Family gatherings, politics, and Mexico?

[spartan933]

I am a democrat. Don't hate.

I hate the five or six times a year that I have to hang out with the extended family. Not because I don't like them personally. I don't like the politics and religion discussions. Too volatile. And it can get personal way to easily. My Dad tries to enforce his no politics and no religion at the dinner table. But, that's hard to do when you have Jewish people, Catholics, Lutherans, Agnostics, Democrats, and Republicans all in the same family. And, everybody has a Master's or Professional degree, except me. So, everyone thinks their smarter than the person next to them. Except for my father, he is a cool guy and everyone likes him because he only does and says what is right and is a fair man. Which, I think by default, makes him a good man.

Aside from my Dad and two other members of the family, the other six are soooooo judgmental in regards to gun rights. They have a puritanical view that private gun ownership should be banned in this country and that private gun owners are the cause of so much gun violence.

I usually attribute that view to a fear and lack of knowledge of firearms. But, recently, they threw at me the whole Mexico drug violence thing and how the United States is supplying ninety percent of the weaponry to Mexico. Well, I just had to cite a few facts regarding that issue.

Why? Because I just got back from Mexico. No, I was not vacationing in Cancun. I went to the heart of the country, Michoacan. No beaches and lots of mountains and rugged terrain. I was going to a Mexican college and learning Spanish. By the way, the interior of Mexico is beautiful and the mountains are for the most part, untouched by commercial development.

Michoacan has not seen a lot of drug violence, but some. The deal with that state is that it is sooooo big and has sooooo many mountains, that drugs travel through there, north, because the Mexican Army cannot patrol it effectively due to lack of resources and the terrain.

They thought I was nuts when I went, driving, and nuts when I came back, alone. I am a pasty, blonde haired, green eyed white dude with Irish blood. So, I stick out like a sore thumb. (Incidentally, I have never had so many hot women hit on me in my life.) But, the danger is part of the fun.

I explained that in Mexico, the Federal government oversees all gun sales and purchasing a firearm, rifle or handgun, is extremely difficult. Obtaining a license to carry is also difficult.

So, in Michoacan, the State Government is starting to issue licenses to carry firearms to the people and relaxing the purchase requirements for private citizens. Why? Because even though there is a lack of VIOLENCE in Michoacan as compared to the border states, there IS a significant amount of drug trafficking. So, the State Government, on its own, and smartly, began this "relaxation" process in order to stem the violence and to DETER future violence against law abiding citzens. Essentially, what they are doing is heading the Narcos off at the pass.

Well, my Harvard educated Step-Brother and his wife, who live in the Gold Coast area of Chicago, and are really very nice people, just had to tell me that it wouldn't be necessary if the U.S. would tighten restrictions on gun ownership.

Well, I just had to remind them that the reason for the drug violence is that the United States consumes 75 percent of all the drugs in the world and the Narcos are fighting for trafficking routes into the U.S. so people can buy their drugs. The drug violence is not because of the guns. Criminals will get guns one way or another. They are very enterprising in that way. The reason for the violence is the consumption of drugs.

Reduce the demand and you will reduce the violence.

They conceded that I had a valid point. But, they were unswayed on the gun issue. We ended the discussion in order to avoid further escalation of tempers. I later, offered to take them shooting on Easter Sunday. They politely declined.

Anyways, sorry for being so long winded. I just wanted to relate that to some like-minded people and get it off of my mind.

[Indy_Guy_77]

Not gonna hate...

But did you vote for the candidate who was going to make life very difficult for private gun ownership?

-J-

[HICKMAN]

Secure the border TIGHTLY and more than one problem gets reduced.

[Timjoebillybob]

Just locking the border down will cost more money and they still will get some through. Legalize the drugs, tax em, then use the tax money to pay for the border security. Legalizing will not stop all the drug traffic but will reduce so our patrols will have less to concentrate on. More money and less border jumpers=win. That is if they will untie the patrols hands and let them do their job.

[El Cazador]

Legalize Drugs;

To legalize drugs like cocaine, heroin, and even grass, you accept responsibility for it being "OK to use". That means you'll have to regulate the making of it by getting the FDA involved. Otherwise there will be lawsuits galore by the ambulance chasers for the families of abusers who die from a "bad batch". So, we double the size of the FDA (at least), with the accompanying taxpayer funding. Since all of the drugs come originally from plants, guess who gets to oversee the growing? Yep, USDA. After all, we can't have the plants over-fertilized, or heaven forbid, hybridized. Double the USDA, with of course the requisite funding. Now we're going to tax the final product. Guess who? IRS! Gotta fund them, including all the extra field officers to chase the street corner sellers. Let's add in the FBI and all the other law enforcement acronyms for enforcement of the new laws and rules concerning the use and abuse of these "legal drugs". Don't forget funding all of the government sponsored "detox" centers, too.

So now we've:

Doubled the size of the FDA

Doubled the size of the USDA

Quadrupled the size of the IRS

Doubled the size of the FBI, etc.

Created massive government healthcare costs.


I thought Libertarians are for smaller government?

[CarmelHP]

Could make taxation and regulation a purely state matter. Not advocating it, just a thought.

[El Cazador]

Originally Posted by CarmelHP

Could make taxation and regulation a purely state matter. Not advocating it, just a thought.

State or Federal, legalization and regulation would create a government Leviathan the likes that would make the Socialist in charge envious.

[CopperWires]

spartan933, this might help your case. Gun Facts - Your guide for debunking gun control myth The copyright is setup to encourage the distribution of this material. Feel free to print it out and hand it out at the next gathering. All the statistics are cited from reliable sources and government agencies (scholars that think they are smarter than everyone like this type of reading). If you already knew about this information, maybe I reminded you about it. If not, sorry for the unhelpful post.

I strongly encourage every to print or at least save a copy of it! Its pretty interesting really. I was thinking about sending a printed copy to all of the representatives, senators, and governor, but wondered if someone else might have beat me to the punch. It might also be good to send it to the editor of the local paper or to your local tv news station. The author highly encourages this type of distribution.

[CulpeperMM]

Originally Posted by CarmelHP

Could make taxation and regulation a purely state matter. Not advocating it, just a thought.

+1

great idea.

[HICKMAN]

Originally Posted by Timjoebillybob

Just locking the border down will cost more money and they still will get some through. Legalize the drugs, tax em, then use the tax money to pay for the border security. Legalizing will not stop all the drug traffic but will reduce so our patrols will have less to concentrate on. More money and less border jumpers=win. That is if they will untie the patrols hands and let them do their job.

If they still come through, the border isn't locked down.

Legalizing drugs is EXACTLY the cop out this stupid administration is looking for, except they are trying to make it appear as OUR decision.

Which drugs are you going to legalize? Make one legal, they will *****. What about coke, what about heroin, what about meth...