Julie doesn’t like me to wear a gun. I’ll take it off when I can—until then it will be necessary for the men of peace to have guns, as long as men of violence do. We can’t put all the force in the hands of evil. Louis L’Amour “How the West Was Won”
By Sam Fadala John Steinbeck (1902–1968) is one of America’s most noted authors. His books remain readily available today in one venue or another. “The Grapes of Wrath,” which is about the Oklahoma Dust Bowl), with employers taking advantage of the downtrodden, won a Pulitzer Prize and was later made into a film starring Henry Fonda. Some of his works generated other films: “East of Eden,” “Of Mice and Men,” “Tortilla Flat,” “Cannery Row,” “The Pearl,” and more.
“The Moon is Down,” also a book turned into a film, depicts what happens when, as Louie L’Amour wrote in “How the West Was Won,” all force is in the hands of evil. By 10:45, it was all over. The town was occupied. With help from local traitors, Nazi forces prevailed in no time to reduce the population to obey-or-die subjects. Gray-helmeted men carrying submachine guns marched in the streets. A few armed citizens attempted to fight, but they were gunned down. Another traitor had arranged for a shooting match on the day of the invasion. At the match, the Nazis captured all the guns.
On a visit to the mayor of the town, a Nazi captain said, “Our military regulations prescribe that we search for weapons before the commanding officer enters a room. I believe there are some firearms here?” He opened a book containing information about guns among the townspeople. “Your Excellency,” he said to the mayor, “I think you have firearms here. Two items, I believe.” The mayor said yes, “a shotgun and a sporting rifle.” A sergeant was ordered to immediately confiscate both. Guns removed, the Nazi colonel entered the room, instructing the mayor to order citizens of the town to mine coal for the Nazi invaders. The mayor explained that the people would not like that. “Always the people! The people are disarmed. The people have no say,” the colonel promised. The Nazis had all the fine weapons and best planning against unarmed people.
Two characters in the book discuss “what right” the Nazis have invading their town, then forcing the men to work coal against their will. “I see it like they have no right at all, but they do it, with their guns and their parachutes, they do it.” The people want to be free again, but it is asked, “Do they know how to go about it? Do they know the method to use against an armed enemy? They have no chance to fight. It’s no fight to go against machine guns.” The Nazi invaders failed to remember the frantic retreat from Moscow, every peasant’s pitchfork tasting blood, snow rotten with Nazi bodies.
So the people of the town, unarmed, did what they could, such as enabling lights to appear when the English bombers came over, breaking the Nazi rule that night must remain totally black. The town doctor spoke of killing instead of healing. He said, “We are disarmed; our spirits sink and bodies aren’t enough. The spirit of a disarmed man sinks.” A few townsmen left for England. They were told, You boys are sailing for England. Maybe nobody will listen to you, but tell them from us—from a small town—to give us weapons. “You want guns?” the men ask. “Guns or grenades, explosives, poison. Whatever to repel the enemy.”
The Nazi invaders complain, “Always before, it was possible to disarm the people and keep them in ignorance. Now they listen to their radios and we can’t stop them. We can’t even find their radios. So it is a new kind of conquest.” The Nazis cannot break the spirit of the town. They rule, but in fear. Weapons fall from the sky as English bombers fly over the town. The townspeople do what they can with them.
Steinbeck makes it clear that “only dangerous people are free.” Had these people a Second Amendment right to protect themselves, the story would have been different when the bullies invaded the town in “The Moon is Down.” Gestapo and thugs in the World War II era who came to the doors of unarmed Jewish and anti-Nazi citizens feared no danger from within. Had these people the right to bear arms, the story would have been written in different ink.
Yes. I agree that a pre planned event would be best and most beneficial. That is exactly what I am proposing the gun organizations, the online merchants and the NRA-ILA as well as others put together. These are the groups and organizations which have the connections, power and the financial clout to make it happen. As for all those who, as you have made mention of, have family, jobs etc. When will there ever be a good time. Surely not after our Constitution has been raped and our freedoms and rights have been striped away. A well planned march would only take a couple days out of any persons schedule and would, as the Million Man March had done, produce beneficial results. Today we march in a peaceful demonstration in support of the Second Amendment with the First Amendment as our protection and guide to a peaceful assembly. There will never be a better time but there must be a correct time and we as believers, supporters and labors of and for the Second Amendment must do our part and assemble. Again I call on the gun groups, the online merchants and NRA-ILA and others who are in a position to organize, promote and have the connections and financial means and clout to step up and do their part lest they be carpetbaggers.
