I know that many, if not most of my fellow-liberals are dead set against the IRA, and what is called the "gun lobby". But I am here to support the right of American citizens to own and bear weapons of their choice.
Allow me please, all ye peace-loving Kossacks, to quote one of the finest poets of our age, Mr. Bob Dylan, who in the song "Sundown On The Union" sang:
"Democracy don't rule the world -
You better get that through your head.
This world is ruled by violence,
But I guess that's better left unsaid.
In the final analysis, destiny is decided by power. Read your Nietzche, read your LaoTzu. Read your Emerson and your Thoreaux, the conclusion will be the same. The guy who who holds a gun will be able to tell the guy who has no gun, what to do. And the guy who has no gun will do it.
I'm not saying that physical power is the only kind of power that exists. But without a doubt, physical power is something that cannot be denied. Therefore: Nuclear weapons. Therefore: AK-47's. Therefore: Biological weaponry.
These things exist, they are in our midst, ultimately ineradicable, and so we must somehow come to grips with them. We must DEAL with them somehow. But how?
Do we attempt to BAN this or that weapon? As if, by eradicating this or that means of destruction, we might be able to eradicate the will to destruction itself?
I don't think that's the right path. I say, let Americans have their handguns. I say, let anyone stock up on whatever kinds of horrific weapons they want to. They will never be able to out-do their percieved "enemies" in weaponry, no matter how many rounds of ammunition they stockpile.
I say, the real battle today is not a physical battle at all. It's a battle of wills, a battle of the spirit. Whether the spirit of peace will prevail over the spirit of war, is open to question.