The Atlantic: David Frum- 'When Gun Owners Become Hypocritical Hippies'

Source:The Atlantic- David Frum calling 2nd Amendment absolutists, hippies.

“Rights come with responsibilities,” argues The Atlantic writer David Frum. “Understanding this principle is what distinguishes an adult from a child. Yet the gun lobby rejects this basic bargain.” In this Atlantic Argument, Frum questions the “self-indulgent permissiveness” that leads conservatives down a trail of hypocrisy."

From The Atlantic

I never thought I word here gun owners and hippies, in the the same sentence. Hard to imagine a peace-loving hippie who perhaps the only goal that they have in life is to escape civilization ( especially their parents ) who just wants to make love and dance, smoke pot, ever owning a gun. And when I think of hardcore gun owners at least, I think of people who believe there under constant threat from law enforcement and moved as far away from civilization that they possibly can believing the cops are not just out to get them, but worst from their point of view that they're trying to confiscate their guns.

There obviously gun owners who are more moderate, reasonable, and even sane than that, but if you're playing on the stereotypes from hippies and gun owners that's what it looks like. And with the crazy rhetoric that comes from the National Rifle Association ( or NRA ) every time there is a new mass shooting in America ( which seems like every week now ) they use that type of rabid anti-gun control rhetoric. "The Socialists and Communists, are coming for your guns. Load up and fend them off!" With their rabid members literally taking that rhetoric as seriously as hearing a weather report in Seattle that it's going to rain tomorrow. But I get David Frum's point here.

I've been reluctant to weigh in the gun control debate for more than a month now other than a few postings on social media, because I get this what's the point feeling every time the latest crisis breaks out and now we're at the point that we're literally losing our future to gun violence, mass shooting, mentally incompetent and irresponsible people taking their frustrations out on our future and we're now losing teenagers in high school who would've been in college next year in some cases. Or a few years from now, but are now buried underground because we as a society have chosen not to protect our most vulnerable from people who probably shouldn't even be allowed to get on airplanes, or drive cars, date out daughters, let alone own guns in America or anywhere else in the world.

I love our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. I've built most if not all of my liberal political philosophy around it, but as David Frum said in his video the what separates adults from children are rights and responsibilities. Kid's tend to just want the rights, adults understand that with those rights come responsibilities and when you abuse your rights like staying out too late to use as an example, there consequences that come from breaking the rules. Like maybe you don't go out at all the next day and are confined inside doing your homework and doing house chores or something.

There are no such thing as absolute rights in America. You can't murder someone in the privacy of your home. You  can't accuse some of murder without absolutely no evidence. You can't force someone to have sex or have an abortion. And you can't freely shoot a firearm in public with people everywhere just for the pure pleasure of shooting your gun and for the hell of it. All of our beautiful individual rights in America come with responsibilities and those rights can be taken away from people when they abuse them and they can also be regulated.

Our individual rights, individualism, liberal democracy, are things along with our diversity across the board and not just racially and ethnically, is what makes America exceptional as well as great. The fact that Americans can come from nothing and end up being some of the richest most successful people in the world. That can not just come from nothing but immigrate from a third world country not even speaking English when you get here and make it in America on your own and become one of our greatest citizens. But with each individual right that we have in America comes responsibility. And each individual right that we have in America is subjected to responsible commonsense regulations. Including the 2nd Amendment. Background checks doesn't take guns away from responsible, sane, competent people. Just the people who aren't responsible, sane, and competent, who would murder people with their guns and other weapons. 

You can also see this post at FreeState Now, on Blogger.