Liberty wrote:It is legal to carry guns in a gunrack it is only fear of the bad guys that restrict us from doing so. I see things in the context of my life ime because it is the only reference that I fully understand. What I have seen is that early in my life we lost a lot of rights for a long time. but that in the last 15years we have started too swing the pendulum. We are gaining rights and losing very seldom.
When I moved to Texas in the 80s I lost my right to carry a hand on me I could carry one in my car but only under some very unclear conditions. Today the CHL program gives me the means to pack 24/7, We are allowed to carry in our cars if we meet a few simple condition.
We had an Assault weapons ban. it is gone. Attempts to restore another one at this time is laughable. Seems like even some Democrats understand the Right to Keep and Bear Arms lately. I remember a time not to long ago when gun control was a cause they could unite under.
We are real close to allowing students the abilty to go armed in our schools , Its been a very long time since we have been able to do this.
We had a Supreme court decision demanding that we have the RKBA .. They were unanimous in the decision that it is indeed a collective right. During most of our lives there wasn't a clear statement from our Supreme court.
We never lost the legal right to carry long guns in the open, I see it every year around deer season here in the big city. For the most part folks with pickup trucks lost interest in displaying their guns for the Gangbangers to admire during the rest of the year. Today most folks don't leave their fishing rods out for display either and that is legal too.
We now have the right to carry in National Parks for the first time in over 30 years.
We have a very leftist Speaker of the house showing restraint because of her respect (or fear) of the NRA.
I know a lot of folks get some pleasure at seeing a half empty glass, I know that we have a ways to go before we actually achieve a full RKBA ( shucks we got folks here who aren't crazy about the idea) I know we have the leftist in charge of things, but I think we need to understand how far we have come to understand exactly where we are so that we know where we need to go. If I look back 20 years from today, I see almost nothing but progress in our march forward with the concept of the RKBA . We still need to move forward. There are still threats to our rights that need to be fought off and new ones will be presented too us in the future but for time being we just aren't looking all that bad.
Wow, I hadn't looked at things from such an optimistic viewpoint. Good post.