Obama has found any reason to lower our FLAG for 8 years now? we need to start flying our first freedom our patriotism the way it should be! lets all show it by raising it back where it belongs! it is sad seeing it on the ground.. raise it back up where it belongs. I think President Reagan would think so too. Men died to keep it flying high. God save us All
A little known band named Hogjaw has a song called Gitsum that they made a utube video of that patriots and gunnuts should watch. One line in the song says “It’s high time we embrace the tool that keeps all men free” Good song, better message
“Only dangerous people are free”. How true and how profound!
Words to live by..
Your comment as to Bernie may be correct but your comment as to “stopping the irrational fear” is misguided. When people like HILLARY CLINTON blatantly proclaim they are for gun confiscation, I really do not see how irrational fear can be implied. The fear of our constitutional freedoms being striped away is real in every sense of the word. These people, “Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, Barack Obama”, have already spoke of gun control and confiscation and there is nothing implied about that. Their comments and statements are a matter of record and that is something to fear. It doesn’t matter if you like or dislike guns, cannons, rockets or squirt guns, water pistols or water balloons. What does matter is that these people are not happy with the American people being free people. The problems in our country are not caused by the people but , are the result of poor and ineffective leadership. The lack of jobs, money and the rise in our national crime rate is a result of that poor and ineffective leadership, which in all reality does not exist. The fear is not only rational it is justifiably real.
My problem is that you lumped Bernie in with the rest of them.
Bernie Sanders is no different than any of them, and so are most so called Republicans these days. You need to stop listening to his lies and actually do a little homework. Like most tyrants, he his for his own personal gun ownership but wants to restrict yours. Wake up, go online and actually look at his voting record. It is notoriously anti-2A and earned himself an F rating. And, as if that wasn’t enough, you are somehow fine with his socialist ideology of stealing wealth from one class of citizens and redistributing it to another class? Why are you so afraid of life without limited government? Socialists need to get off their lazy asses, earn a living through hard work like the rest of us and fight for your right to keep what you have earned and belongs to you! Socialism is evil.
I know Bernie’s voting record, clearly better than you do.
“And, as if that wasn’t enough, you are somehow fine with his socialist ideology of stealing wealth from one class of citizens and redistributing it to another class?”
Why are you fine with the ultra rich slowly changing all of our tax laws until they are able to pull so much money out of the system that wealth inequality goes out wildly out of control? Who has convinced you that corporate executives need 100s of millions of dollars while their workers aren’t paid a living wage?
“Socialists need to get off their lazy asses, earn a living through hard work like the rest of us and fight for your right to keep what you have earned and belongs to you! Socialism is evil.”
Your local police department, fire department and library don’t appreciate being called evil. We all benefit from socialist programs, socialism is not evil.
I am anything but “fine” with anyone taxing my earnings at all, let alone to the point that I have no chance of becoming wealthy. I am in favor of a consumption tax that no one, not even those who are here illegally, can avoid. Not the elite. Not the prostitute. Not the sleeping terrorist. Everyone pays in to the system that was supposed to fund one thing, national defense.
Who has convinced YOU that is is wrong to EARN (not steal) as much as you can according to your ambition and potential? “NEED” is not even part of your right to the pursuit of happiness. For your information, I am completely against the entire corporate concept. I believe that if you conduct business, you are responsible for your activities and should not be protected from liability by an unconstitutional government veil. The corporation in this country was established initially in the earlier days of our country to allow people to work together and pool their resources to be able to take on massive public projects, such as the railroads, that were too big and expensive to go alone. Those early corporations always had a legal expiration upon completion of the project. Today, the corporation has nothing to do with large scale projects. EVERY business, large and small, “enjoys” the illegal infinite protection from whatever business it chooses to engage in.
