[opaww]

When one has to ask for permission from a governing body then what they are doing is excepting something as a privilege.

So when a governing body says you must acquire a Firearms Identification Card (sometimes referred to as a FOID), You are asking permission to exercise your privilege and not your right.

Firearms ownership is a right not a privilege, but many towns, counties, states, and federal governing bodies are turning it into a privilege. How? By requiring you at ask for permission through a CCWP, FOID, or some other permission slip to buy, posses, use, firearms and/or ammunition. We can even take this further by saying that any competence test required before you receive permission to exercise your right to have a firearm is actually permission to exercise your privilege.

This does not mean you fully support the turning of a right into a privilege, but unless people stand up to the anti-gunners and demand it be changed back to a full right, we will have to go along with it being perverted into a privilege.

Now to piss in someone else’s bowl of wheaties, hunting is not a right. It is a privilege how one may ask? And yes you may ask. Because you have to ask permission to hunt, (Hunting License). So next time a hunter says we don’t need Assault Rifles and they should be banned, then tell him/ her that hunting is not a right so they should give up hunting.

opaww

[dunerunner]

You're right! After 40 years of "You can't fight City Hall" attitudes, we're finally starting to make an attempt at getting our rights back.

And it ain't going to be easy!!!

[Angry_bald_guy]

I'm lucky I realized this at my young age.

[pandamonium]

SPOKEN FOR TRUTH Opaww

WE MUST KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT!

[CA357]

Well said opaww, but it's an uphill battle.

[fastbandit]

Hello All.
It is a up hill battle, the problem is the younger generation has been brain washed to think guns are bad, fathers dont take the time like they use too and take their sons or daughters out and hunt, the govt has been trying to brain wash the younger crowd that guns are bad, it is really sad that we have to fight for something that should be ours to begin with. the longer we sit quite the more the govt will take away and we have ourselves to blame if we dont stand up and voice our thoughts.

fastbandit

[bkt]

I would argue that hunting is a right inasmuch as gathering food in order to stay alive is a right. You don't have a right to take someone else's food or shoot their livestock, but from a purist's perspective you certainly have a right to hunt on your land or public land.

Great post, Opaww. You're correct -- when we have to pay a fee to get a permission slip to exercise our "rights", they have turned into privileges that can be denied. That doesn't flush with me.

[Kimber45]

As far as I'm concerned, all laws restricting the ownership of firearms is unconstitutional. The 2nd Amendment says " . . . shall not be infringed" and yet laws like this do just that. Change them? LOL! Hell no you ain't never going to get them changed, gut use to it subject for you lost your rights long time ago.

[MrGrumpy89]

I completly agree with kimber45. all laws agaist firearms is an infringment. having to pay for a ccw is an infringment. The right to bear arms? guess the government thinks it's a privlege.

[clip11]

It is very true it has turned into a privilege. I think many of these gun laws are sold in the name of safety. In Illinois you have to have a FOID card to purchase or possess guns. With Chicago and East St Louis having as many violent episodes as they do, the average person is led to believe that type of thing is a good idea. They are told that the requirement of a FOID card will keep guns out of the hands of criminals. The same with cpl's. The public is told that the requirement of a cpl to carry a concealed pistol will stop criminals from getting guns and thus everyone will be safer. We here at FirearmsTalk know that is not true. John Q. Public however, is still in the dark.

Chicago's handgun ban has been ruled unconstitutional and what was the first thing that came out of Daleys mouth....keeping Chicago safe. Despite the fact that since 1982, when the handgun ban took place, Chicago has seen thousands of shootings, some committed with shotguns and assault rifles, but the most with handguns. How has a handgun ban made Chicago any safer? It hasn't. After 28 years of a handgun ban, are we supposed to believe things will magically get better in year 29 or year 30? Just give the handgun ban time to work, right?

We have laws against drunk driving, yet we dont ban cars or alcohol in the name of public safety. I drive a car way more than I fire a gun, so if I was to kill someone, it would probably be by hitting them with a car. Most people drive cars more than they shoot guns, yet cars arent banned. We dont say only police or military can drive cars that are past a certain horsepower. We just enforce laws against drunk driving.

All that public safety crap is nonsense. The police job is to enforce the law, not act as personal bodyguards for private citizens. There is no law that requires a cop to personally protect you. And they know that. Here in Michigan you will get a minimum of 2 years in prison or a $2500 fine if convicted of carrying a concealed pistol at trial, no matter what your reason. If you don't have that ID card from the state of Michigan that gives you permission to carry a concealed pistol, you've committed a felony. No in between. It doesnt matter how many times you've been raped, robbed, or assaulted and how many times the police have failed to prevent it.

However, I must admit, here in MI, they have taken a step in the right direction. Prior to 2001, we used to be a may issue state, now we are a shall issue. However, we need to be a constitutional carry state. Not only do we have the U.S. constitution, we also have the Michigan constitution which gives the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self and state.

People need to quit falling for this public safety nonsense that falsely leads them to believe that they are safe because a new gun control law was passed.