A Battle Cry: “From My Cold, Dead, Hands” ... J. D. Longstreet

A Battle Cry:  “From My Cold, Dead, Hands”
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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I was listening to a radio show in the wee hours of the morning, some time ago, and there was an on-going debate about gun control in the USA.

As I listened, it became clear to me that those on the “take the guns” side have managed to delude themselves into thinking that those of us on the “keep the guns” side will give up our weapons without a bloodbath in the streets of America.  I nearly dropped my razor.  It was such a blow to me to realize that those “Ban the Guns” folks are SO out of touch with reality that they actually believe that.

Now, I’m a Southern American.  I was reared around guns as a child and have handled, and fired weapons, all my life. I was taught to fire weapons at the age of six.  That is actually a little late for a Southern boy to learn how to handle firearms.

I legally purchased my first shotgun at age 12.  It was a Winchester, model 37, with a 30-inch barrel, full choke.  It was a very good squirrel gun… and a “weapon of mass destruction” on small game.  It made a terrific deer weapon with either a 12-gauge slug or double-ought buckshot.  But good marksmanship was required.  It was a single shot, so often the shooter had a single chance to bag the game for which he was aiming.

I have hunted the woods and the swamps of the two Carolinas all my life until failing health put a stop to it. 

In the eyes of the “Ban the Guns” folks I own an arsenal of weapons.  In a manner of speaking, I suppose I do. I own long guns, handguns, and I even have "edged" weapons such as Bowie knives.  Generally speaking… I’m armed to the teeth.  At one time I was actually very good with a bow as well.   (Often my aim was better with a bow that with a rifle.  Go figure!)  I tell you this, not as a boast, but to attempt to point out that I'm an average gun owner.  Actually, a bit below average, here, in my part of the country.  The point is that, where I live, having multiple guns is nothing special.  In fact, it is normal -- VERY normal. 

Only a tiny portion of weapons owned by citizens of the United States are registered.  Would you care to guess why?  Because… if the weapon is registered, the government knows what it is, where it is, and who has it.  

And one other point the “Ban the Guns” folks overlook… it is fairly easy to manufacture both handguns and long guns in your basement workshop.  Back in the day of the “zip guns” I made several myself.  I was nearly always armed during my teen years.

As I said, I’m just an “average” gun owner here in the American Southland.  I have no gun rack in my pick-up.

Having said all this… allow me ask you a serious question.  Do you really believe, way down deep, that I would willingly hand over my weapons and place my safety, and that of my family, into the hands of bureaucratic government agencies such as a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency?  Do You?

Well, friend, if you do … you are demented and need serious help, right away.

I can say, with no hesitation, the only way the US government will ever come close to getting gun owning Americans to give up their weapons is -- with force of arms.  In other words… they will have to use their guns to take our guns.  There will be a blood bath the likes of which this country hasn’t seen since the “late unpleasantness” in 1861 to 1865.  It would cause an instant separation in the country.  The UNITED states would be no more.

This is not an easy thing for me to say.  It is not an easy thing to contemplate, yet it is an undeniable truth -- except for the gun grabbers among us who seem to exist in a state of denial.
 
Call us what you will, but when the security of our families is at stake the line will have been crossed and that’s when the gun safes, and gun cabinets, are opened and WE take responsibility for the safety of our homes and our families.

There is much truth to the old adage:  “An armed man is a free man.  An unarmed man is a “subject”.

America was conquered and taken with the gun. Our independence was taken with the gun, our freedom is secured with the gun, and our liberty, as a free people, will be safe as long as American citizens are armed with a gun.

To quote Charlton Heston:  “…from my cold, dead, hands!” 

You may find those words of Mr. Heston "corny."  But I tell you, in all seriousness, those words spoke directly to the souls of American gun owners.  It was -- and is -- a battle cry!

As horrible as it is to contemplate, America would suffer a domestic military conflagration -- within our borders -- unmatched by any in history, save for the War Between the States. 

Some say there is no chance armed American civilians can prevail over the combined might of the US military.  I'd point out that these are the same folks who think the US won the war in Iraq and are winning the war in Afghanistan. 

   
Irregular forces, the world over, have discovered that you don't have to defeat the US military, you only have to make it unpleasant for them, for a protracted period,  and their civilian handlers/commanders will make them quit and will take them home. It is a lesson learned and a lesson that would indubitably be put to use in any domestic conflict.  It worked for American irregulars when they fought the British, a world superpower, for our Independence ... and won.

There is yet time for good sense to prevail.  We could publicly recognize that gun violence is actually down n America.  We could do something about getting treatment for the mentally ill among us and get them into institutions where they would no longer be a threat to themselves or others. But to turn a nation of law abiding gun owners, overnight, into a nation of law breakers and criminals is unacceptable. 

I do expect the Congress to come to its senses -- at least to some degree.  But our authoritarian, socialist, ideologue President is a loose cannon and I DO expect him to come after our guns with the power of Executive Orders issued to agencies he controls such as BATFE, DHS, and TSA.

Nothing is certain.  But I think we can all prepare for a different America.  The America we knew before Obama is gone forever.  The peace and tranquility of old America has been shattered beyond repair. We Americans have entered a completely new and dark phase of our existence. 

For those of you waiting for the revolution to begin, understand:  you are four years late.  It began when socialist were given control of our government in 2008.  Those of us who consider ourselves "constitutionalists" are just now picking ourselves off the floor in stunned disbelief at now quickly our government folded.

This IS a new America, a confused, even bewildered America.  Those of us who cling to our religion and our guns have not yet found our footing. 

But we will.

              

© 2013   J. D. Longstreet