Unfortunately, this forum is not conducive to real discussion or learning. So, again I will offer you the last word as I head off to earn my keep.
Well at least we agree that modern corporate structure needs to change. Have a good weekend.
It is time to call on those who have the connections, the power and who have been gaining financially through gun and ammunitions sales to step up. Its time to call on the NRA-ILA, Buckeye Firearms and Gun owners of America to take part in organizing. Its time to call together the American people to march in Washington DC and demand the Tyrannical Government step down and that our freedoms as guaranteed by The Constitution of the United States of America be set free from the heinous assaults of the past, present and future government leadership. These people are elected to provide leadership not become dictators. They are too listen to the needs of and advance our nation into the future without destroying our constitutional freedoms. Marches in Washington have shown the politicians just how fed up we are in the past and have caused fear in their darkened minds. It will once again do the same. Call on the NRA-ILA, the gun organizations, the online merchants to come together and provide us with means and the opportunity to march to and in Washington DC and demand that our Constitutional Rights and Freedoms be left alone as our founding fathers intended, lest they be nothing but carpetbaggers.
Well spoken words. It is time to call on those who have the connections, the power and who have been gaining financially through gun and ammunitions sales to step up. Its time to call on the NRA-ILA, Buckeye Firearms and Gun owners of America to take part in organizing. Its time to call together the American people to march in Washington DC and demand the Tyrannical Government step down and that our freedoms as guaranteed by The Constitution of the United States of America be set free from the heinous assaults of the past, present and future government leadership. These people are elected to provide leadership not become dictators. They are too listen to the needs of and advance our nation into the future without destroying our constitutional freedoms. Marches in Washington have shown the politicians just how fed up we are in the past and have caused fear in their darkened minds. It will once again do the same. Call on the NRA-ILA, the gun organizations, the online merchants to come together and provide us with means and the opportunity to march to and in Washington DC and demand that our Constitutional Rights and Freedoms be left alone as our founding fathers intended, lest they be nothing but carpetbaggers.
Well spoken words.
It’s time for a revolution to take back our country and return it to the people as our forefathers meant it to be.
Get ready don,t wait and wish for this to go away. Join the N.R.A. make sue you vote. Then prepare for the worst . The clouds are gathering. So get what you will need before it comes. If possible find others doing the same. There are at least three percent of the people who would be keepers of the OATH. PRAY FOR PEACE BUT PREPARE FOR WAR. GOD BLESS AMERICA.
It is time. We have the numbers to march but most conservatives work and don’t have time. But it is time to make time. I’ll march shoulder to shoulder with you. If we don’t march on Washington, it will be too late. I fear after reading about the voting machines changing votes to Democrat, that this election will be like the last two. It only takes 1 or 2 percent of the votes to be changed and we saw what happened. Let’s march. Take the time before it’s taken from us.
“I fear after reading about the voting machines changing votes to Democrat”
Where/when did this happen? Do you have a link to the story?
This happened to me in the election cycle following the “hanging chad” incident. I have not always blindly voted for Republicans, but I have NEVER cast a vote for a Democrat for the very simple reason that America is a Republic, not a Democracy and Democrats despise Republicanism. However, in my district in Palm Beach County, Florida we had for the first time electronic touch screen voting machines in lieu of the paper ballots. Upon entering my final selection I was brought to a summary screen that listed every choice I had made offering me a chance to correct or make changes to my selections. On the summary screen EVERY selection, EVERY ONE, had shown that I chosen the Democrat! I had to go back and change every selection, and the subsequent summary showed the correct choices that I had made, so I hit the “CONFIRM” button and cast my votes. While the screen now appeared to cast my real choices, I have no way of knowing what was actually submitted through the system. Since then we have returned to paper ballots. Sorry, I cannot provide a link to a published story of this if it does not exist. I can only tell you of my own personal experience.
We live in a democratic republic. Your reasoning for not voting for democrats is hilariously false. Judge someone on their positions, not on your own misunderstanding of our form of government.
