Elitism

Do you have a friend or associate that you KNOW is a gun owner, but you think they should never have been allowed to get a gun?

I mean they have no record, and they aren’t THAT crazy, so there is no real legal reason to deny them. Maybe they inherited a revolver. But you know their character, and you wouldn't trust them to properly use a toilet responsibly. Or maybe they are a total klutz and accident prone, uncoordinated. They are KNOWN to total a car because of incompetence on multiple occasions.

Perhaps it would be best if they got rid of that firearm. Some people aren’t ‘adult’ enough yet, by any 'objective' judgment.

Yeah. That’s a snobby, elitist attitude, isn’t it? That kind of thought process is the road to tyranny. Guard against it. Who are YOU to judge? Maybe your instincts are right and that gun owner is an irresponsible powder keg, an accident waiting to happen. Well, statistics say otherwise, so stop trying to be your brother’s keeper.

American People have 2 firm foundation characteristics. One is the pioneer spirit of self-reliance. The “leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone and we’ll get along just fine,” attitude, and has been here since the first colonist stepped on these shores to stay, and it spread from coast to coast and beyond. It’s the basis for our love of liberty. The other characteristic is from the Puritan side of our nation’s founding. The “we know what’s best for everyone and we’re going to insist that everyone comply with this truth,” It’s the basis for our Progressives, our Populist, the Leftists and many Religious Evangelicals, all (see: Puritans). And this second side, I don’t cotton too, that much. I’ll grant that in the best of cases, these second types mean well, and a unity of purpose can get a lot of good done, but who is to pick the good? They can get a lot of bad done, too, if people band together. And without even intending to DO bad. It just happens.

If we are going to err, let’s err on the side of “leave your neighbor the hell alone and let him get on with his life. He ain’t hurting nobody.”