonnage is imported every year and then think if it was a lasting
substance like a gun and ammo.
> With twelve years in the military, I feel
> reasonably secure in the knowledge that if I personally own any type
> of such
> devices, I will maintain them properly and not engage in any
> activities
> which would offend my neighbors. But how does a Government determine
> which
> people are 'safe' to own such devices? Let's use the Littlefield Scud
> as an
> example. I don't know Jacques Littlefield, but to my knowledge, he
> has
> never committed a felony, or belonged to any organizations which
> openly
> advocate the overthrow of the United States Government. He imports a
> Scud.
> His intention is to have the vehicle and missile as a part of his
> collection. But is he accompanying the missile and transporter
> through all
> phases of its movement? No. Does he personally supervise the proper
> safe
> rendering of the missile (or even know how to do it)? No, and it
> bites him
> in the ass. How difficult would it be for a 'bad' organization to get
> hold
> of this non-demilled missile, fill it with anthrax, and send it?
>
> Well from personal experience training to perform ship raids, and some
>
> knowledge of the practice of launching missiles, not very. These are
> very
> real threats. How difficult would it be to drive a privately owned
> armored
> vehicle down to the center of the city, and start firing Sarin shells
> randomly? Very easy. Remember Tokyo? Three ziplock bags of Sarin.
> 5500
> victims.
>
> Wake up, guys. While they may be fighting the citizenry, and
> depriving
> rights, and quashing hobbies, they have bigger fish to catch.
> Important
> dangerous ones which may be out there to hurt you and your family.
> And if
> you get caught in the net, that's your problem. And if it really
> bothers
> you, start electing people who really work to resolve social conflicts
> which
> lead to the proliferation of radical fringe elements in the beginning,
>
> instead of playing them off against each other in political games.
>
If the bad guys want to hurt us they will. As per your example. Tim
McVeigh got all he needed at the good old farm bureau Coop, how much
more American can you get. As for the world war two vintage MV's falling
into the wrong hands. I have a welder. I have a small bulldozer. Sheet
metal is in large supplies. Ever watch mad Max. You get the message.
With todays high performance engines, stronger metals and good old
American ingenuity, well I could have a lot more distructive vehicle all
home grown. As you said it worked for Tim McVeigh, and he didn't use a
welder or harden the vehicle from my understanding.
The point is, the government cannot protect you all the time from all
the nuts out there. There are bad people out there. They are going to do
bad things. IF we outlaw everything that might be used to hurt someone
or or selfs, we would all be living in caves and still wouldn't have
fire.
You are right, we need to start working on the cause of some of these
social problems instead of the symptoms. I remember in the early 80's
when I was in high school, it was not uncommon for some of us guys to
set in the parking lot at lunch hour and compair new hunting rifles and
shotguns. Hell one time I remember the vice princple and a couple of the
teachers were out there too! All through high school, I carried a Buck
110, 4-inch blade in my pocket. You know what, I never stabbed no one
didn't even threaten anyone with them. I knew there would be Hell to pay
when DAD found out. It is called responsibility. We knew what it was
and took it. Course it is hard to teach responsibilty for ones actions
when we have a President who don't take responsibility for his.
Gordon W. Bell
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