Matt, if your own misunderstanding of our form of government wasn’t so frightening it would be “hilarious.” Democracy is precisely what our founders intentionally avoided because it is nothing less than mob rule. Democracies are “as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” I suggest you begin reading the U.S. Constitution. It alone establishes our government. Find the part that says we are a “democratic republic” and report back. Next, read the Federalist Papers. In addition to helping New Yorkers at the time belay their fears about the Constitution, the Federalist will also help you, as it was written to do, understand the meaning and intent of the writers of the Constitution. When you have completed your assignment hopefully you will have a better grasp on the FACT that the U.S. Constitution established a “FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE REPUBLIC.” Do not be fooled by the constitutional abuse perpetrated by the Democrat politicians, media and unconstitutional federal takeover of our educational system or the ignorance of the Republican politicians who shout “DEMOCRACY” every chance they get so as to garner your vote. As for my voting methodology, I will as always judge candidates on their understanding, loyalty and OBEDIENCE to the U.S. Constitution. Obedience to the Constitution is the ONLY way to return our government to We the People from You the Mob Follower.
We live in a democratic republic. Your reasoning for not voting for democrats is hilariously false. Judge someone on their positions, not on your own misunderstanding of our form of government.
Haven’t learned a thing. Democrats are hilariously hopeless.
No, you haven’t. Enjoy another nationally televised butt whooping this election.
Matt, you seem to assume that I have a candidate in this race. Finally, you and I can agree to one thing. There will be a butt whooping. I am fully expecting the not so Grand ol’ Party to betray its constituents and the DemOlition party to give away more of your stuff (notice how your leaders never give away their stuff) to those who do not contribute and our sovereignty to the New World Odor (yes, Odor). But to be sure, it is We the People who will be on the receiving end of that butt whooping, and that includes you freeloaders.
Again with the lie that I must be a jobless freeloader if I disagree with you. I was already working and contributing while you were posting this. Have a nice weekend.
Better gun control ? Try using both hands.
Trying to work nationally is difficult. However, freedom can be fostered in cities and States which is easier to organize.
Kennesaw, Georgia, requires all citizens to have guns. Your community can do the same.
Many States have State Militias which are totally free from Federal control. States can also pass universal State Militia training to expose all young citizens to combat training as well as firearm training. This increases the skills of the population to organize and resist tyranny. It also breaks down the anti-gun propaganda when all understand that guns are not the problem. So influence State government to take these steps to resist tyranny.
There have been groups organized to assemble and protest in Washington DC. In marching and protesting they managed to get their point across and made Congress and the President get up and off their ASSES to address their issues. I am wondering why this has not been done as of this date3/23/2016. The NRA the online stores such as Cheaper than Dirt, Midway USA, Natchez, Buckeye Firearms Association, the NRA-ILA, Gun Owners of America to name a few. These groups and organizations have the financial means, contacts, power to make a march in the nation’s capital possible. A 50,000,100,000, 200,000, or a 500,000 man march in Washington DC protesting the blatant attacks on our Second Amendment would send a powerful message to these Wannabe dictators. What are these businesses, groups and organizations waiting for? The Shooter’s Log write an article titled Major Gun Groups Oppose Supreme Court Nomination but all you are actually doing is giving lip service. Washington dictators do not care about lip service and disregard your writings as just that “lip service”. The only thing that Washington understands is action. I think perhaps the writer of this article should once again read John Steinbeck, ” The Moon is Down,” then pass it along to your superior’s. When the dictators drop the as it will have already been too late and the profits they enjoy will be no more. The only bottom line they will have will be on their legs and made of iron. So again I ask. Where is the leadership amongst the companies who claim to care so much about our Second Amendment Rights and the Constitution of the United States of America?
I agree that a large march on Washington, too large to ignore, would be an excellent way to get our point across. The problem is that most good people have jobs and families to take care of and thus do not have the time to participate in marches. The lefties have a distinct unfair advantage in this regard. One solution might be to have one huge march, scheduled way in advance, timed so as to get maximum participation and press coverage, such as July 4th. It would have to take into account a hostile press, and would have to approach the limits of civil disobedience in order to force government recognition of grievances. A tall order.
