{"article":{"id":1011,"heading":"4 Good Reasons to Preserve the 2nd Amendment","author":"Mike Flugennock","created":"2000-08-15 20:22:35","modified":"2005-08-15 00:22:38","last_modified":"Mon, 15 Aug 2005 07:22:38","article":"

\"Four Good Reasons to Preserve the Second Amendment\"

political comix by Mike Flugennock, at

http:\/\/www.sinkers.org\/DC-streets<\/a>

If you thought \"Gandhi is Dead\" was grotesque and gross -- if you thought \"When Masks Are Outlawed\" was excessively soaked in testosterone -- then you'll pound your fingers raw posting flames over this latest and greatest, in which Mikey reminds us of the sheer idiocy of support for Federal and State gun control laws -- all of which are aimed at citizens, not government -- when the governments that propose these laws are themselves responsible for the ongoing brutality and oppression against citizens in L.A., New York City, D.C., Seattle, Philly and elsewhere; and in which Mikey calls on his friends and comrades to examine themselves and decide if they'll have what it takes, when the day comes, to put down their puppets and pick up their guns -- and, if they don't, to step aside and let some real revolutionaries take over who _do_.

While the USA approaches a state dangerously close to Spain in the 1930s, or Argentina in the 1970s, the Movement continues to hog-tie itself tighter than a Philly cop with \"nonviolence\" dogma; this cartoon reminds us of the importance of preserving the 2nd Amendment and our right to choose to arm ourselves and rise up when a State becomes so brutal, so arrogant, so unaccountable, that we're forced to take up arms, to stop being \"activists\" and become revolutionaries.

11x17 inches, in the following formats:

http:\/\/www.sinkers.org\/DC-streets\/4good_reasons.jpg<\/a>

full-size jpeg, 323K

http:\/\/www.sinkers.org\/DC-streets\/4good_reasons.pdf<\/a>

Adobe .pdf, 581K

http:\/\/www.sinkers.org\/DC-streets\/4good_reasons.eps<\/a>

generic .eps, 2.4MB

And, for more inflammation...uh, more _information_:

\"'Gun Control' Means Gun Control for the Poor Only\"

by Richard Edmondson, San Francisco Liberation Radio:

http:\/\/www.infoshop.org\/news4\/guns.html<\/a>

\"Nonviolence and its Violent Consequences\"

essay by Bill Meyers:

http:\/\/www.sinkers.org\/nonviolence<\/a><\/tm><\/p>\n","contact":"flugennock@sinkers.org","link":"http:\/\/www.sinkers.org\/DC-streets","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/gif","summary":"Editorial cartoon reflecting on government behavior in Philadelphia -- as well as DC, Seattle, and elsewhere -- and to remind the People of their responsibilities for measures of citizen and community self-defense.","numcomment":6,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2000\/08\/4good_reasons_full.gif","filesize":"21.9 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2000\/08\/1011.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2000\/08\/4good_reasons_full.gif"}},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":2048,"heading":"Are you kidding?","article":"This is absurd. i agree that we are living in a police state (any state in which democratic voices are silenced by state terror is one). i will no and cannot, however, condone taking up arms against anyone, even those who arm themselves against us. \r\n\r\nViolence is flawed morally. If you think its wrong for a cop to shoot at you, then you should find it wrong to shoot at a cop. Though we and they may deny it, cops are people and their lives deserve just as much respect and recognition as anyone else's. Thus, violence against state terror is only justified when necessary. While we live in a police state, the fact that we are able to have this correspondence publicly indicates that we are not living in a totalitarian state. Perhaps violence would be justified in a totalitarian state, where few other options exist, but not here.\r\n\r\nViolence is also flawed in application. One of the beauties of non-violence is that the cops are far less prepared to deal with us on that level. Make no mistake, many cops, especially riot cops, are just waiting for a reason to gun you down; shooting them gives them that reason. The government can outgun you any day of the week, so fighting fire with fire just doesn't work here. \r\n\r\nDon't think that i support state violence; i think that no one, neither cops nor citizens nor anyone else should be allowed to have guns. We need a ban on firearms. Until that happens, we certainly shouldn't embrace the same violence used by the state.\r\n\r\ni don't think that i need to mention the other problems with the second amendment, like the fact that with a gun, you're far more likely to shoot someone you know than an enemy.\r\n\r\nThe second amendment is obsolete at best, (i'm not sure it ever had a place in america). The idea that we should keep it, especially with the argument offered here, is ridiculous.","author":"Pogo","parent_id":1011,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2000-08-18 03:56:46","modified":"2000-08-18 04:17:24","fileurl":""},{"id":2053,"heading":"Respect for Founders","article":"While I am personally non-violent, I've always had the greatest respect for the people who protested their government in the early 1780's and insisted that the new Constitution must have some basic rights for citizens included to be approved.\r\n\r\nAnd it was the collective wisdom of these people, who had just fought a revolution and won their freedom, that the right to keep and bear arms must be protected.\r\n\r\nSo even though I don't own a gun, I have a deep respect for this right, and believe that we must not eliminate or limit it.\r\n\r\nIts too bad they didn't think to include the right to keep and bear puppets though.","author":"Truth Bear","parent_id":1011,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2000-08-18 04:06:44","modified":"2000-08-18 04:18:46","fileurl":""},{"id":2242,"heading":"Violence is a bad idea","article":"Violence is bad idea. Any kind of sudden, revolutionary change is going to meet with incredible difficulty. In order to found an era without a government at all, it is necessary to have broad social support from all the people. Right now, the amount of Americans who would side with revolutionaries in a civil war is not large enough to win, or even come close. It is violence that alienates us from those whose support we need to win. When we confront the police state and the military, the corportations and the purchased politicians, WITHOUT VIOLENCE, and we are met with terror tactics, intimidation, and violence, then people nationwide and internationally as well will begin to see things as they really are. Violence turns heads away from us, and nonviolence brings us support. If you are truly in favor of destroying the police state, we must first raise common awareness that it in fact exists and must be destroyed. Only after we have rallied the public and opened the eyes of millions of americans who are still undecided will we be able to claim true victory. So, we are peacefully arrested that the public might see the cops as the bad ones; we are nonviolent but beaten so that the average person will see beyond corporate media to compassion and solidarity. If we expect to win this, we must start by shattering common myth and distrust. If the cops and the corporate media claim that all protesters are violent anarchists, and even a small percentage of the protesters give substance to that claim, we will have done incredible damage to our cause. \r\n\r\nIf we are peaceful in the face of violence, we WILL generate the support we need. Violence is short-sighted and ineffective.\r\n\r\nAnthony","author":"Anthony","parent_id":1011,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2000-08-18 17:54:27","modified":"2000-08-18 18:06:35","fileurl":""},{"id":3059,"heading":"violence = impatience and selfishness","article":"should we protect the second amendment? hell yes.\r\nshould we pick up guns and shoot at cops? hell no.\r\nwe will need guns *some day* in the DISTANT FUTURE\r\nfor self-defense. people who call for rebellion\r\nnow are just, in my opinion, impatient and would\r\nrather have glory now then set the groundwork for\r\na revolution that will happen long after they are \r\ndead. yeah, it's a depressing thought. but it's true,\r\nand i'll thank your lack of patience and fear of\r\nobscurity for not getting me killed. \r\n\r\nlet's be honest. *THE ONLY REASON THE COPS HAVE NOT \r\nCOMPLETELY DECIMATED EVERY PROTEST IN THEIR RESPECTIVE \r\nCITIES IS BECAUSE THEY SIMPLY HAVE NOT BEEN ORDERED TO DO\r\nSO*. even the cops and their bosses realize that waging \r\nopen war on political protest itself still does not have\r\npublic support. \r\n\r\nbut guess what would give open warfare on activists complete\r\npublic support? a few fucking dolts with guns and black\r\nflags, that's what. \r\n\r\nthe cops have a lot of guns and a lot of armour. if that\r\nisn't enough, the army has fucking tanks and flamethrowers.\r\nif you rise up, they will destroy you.\r\n\r\nwhich brings us to the american revolution: back then, people who *opposed* revolution were in the minority. today \r\nit is still the other way around. \r\n\r\njust like the cops can't wage war without public support,\r\nneither can we. and you can bet that right now people are\r\na lot more willing to give the support to the cops than\r\nthey are to you. roughly a million times more likely.\r\n\r\nand look at history. every society that has been overthrown\r\nbefore its time by a violent minority vanguard has been\r\nreplaced with a society held together by even more \r\nviolence. \r\n\r\nIF YOU TORE DOWN THIS SOCIETY TOMORROW, ONE OF TWO THINGS\r\nWOULD HAPPEN: PEOPLE WOULD BUILD IT BACK UP BECAUSE FOR NOW\r\nIT'S ALL THEY KNOW, OR YOU WOULD HAVE TO KEEP USING VIOLENCE\r\nTO KEEP YOUR MOMENTUM AND NEW SOCIETY. At which point we \r\nwould become *precisely* what we hate.\r\n\r\ni suspect many people who call for open armed rebellion have\r\nnever even been witness to a modest police riot. class war \r\nis not glamorous, folks, no matter who wages it. it is \r\nbloody, terrible, scarring, perverted business, and you will\r\nhave to kill a lot of people - thus making the whole\r\n\"fighting for the people\" thing a little absurd when it \r\nturns into fighting against the people - and probably end \r\nup getting killed yourself. \r\n\r\nthe american revolution was a groundswell of almost the \r\nentire population. seattle was cool, but it was not the\r\npopulation. and even look at paris in '68 - they had\r\nthe support of all the workers, and i'd say were very close\r\nto a true uprising. but then the military would have come\r\nin. even they were a long way from change, and we're nowhere\r\nnear the kind of anger there was in paris '68.\r\n\r\nbut the numbers are growing at an inspiring rate. reach out\r\nto people. show them what you want society to be rather\r\nthan putting a gun to their heads and saying \"make it \r\nhappen.\" \r\n\r\ni sympathize with the rage. oh god, how i sympathize. but\r\nyou owe it to the movement to not play into their hands\r\nand give them a reason to kill you, your sisters, and your\r\nbrothers.\r\n\r\nbut...\r\nas for gun control, most guns used in crime are illegal\r\nanyway. you think things go away once their made illegal?\r\nthen what do these words mean to you: marijuana. \r\nprostitution. murder. so gun control would change nothing, \r\nexcept solidifying police terrorism ever so slightly more.\r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"archan","parent_id":1011,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2000-08-22 03:06:37","modified":"2000-08-22 03:20:06","fileurl":""},{"id":3213,"heading":"Top-down gun control","article":"Getting rid of weapons is a goood thing, but it should be top-down. First the Pentagon disarm, then the weapons industry, then the police, then the people. ","author":"Carol Holland","parent_id":1011,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2000-08-23 17:55:15","modified":"2000-08-23 18:09:59","fileurl":""},{"id":3214,"heading":"Top-down gun control","article":"Getting rid of weapons is a goood thing, but it should be top-down. First the Pentagon disarm, then the weapons industry, then the police, then the people. ","author":"Carol Holland","parent_id":1011,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2000-08-23 17:55:46","modified":"2000-08-23 18:09:59","fileurl":""}]}