Friday, November 6, 2009

Quote of the Day

Eric Raymond, commenting on an interesting bill in the Vermont legislature where non-gun owners would be required to register and pay a fee for not owning a gun:
I’ve never made a secret of my evaluation that refusal to bear arms is a form of moral cowardice masquerading as virtue. Real adults know how precious human life is, when they are ethically required to risk it on behalf of others, and when killing is both necessary and justified. Real adults know that there is no magic about wearing a police or military uniform; those decisions are just as hard, and just as necessary, when we deny we’re making them by delegating them to others. Real adults do not shirk the responsibility that this knowledge implies. And the wistful thought Rep Maslack’s proposal leaves me with is…maybe if moral cowardice cost money and humiliation, there would be less of it.
Interesting analysis at the link, too. RTWT.

2 comments:

wolfwalker said...

Makes no sense. The same state that sent Jumpin' Jim Jeffords to the Senate, had Howard the Scream as its governor, and now has a Socialist as one of its two Senators ... is considering a bill to make gun ownership mandatory?

Through the Looking-Glass are we, definitely.

Borepatch said...

Wolfwalker, coming from rural New England myself, let me just say that only hte kooks make the news. There is a strain of independence that runs very deep here, and this - while very much tongue-in-cheek - taps into that vein.