America, ‘GET DANGEROUS’, Hillary, Bernie, Barrak, all want your guns.
They are willing to call in U.N.Forces to enforce a total ban on private gun ownership. Remember; “ONLY DANGEROUS PEOPLE ARE FREE!” John Steinbeck.
Bernie would never do anything like this. He has an established track record when it comes to guns. He’s from Vermont, plenty of gun owners there. Stop the irrational fear, it leads to gun and ammo hoarding.
Okay, what ever it you are smoking, put down. Bernie Sanders is a self-loathing Jew that is a ‘socialist’ with ‘communist’ leanings that has repeatedly supported ‘reasonable’ gun control. AKA as military look-a-likes, high capacity magazines, (that includes your dad’s 80-90 year old tube (magazine) fed .22 that holds 20 rounds. True, he has said, at least once, that he supports the rights of law abiding citizens to own firearms, but you must take into consideration whom he considers ‘law abiding’ and what doe he consider ‘reasonable’, when it comes to what guns an individual can keep. As for Vermont and guns? Was through there many years ago. Pulled over by the State Police. Why? My Kentucky tags. Wanted to know what I was doing so far from Kentucky, as if it was any of their business. Found an unloaded black powder revolver, when the illegally searched my car, went ‘bat-crap-crazy’. Asked me who I was planning to shoot. Only the fact that it was unloaded and my loading kit was locked in the trunk, kept me from going to jail.
“Bernie Sanders is a Jew self-loathing ‘socialist’ with ‘communist’ leanings that has repeatedly supported ‘reasonable’ gun control.”
Bernie is a Democratic Socialist, he doesn’t have “communist” leanings, and I’d be shocked if you knew the meaning of either of those words. As for the racist self-loathing Jew comments I’ll just chalk that up to the latent racism so prevalent on the internet these days.
“As for Vermont and guns? Was through there many years ago. Pulled over by the State Police. Why? My Kentucky tags. Wanted to know what I was doing so far from Kentucky, as if it was any of their business. Found an unloaded black powder revolver, when the illegally searched my car, went ‘bat-crap-crazy’. Asked me who I was planning to shoot. Only the fact that it was unloaded and my loading kit was locked in the trunk, kept me from going to jail.”
Another anecdotal inane response with dubious truth. You guys do this all the time, adding some sort of made up tale of unbelievable buffoonery and lack of common sense by police of whomever to support whatever you’re trying to claim as fact.
Have a good one, BERNIE 2016!!!!!
How would you explain Sanders’ “F” rating from Gun Owners of America?
The GOA has been described by Congressman Ron Paul as “The only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington.”
These guys even oppose background checks, that’s how I would explain it.
We’ve had and still have background checks. They’ve worked so well that the biggest background check organization in the world, the U.S. Military, prevented Nadal Hassan from carrying out his murderous rampage (sarcasm intended). I for one am thankful that the GOA will not compromise on my God given constitutionally protected right and duty to protect myself, my family and my country from tyrants of all colors. It is hilarious, to borrow your term again, that you subscribe to, nay beg for, a system that has failed miserably and violently every time it has been tried. Perhaps you don’t have any posterity whose freedom is at stake or perhaps you don’t care about what happens to them once you are six feet underground as it cannot affect you. Matt, you can have the last word against us. It’s okay, we can take whatever silliness you can dish out. I have to get back to earning my living.
So no background checks then?
‘I have to get back to earning my living.”
Why do you keep saying this? And why are you commenting on the internet while at work?
A great book with a lesson we should all remember this November
John Steinbeck completely understood that the right of the people to keep and bear arms was escential for life, liberty, and freedom from tyranny. Our POTUS and his administration are a frog’s hair away from being dictators. They are current de facto dictators. It is essential that the next POTUS is pro Second Amendment or our Republic will be history. If voters would research and vet the two top conservatives, the right vote would be apparent.
Unfortunately there are far too many otherwise sensible people who fail to grasp the true essence of freedom and liberty until they’re being forced to do something against their will at the point of a gun. Then, when it’s too late, they suddenly grasp the reality of tyranny and the importance of being able to offer meaningful resistance to it.