Soap Box

*NOTE* In light of the tragic shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, we are running a soapbox rewind from 2017 shortly after the Las Vegas massacre. Charlie will be back with a new soapbox on Monday. - TeamCDB

I would like to preface this article by saying that if I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that giving up my guns would end the senseless violence in America, I would gladly throw them all in the Bermuda Triangle.

Conversely, it is my belief that for law-abiding citizens to give up their firearms would only increase the violence, as criminals and terrorists would know they had nothing to fear and use their illegally obtained guns to wreak havoc on a helpless population.

You may well say, “If all guns were outlawed they wouldn’t be able to get their hands on them”, but that is such a naive statement, that exploring it fully would be folly. If America can’t stop the flow of drugs and illegal aliens, why would you think we could stop what would be a most lucrative business of gun running?

If you want to see a microcosm of the America that it seems Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren want to bring about, look at Chicago, where the local gun laws are such that an ordinary citizen can’t even purchase a handgun to protect their families, while at the halfway point of the year 323 people have been murdered by thugs who own guns illegally.

People in this nation would be more willing to discuss some modification of the Second Amendment if we could trust our government. But the sad fact is that we can’t, and the ones who scream the loudest know as much about firearms and the meaningful limitations that could be implemented as a hog knows about an airplane.

“Imagine if he had had a silencer.”

And in their naivety and political fervor, they pass meaningless, cosmetic legislation, never addressing the root of the problem, which is actually not the guns, but the people who unlawfully obtain and use them to slaughter innocent people.

10,226 people were killed by drunk drivers last year and any thinking person knows that outlawing alcohol will not stop it. Many of these people have been arrested for DWI multiple times before they finally end up causing fatalities.

And yet they’re out there on the street, ticking time bombs, much the same as many of those involved in murders have been charged and convicted in other violent crimes, received light sentences and put back on the street again.

Over 59,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2016 and it doesn’t seem to upset those who scream for gun control every time there’s a shooting.

Around a million unborn babies die by the hands of abortionists every year and it doesn’t seem to bother the radical gun control crowd.

Which begs the question, is their concern about compassion or politics?

I opt for the latter, as I believe that the disarming of America is the globalists fondest dream.
Almost every nation that has ever been turned into a dictatorship or a police state is always disarmed first.

We’ve talked some politics, now let’s talk some common sense.

I got my first gun when I was 12 years old, was taught gun safety first thing.

I am a lifetime member of the NRA and own firearms that are kept locked away.

I have never shot at anybody, and - thank God - never had to protect myself nor my family with a gun, however, should the occasion arise, I would not hesitate to do so.

I do not believe that anyone - with the exception of military or law enforcement - needs a fully automatic weapon and that bump stocks, conversion kits and any other means of converting a legal semi-automatic firearm into an illegal fully automatic firearm, should be outlawed and the law strenuously enforced.

Insofar as background checks, contrary to what Schumer, Warren et al. would have you think, they are already in force and are repeated every time you buy a firearm, having to fill out papers, supply valid identification and wait until the transaction is approved by the proper authorities.

The anti-gun bunch choke on a gnat and swallow a camel, they are so politically correct they are ready to criticize law enforcement for the slightest mistake, real or imagined, they are perfectly willing to deprive them of the tools to keep violent criminals off the street, all in the name of constitutional rights, yet are ready to deprive law abiding citizens of theirs because they refuse to admit what the real problem is, in fear of losing a few votes.

The problem is that if you give these people an inch, they will demand a mile and when and if whatever increment of gun control legislation they can muscle through congress doesn’t work, and it won’t, they will be back for more and more, because, face it folks, these people are protected by gun toting federal employees paid for by us, the taxpayer.

They don’t have to be concerned about their security and sure ain’t concerned about ours.

The mass murders in Las Vegas bothered me more that all the tragedies we’ve faced in recent years, and as the authorities search for answers I hope we can be patient until they are forthcoming and not bolt into the unknown by being influenced by politicians who are willing to throw the baby out with the bath water just to make some political hay.

Whatever the events, relationships, politics or religion of this depraved coward might have been, his was an act of pure evil, and one that evidently could not have been predicted by his prior actions and prayerfully, an anomaly.

I’m sure there will be accusations, lawsuits and changes in policy at the high-rise hotels in Las Vegas and other cities, self-righteous politicians will preen and posture and preach their “I told you so” message, but eventually America will get back to normal, sadder, wiser and ever more vigilant.

With God’s help, we will survive.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, our police and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

— Charlie Daniels

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