Saturday, January 5, 2013

Sunday Sundries: George Washington Said What?


"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government" - George Washington

There are two problems with this quote (which I saw on Facebook). 

First, George Washington never said it.  Here is what he said: “A free people ought not only be armed but disciplined; to which end, a uniform and well digested plan is requisite: And their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories, as tend to render them independent on others, for essential, particularly for military supplies." 
                                        
Second, did George have assault rifles?  I don’t really think George Washington would be opposed to reasonable gun control legislation, but we aren’t ever going to know.  He’s been dead a mighty long time.  He died before cars, before planes, before machine guns, before decolonization, before the bulk of colonization, before the end of slavery, before women could vote, and … well … before a heck of a lot of other stuff.

The bottom line is, I’m not going to be too bowled over by a pro-gun control quote from over two hundred years ago, even if it is accurate … and this one isn’t.  What I’m more concerned with are all the folks who die from gun violence every year in this country.  What I’m more concerned with is why we don’t have reasonable comprehensive and effective gun regulations in this country … and why anyone would oppose them.  What I’m much more concerned with is why we can’t get serious about this problem and stop hiding behind inaccurate quotes and statistics.

We do know that a lot of folks die every year in our country from gun violence.  We also know that reasonable regulation of the ownership of guns can be achieved without taking away anyone’s right to own a gun.  I’m also fairly certain you can hunt without an AK-47.  I am 100% sure that lying about what George Washington said won’t help anyone. 

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