Speaking of meetups, it’s time to plan an RMBB,my friend.

Guns scare me. Always have. Even when I was shotting at rabbits in the hills near my home when I was 12. My father and some of my brothers hunt, but I don’t get the attraction to it. Seeing pictures of my nephew holding the ears of a boar he shot made my stomach turn.

And if someone would have arranged a RMBB in June when i was in Denver I could have beaten Andy over the head with my bible. It’s a hard back Ignatius Press bible. (Although it’s a little dusty these days.)

I love to shoot.  I freely admit that I think it is because of the power of the weapon.  Don’t get me wrong, a Marine trained me, so safety is first, but when that trigger is pulled…

Patrick, maybe you could attend the RMBB in August?

Tsk, tsk, Patrick - you Christians and your violence!

You were in Denver?  Had I known, I would have arranged some sort of meet up with the locals.

That’s right, Andy. We can be very aggressive, not unlike other humans.

Yes, I was in Denver for a wedding. I did meet one blogger.

You were in Claremont last week. I work in La Verne. I could have said hello. Like two ships passing in the night…

We still have to figure out when we can do the Blogger Bash. Since so many people do their vacations in summer, getting the scheduling down for a summer event is always tough. I know that the first few weeks of August are bad for me (although I also really need to get my schedule somewhere so that I can keep track of myself a little bit better).

As for Patrick’s last trip to Denver, let it be known that Patrick is one of the nicest bloggers I’ve had the opportunity to meet and near the top in the all-important “fun to drink with” category.

First week of August would work great for me, Beth will be out of town. Only time I can’t do it is early September, I’ve got my high school reunion.

And let it be known that Zombyboy is as genuine, intelligent, and funny in person as he seems on his blog.

Put down your guns! Hugs all around, folks!

Zombyboy & whomever else it may concern,
I’m down with another RMBB but i have one request: Not in denver. There are a bunch of decent locations in arvada, wheat ridge, littleton, thorton, even aurora that are just as easy to get to, with more convenient parking. But most importantly I won’t be a friggin criminal for having a piece with a 10+ magazine in my car, nor will I have to spend any cash to further a city who has no qualms about taking someone’s dog & killing it.

So if ya’ll would, pick a spot outsid the denver city/county limits so I can spend my cash with a clear conscience. Besides, less chance of running into hickenlooper outside of denver, therefore less chance of me getting charged with cussing out a public official no matte rhow much he/she deserved it.

Oh; a minor correction - the Right to Arms is withering, not in danger of whitering but in the moment is intact. If it were in a decent state we wouldn’t have to beg for permission & pay a bribe in order to carry a piece out of plain sight, nor be verboten to carry openly or own arms with a martial appearance in certain unnamed God-forsaken capitol cities in Colorado. But otherwise nice summation of why it’s important to get involved.

Since Denver is out I vote we go to Boulder. They love guns there!

I was thinking that somewhere in Aurora--somewhere in the nicer part of Aurora--might be best. I like the downtown locations, but if we move a little bit south, it probably makes it a tiny bit better for the people who drive up from Colorado Springs. Of course, I really don’t care where we do it, as long as we can fit everyone in, there are decent bartenders, it isn’t so loud that we can’t talk to each other, and it would be nice if there was a space that we could reserve.

For what it’s worth, the first weekend of August is definitely out for me. I need to check with g-phrase because I know that there are a few August commitments already, but I can’t remember what they were.

Getting back to the issue of guns…

Although it is not very politically correct to say this, you left off the main reason for the Second Ammendment: Revolution.

The United States of America is a country born of violent revolution. The Founding Fathers, the same men who penned “of, by, and for the people” understood very well that the best way to prevent a tyranical government is through a well-armed populace. Although I hope that there is never another violent revolution in America, it is extremely important that we keep the option available. One of the most basic right’s of the governed is the right to remove the governing. Violence is the absolute last resort but tyranny can only be answered by force. The Founding Fathers, after securing their own liberty through force, took steps to ensure that we would have that ability to. We must protect it.

Nicely said.

Well said, and all that made sense… back when the founders wrote the 2nd Amdendment.  If we tried today to have an armed revolution of citizens (with legal guns) we’d get creamed, the army has too many weapons that are either too expensive, too illegal, or just unavailable to citizens. The only hope would be that the army (or at least part of it) would be on the side of the citizenry. Then, of course, our measly citizens’ arsenal would be pretty pointless.

We’re Americans. If it ever came to the point where we needed armed revolution, I fully believe that the largest portion of our military would be on the side of the people. I also don’t believe that it will be something even remotely necessary in my lifetime.

Besides that, though, I think you underestimate the power of the people when they decide to rise up en masse. Iraq, with it’s insurgents mostly coming from outside the country and it’s minority of discontents who would rather wage war then build a new government, is quite a handful. Imagine what the situation would be like if the grand majority of the people wanted to rise up against the American presence.

I don’t think that a rogue US gov’t could (or would) start nuking or dropping daisy cutters on our cities. Fighting a foreign military is a decidedly different thing than waging war on your own populace. When you’re fighting yourself, every bomb and death is a hit to your own bottom line in a way that fighting a foreign enemy just can’t compete with--the economy suffers, industry suffers, and, at the end of the day, there still needs to be someone for you to carry out your instructions.

That doesn’t mean that our theoretical rebels would win, but I don’t think it would be the easy task that you imagine.

You know, I suppose you might be right. I wasn’t thinking of 9mm versus daisy cutters, though. I was thinking 9mm versus M16, grenades, and kevlar body armor.

Most of the insurgent violence in Iraq isn’t necessarily gun violence, it’s IEDs (which are not, but probably should be, covered by the current interpretation of the 2nd) and suicide bombers.

MM,
The M16 is a piece of junk as far as martial arms are concerned. It’s engineering, while ergonomi, is not condusive to reliability. & it’s cartridge has serious limitaions when engaging targets larger than coyotes.

That aside the standard rule is it takes ten regular troops to balance (not overcome: balance) one guerilla fighter. & no matter how many nukes an army has wars are still won by seeing who controls the rela estate. That means putting troops ont he ground.

So if we take a city the size of Denver & throw in 10,000 patriots the army would need to be at least 100,000 strong to contain them.

So I heartily disagree with the notion that we’d be outmatched or outgunned. Hell son; you’re never outgunned if ya don’t miss.

But the main benefit of the 2nd is in its deterent factor. Military minded folks know the numbers I layed out & they tend to relay that to their bosses when they come up with a stupid idea like forced subjegation of their own folks. Not to say they won’t use other means for sujegation but a straight out fight is out, well as long as the people are armed, skilled & informed.

But if anything your argument is a good one as to why we need to drop the unconstitutional restrictions on civilians bearing martial arms. But then again like i said the really ambitious politicians know the numbers I cited above, hence they tend ot favor gun control. It’s their ultimate version of job security.

I agree with your last paragraph wholeheartedly, the ban on automatic weapons is ridiculous. And you and Z are rapidly convincing me on the whole guerilla thing.

I think any weekend in August would be good for me.

And for revolution, don’t think civilians versus Army - think civilians versus government offices, and not necessarily even in a lethal manner at first. After all, who wouldn’t want to make it uncomfortable for City Hall or the DMV?

All,

Sorry that I was unable to add any more comments - I was out all evening last night. I’m glad that I was able to add a new dimension to the discussion!