Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Subjects

I was living in England in 1997 when they effectively outlawed firearms.  A madman had shot up a kindergarten in Scotland, and the Realm was horrified.  Parliament moved swiftly, and guns became a thing of the past to most British subjects.

Subjects.

Of course, all Right Thinking People™ had wanted to ban guns for decades, going back at least to 1945 and probably back to the late 19th Century and the Fabian Society.  Explicitly socialist and utopian, the Fabians were wildly influential.  Since 1945 at the least, essentially all British intellectuals have been cut from that cloth.

The Fabians thought that the State should control much of the physical, economic, and social aspects of the Kingdom.  A monopoly on the legitimate use of violence was explicit in their program.  After all, they reasoned, with the Right Sort Of People™ in charge, and the proles obediently following their orders, what could possibly go wrong?

You hear from the left the comment that "taxes are what I use to buy Civilization."  Always, they're arguing for more taxes, more Government control, more "Civilization".

Well, welcome to your Utopia.


Their road to this Hell was paved with the very best of intentions.  Dunblaine was a shock, and nobody wanted a repeat.  And so the State gathered the reins of power to itself, suppressing the (natural) remaining instinct of the people to defend themselves.

The only surprise is that the Right Thinking People™ are surprised that the State does not have a monopoly on violence.  Indeed, the rioters and looters seem to be quite contemptuous of the State's security teams.  The advice the Security Apparatus gives to Her Majesty's subjects caught in the violence and flames is to keep out of the way, don't fight back, call the Police.  They'll get around to setting things right, sometime.  Maybe.

But don't you subjects take things into your own hands.

It's a shame.  I met a lot of nice people there: smart, well mannered, the sort who are exactly the ones you want to have a pint with.  But they're subjects.  (Needless to say, I didn't hang out with the fruit of a century of Fabian Utopianism, who as we can see have gone feral.)

When I write about firearms and the Second Amendment, I tend to approach the topic from the psychological perspective.  I wrote of when I got my first firearm, a simple (but dear to me) .22 rifle:
This is my rifle.  There are none like it, because it marks the transition from a subject to a free man.

No kingdom can be secured otherwise than by arming the people. The possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave. He, who has nothing, and who himself belongs to another, must be defended by him, whose property he is, and needs no arms. But he, who thinks he is his own master, and has what he can call his own, ought to have arms to defend himself, and what he possesses; else he lives precariously, and at discretion.
The British people have been essentially enslaved by their government.  Step by well-intentioned step, they have been brought to where they cannot defend themselves, or what they own.  They cannot have arms.  They live precariously, and at the discretion of the State who clearly cannot defend them.  They are, in essence, the State's property.

Subjects.

I, for one, choose not to go gentile into that Good Night of riot and flames.  I will not live precariously, and at discretion.  Like James Burgh, I see myself as a freeman. 

Too bad.  Britain used to be a fine place.  It used to be Great.

Inspired by a post at American Digest, who tells a story of his own.

8 comments:

Paul, Dammit! said...

I was living just outside of Edinburgh at that time, myself. The farmers in my town were heavily pressured to own only one shotgun, and even that was done begrudgingly. It was all very ugly.

ASM826 said...

All the more reason to leave the sheetrock for another day and get that Garand, Citizen.

bluesun said...

I don't even bother capitalizing britain any more...

AussieAlaskan said...

Borepatch, your comments are so glaringly applicable as to be depressing. I hope, but am not confident, that more people will realise the importance of the individual being free AND RESPONSIBLE. Enjoy following your blog.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Very well said, Borepatch.

I have a friend from Britain. Living here, making a fine income in a very 'safe' city in Texas. Large house, expensive cars. A much better living than he would have at 'home'.

He palavers about our needing to have 'socialized medicine' here, and that we should have more state supported 'programs'. We should also outlaw guns - gun control is the only 'civilized' thing to do, you see - why would you EVER need a handgun? He loves it here, but wants to make it... 'just like home'. The home he escaped as a self-proclaimed economic refugee...

Oxbridge graduate with a Ph.D., and cannot see the irony in his own words.

I am so glad of Great Britain's valiant past, but see the end of the story of their Greatness.

wolfwalker said...

Of course, all Right Thinking People™ had wanted to ban guns for decades, going back at least to 1945 and probably back to the late 19th Century and the Fabian Society.

Not so sure of this, I am. I recall reading somewhere that the first major moves toward gun control in the UK occurred right after the Great War, when the ruling class (who were generally aristocrats of the old school) were afraid of a Russian style socialist revolution in England -- so they started disarming the populace so that they, who controlled the army, could more easily defeat any attempted revolution.

TinCan Assassin said...

Bullets are what I use to buy civilization. You don't mess with me, I won't mess with you.

LeverAction said...

They cannot have arms. They live precariously, and at the discretion of the State who clearly cannot defend them. They are, in essence, the State's property.

It seems they've completed the circle back into feudalism. A shame really, the beacon of the Enlightenment, the cradle of the Renaissance, whose pinnacle of civilization has devolved into a neo-feudal hellhole that is philosophically indistinguishable from that which their very ancestors bootstrapped themselves only a few hundred years ago. Progress... Really??