Political foo: guns and liberty
Nov. 15th, 2006 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alpharaposaIn the last year, I have finally become firmly convinced that the only way to both protect the population from terrorism and preserve liberty at home is this: the populace (generally speaking) must be armed, competent, and confident.
To do nothing is suicide. To place it all in the hands of the State is to yield our liberties and our adult responsibilities.
Abroad, it is a different matter. However, we should be ready to protect our own homes. If we are not, then there is no basis of arguing against draconian anti-terrorist measures that get written into our laws other than willfully ignoring the danger.
And I'm not saying that the government should do nothing with regards to terrorism at home. It has its job. But if we want to be able to tell it it has limits, then we, as a people, should be willing to fill in those gaps.
To do nothing is suicide. To place it all in the hands of the State is to yield our liberties and our adult responsibilities.
Abroad, it is a different matter. However, we should be ready to protect our own homes. If we are not, then there is no basis of arguing against draconian anti-terrorist measures that get written into our laws other than willfully ignoring the danger.
And I'm not saying that the government should do nothing with regards to terrorism at home. It has its job. But if we want to be able to tell it it has limits, then we, as a people, should be willing to fill in those gaps.
