Hey Mike Lewis! You’re Wrong!
BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 10 months ago
If you are a commercial pilot or general contractor likely you understand the value of licensing; So why not license gun owners?
Tell me I’m wrong.
Okay. You’re wrong. The right of self defense is not just a right, but a duty, and that means self defense against both individuals and tyranny.
Gun rights people — same as gun control supporters — talk a good game about background checks, mental health, warning signs, red flags. But existing laws and loopholes prevent effective, universal screening.
And before we argue that the Second Amendment means that no restriction should be put on gun ownership, we already place limit on every constitutional amendment, including the Second. And the argument that it would not affect criminals is true for every new criminal law – until someone gets arrest for violating it.
In fact, I like licensing so much I’d be willing to toss out any bans on so-called assault weapons or ammunition restrictions. Heck, I’d be fine with no purchase restrictions on any firearms sold today in this country in exchange for licensing.
Well bless your heart. Are you offering a compromise? No one on your side has ever done that before. Why, shazam. This is the very first time, don’t ya’ know.
The fact that we might place restrictions on rights is no argument that it is righteous and acceptable to put those restrictions in place. That’s argument de facto, which is a formal logical fallacy.
If the real problem is, as I am often told, “it’s the person not the gun,” then let’s put our money where our thoughts and prayers are and license the person. Everybody wants to lionize that good guy with a gun; I simply want to license him – or her – as well.
I don’t care what you’ve been told. And as for licensing people instead of weapons, we’ve known all along that’s what your ilk wanted to do. It’s the same thing Adolf Hitler did. You can check here, or watch this.
Tell me I’m wrong.
Okay. You’re wrong. Rights come from the Almighty, it is He alone who is the only sovereign, and man doesn’t get to give or take rights. Rights are only recognized, not given, by anyone but God. And we won’t be giving up our solemn duties to assuage anyone’s irrational fears, most especially you.
On January 14, 2020 at 11:16 pm, Herschel Smith said:
A creature of the state. Horace Mann and John Dewey did their job well.
On January 15, 2020 at 12:58 am, checklight said:
“we already place limit on every constitutional amendment”
Oh, like the First? Sure. It’s illegal to commit actual crimes, like fraud, incitement to riot, treason, or child sacrifice. Claiming you were just exercising your right to free speech, free press, or free religion is no defense. But a claim by the state that because you MIGHT commit one of those crimes you must be licensed to exercise your first amendment rights is known as “prior restraint”, and is forbidden. And, laws that might infringe the First Amendment, which is not as narrowly written as the Second (“Congress shall pass no law” versus a flat “shall not be infringed”) are subject to so-called “strict scrutiny”. Same should apply to the Second.
On January 15, 2020 at 4:51 am, Francis W. Porretto said:
“The value of licensing” is one of those ball-under-the-shirt plays that must be rebuffed firmly whenever it appears. Ask, loudly: “So what IS the value of licensing?”
Licensing — broadly speaking, the government holding your right to work hostage for a cash payment — mainly serves to limit the number of persons who can participate in a particular trade. It has NEVER been shown to have any demonstrable effect upon anything but the price of the service thus licensed!
On January 15, 2020 at 9:15 am, Fred said:
Mr. Porretto got it. And as to transportation specifically, show me where the people of the several states, have surrendered the means, modality, and manner by which they transport their bodies from one location to another, to the general government. Has licensing drivers solved car wrecks, saved lives at all? Every day somebody without a license kills somebody on the road. And you might think that there is some value to minimum qualifications, and there may be, but you still cuss every driver around you every day. (Side note; they are thinking and saying the exact same things about you and your driving, OBTW.) And the licensed drivers still kill millions of people.
Now, if the people were stupid enough to surrender transportation to the several states, and they were, and allowed the purposeful flipping of the commerce “clause” and they were, that’s one thing. But firearms, are a specific right. There is no logical comparison because of enumeration; though the mere absence of power granted ship has long sailed, firearms are specifically protected, if the people are willing to use them.
It is the people themselves through the use of the weapon that protect the right. That’s what nobody will say out loud. Why, because they have been neutered.
On January 15, 2020 at 9:47 am, Ned said:
Watch how much good licensing and inspections do in the construction industry. A substandard job can be inspected, fall down and kill people, and the government “inspectors” have no liability.
Even hair cutters have to be licensed. I remember an archaic part of the constitution about the right to contract. Fails to mention right to contract as long as one party is licensed.
This doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be standards.
What penses said.
On January 15, 2020 at 2:49 pm, ragman said:
I don’t understand these comments regarding licensing of pilots. I was in aviation for over 45yrs and have trained hundreds of pilots. No one hates the Federales more than I do! That being said, the licensing of pilots, mechanics and dispatchers, along with very high standards, has led to our impossibly safe commercial airline industry. So am I understanding that you would trust just anyone off the street to get in the cockpit and attempt to fly you and your loved ones somewhere, anywhere, and you would expect to arrive safely? And Bubba the backyard mechanic is ok to service tour jet or repair it and you expect it to operate safely? Maybe I’m not interpreting the comments properly, I sure hope that’s the case. And by the way, a pilots license itself costs absolutely nothing.
On January 15, 2020 at 2:50 pm, ragman said:
your jet
On January 15, 2020 at 2:58 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@ragman,
I agree. I’m a licensed engineer. You don’t want just anyone claiming to be an engineer, or designing machines, structures, etc., in use by the general public, without some sort of licensing or certification (I’m not here commenting on whether a professional board does it or the state does it). Neither do you want a doctor, nurse or nurse practitioner to practice without a license. If anyone does want that, I disagree with that aspect of libertarianism.
Left unsaid – because I just can’t write a book on everything I post, a book no one would read anyway, to include each and every jot and tittle of prose necessary to understand everything as a text book, with all appurtenant caveats, qualifiers and explanations – is that firearms ownership is a right, and being a pilot or engineer isn’t.
On January 15, 2020 at 10:21 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@penses,
“Ancient and medieval structures were built by tradesmen and engineers who were members of guilds that were self policing. These skills were handed down from generation to generation providing a vast resource to tap into for any job required. This culled the unqualified and incompetent, giving the world structures that have survived thousands of years. Both the pagans and Christians that built these edifices did it with a life long adhereance to strict moral principles.
The modern world has lost that resource of skilled trades and morality …”
I don’t think you understand how most of this works. State boards of registration for PEs and land surveyors are made up of PEs and land surveyors. I’ve help to write problems for the PE examination before. It’s not done by the state. Societies of engineers (NSPE, ACCE, ASME, etc.) write codes and standards. The ASME issues boiler and pressure vessel codes. Nurse Practitioners write the NP examination.
I could go on but that would be redundant. It’s simply not true to say that “The modern world has lost that resource of skilled trades.”
On January 16, 2020 at 12:18 pm, I R A Darth Aggie said:
You know who else should be licensed?
Voters.
On January 16, 2020 at 2:04 pm, ExpatNJ said:
On January 15, 2020 at 2:58 pm, Herschel Smith said:
” … You don’t want just anyone claiming to be an engineer … ”
Sometimes, not even a real engineer:
Red Light Camera Engineer Banned In North Carolina – 01/16/2020
NC engineering board suspends license of engineer over misconduct related to red light cameras
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/68/6873.asp