AWESOME article about the leadup to the revolution

[soloman02]

And why the 2nd Amendment was written the way it was.

Selected quotes I find to be powerful:

"Governor Gage directed the Redcoats to begin general, warrantless searches for arms and ammunition. According to the Boston Gazette, of all General Gage’s offenses, 'what most irritated the People' was 'seizing their Arms and Ammunition.'"


"Two days after Lord Dartmouth dispatched his disarmament recommendation, King George III and his ministers blocked importation of arms and ammunition to America. Read literally, the order merely required a permit to export arms or ammunition from Great Britain to America. In practice, no permits were granted."


"The British government was not, in a purely formal sense, attempting to abolish the Americans’ common law right of self-defense. Yet in practice, that was precisely what the British were attempting. First, by disarming the Americans, the British were attempting to make the practical exercise of the right of personal self-defense much more difficult. Second, and more fundamentally, the Americans made no distinction between self-defense against a lone criminal or against a criminal government. To the Americans, and to their British Whig ancestors, the right of self-defense necessarily implied the right of armed self-defense against tyranny."

"The troubles in New England inflamed the other colonies. Patrick Henry’s great speech to the Virginia legislature on March 23, 1775, argued that the British plainly meant to subjugate America by force. Because every attempt by the Americans at peaceful reconciliation had been rebuffed, the only remaining alternatives for the Americans were to accept slavery or to take up arms. If the Americans did not act soon, the British would soon disarm them, and all hope would be lost."

"When the British began to withdraw back to Boston, things got much worse for them. Armed Americans were swarming in from nearby towns. They would soon outnumber the British 2:1. Although some of the Americans cohered in militia units, a great many fought on their own, taking sniper positions wherever opportunity presented itself. Only British reinforcements dispatched from Boston saved the British expedition from annihilation—and the fact that the Americans started running out of ammunition and gun powder."

The American Revolution against British Gun Control

"Two days after Lord Dartmouth dispatched his disarmament recommendation, King George III and his ministers blocked importation of arms and ammunition to America. Read literally, the order merely required a permit to export arms or ammunition from Great Britain to America. In practice, no permits were granted."

That sounds just like Chicago and NYC (and Mass to an extent), where a permit is required to simply posses a firearm and permits are only given out to celebrities, politicians, and those in the community with political power. The common man is completely denied and cannot defend him or herself from attack.

 

[taz-2005]

And let's not forget the rest of the "long train of abuses and usurpations" not just gun rights.

 

[Springfield_trapdoor]

Obama should get a crown and his Cronies should wear red

 

[soloman02]

And let's not forget the rest of the "long train of abuses and usurpations" not just gun rights.

Correct, but gun rights were the spark that lit the collective American fuse.

 

[Gak44]

Correct, but gun rights were the spark that lit the collective American fuse.

And it may very well happen again!! They seem determined to go down the road that started the revolution in the first place.

 

[Golddiggie]

My only question is how far will this go before the collective scream out 'enough' and push back (hard)??

 

[soloman02]

My only question is how far will this go before the collective scream out 'enough' and push back (hard)??

Well we didn't blow our gaskets until they used force to confiscate our powder and arms. Today that is analogous to AR's and ammo. Keep in mind, we have a court system that is still somewhat workable, we didn't have that back then. This is why shit didn't go down in LA when guns were taken after Katrina, people still had faith the courts would prevail. They did in that a judge ordered the return of the arms.

When the courts fail (fully) then all bets are off as they are our last form of peaceful redress.

 

[jonw]

Great post! However, still sad as it shows the road we may be headed.

 

[Springfield_trapdoor]

people give me crap for studying history but It repeats itself all the time. maybe Thomas Jefferson was on to something when he said
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants".

 

[soloman02]

people give me crap for studying history but It repeats itself all the time. maybe Thomas Jefferson was on to something when he said
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants".

The only reason to give someone crap for studying history is if they have no other marketable skills and don't want (or can't) to teach or work in the museum sector. Then you deserve it for being undesirable to companies.

History (US mainly) has always been more of a side interest for me.

 

[BattleSnail]

great article...too bad the god damned sheep can't wrap their feeble minds around this.

 

[soloman02]

great article...too bad the god damned sheep can't wrap their feeble minds around this.

Public education and horrible parenting is the cause of that.

 

[stencil]

The common man is completely denied and cannot defend him or herself from attack.

Well, you don't expect people in today's government to repeat the same mistakes that were made in 1775, do you? Betcha there's an automatic camera focused on every church steeple in Boston.

.