Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Crossed Idiots

Caption: "Crossed idiot sticks" - the branch insignia of the U.S. Army's infantry.

Image credit: U.S. Dept. of Defense

If you read my rant from yesterday and wondered why I wrote what I did about how we've neglected all the other parts of the Bill of Rights except the Second Amendment, then perhaps this will help. Over at Corrente, Hugh wrote this as his conclusion:

All these rights, the very essence of who we are, what made us rightfully proud to be Americans, gone, done away with, without a fight, without a whimper. Yet the least of these, the 2nd Amendment, bent and twisted out of its original context, this is the one you embrace and hold on to? Guns do not make you safe. The law and the decency of your neighbors do. Guns are no protection against the state. What did your guns avail you when the government erased all your most basic human rights, the crown jewels of the Constitution? You. did. nothing. You are hollow men. Hold on to your metal sticks if you want. They can not protect you from your own moral vacuousness.

To Defenders of the Second Amendment

Go read the rest. It's worth it. I'm reminded that one of the slang expressions for the U.S. Army's infantry symbol is "crossed idiot sticks". That expression has never seemed as appropriate as it does to me today. Not for the infantry, but for people who cling to their weapons as being anything more than something you'd rather not be forced to use.

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