-- L. Neil SmithPeople accuse me of being a single-issue writer, a single- issue thinker, and a
single- issue voter, but it isn't true. What I've chosen, in a world where
there's never enough time and energy, is to focus on the one political issue
which most clearly and unmistakably demonstrates what any politician—or
political philosophy—is made of, right down to the creamy liquid center.
Make no mistake: all politicians—even those ostensibly on the side of guns and
gun ownership—hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up.
They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the
ultimate test to which any politician—or political philosophy—can be put.
If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average
constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store
and paying cash—for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything—without
producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what
he tells you.
If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that
weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home
without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he
claims.
What his attitude—toward your ownership and use of weapons—conveys is his real
attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John
Moses Browning should you trust him?
from a longer essay Here: http://www.lneilsmith.org/whyguns.html
