If any form of pleasure is exhibited, report to me and it will be prohibited! I’ll put my foot down, so shall it be… this is the land of the free! The last man nearly ruined this place he didn’t know what to do with it. If you think this country’s bad off now, just wait till I get through with it! The country’s taxes must be fixed, and I know what to do with it. If you think you’re paying too much now, just wait till I get through with it! — Duck Soup

One of the biggest challenges I find when talking about politics and social issues is to separate people from the attitude of “I don’t like it, so it should be abolished or regulated.”  The topic could be guns, drugs, marriage, or whatever.  The weirdest topic I ever had to deal with was whether or not someone in a suburban setting should be able to plant fruit trees instead of ornamentals.  The other person was totally serious, and could not understand why someone would prefer a real pear tree to a Bradford pear.  I was called “hippie” because I divulged that I prefer to plant strawberries to petunias.

Freedom to do what we want means we have to let others do what they want, assuming that neither of us is doing harm to someone else.  And by harm, I mean real harm, not “I feel icky inside when I see two men holding hands” or “I have a flashback to something that never happened to me when I see DaddyBear wearing a gun on his hip”.   Basically, my philosophy boils down to “you do what you want to do, don’t bother me or mine, and don’t ask me to pay for it, and I’ll do the same for you.”

Tolerance does not necessarily equate to acceptance, though.  It certainly shouldn’t equate to forced participation.  I have no problem with two people of the same gender deciding they want to spend the rest of their lives together and wanting to make it official, just as Irish Woman and I have done.  I do have a problem when that couple forces a business to provide the trappings of the ceremony and celebration against their will.  I believe that if you can carry a gun, open or concealed, you should carry a gun when you go about your daily business.  On the other hand, I do not try to force this onto private businesses that wish to keep armed people off of their property.  I just ask that they make that position clear before I go into their establishment.

In a nutshell, you mind your business and I’ll mind mine.

It’s easier to pull the trigger than play guitar. Easier to destroy than create.  — Desperado

I hope I never have to use violence to defend myself or my family.  I prepare for the eventuality, but always have a silent prayer in my heart that I will never need to do it.  Physically, pulling a trigger is one of the easiest things to do, but doing so could destroy our lives.  Even if I’m 100% in the right to do it, the psychological toll it would have on us would be great.  The risk to our home and our livelihoods from civil suits, even if I was justified, would be almost as great.

My 1911 weighs 3 pounds loaded, but the responsibility that comes with it is much more.  Every time I pick it up, I have to be fully cognisant of that.

Some men aren’t looking for anything logical. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn. — The Dark Knight

Some people fight out of conviction to their beliefs or cause.  I have argued with people, and while the discussions can become heated and rarely change either of our minds, I know that they know their subject and are standing on firm ground with their assertions.  These people tend to be respectful in disagreement and can counter my arguments with facts or good arguments.

It’s the other kind of opponent that gets to me.  It’s the person who wants to argue just to be contrary, or just to watch you spin.  They can even be on my side, and seem to be experts in the “True Scotsman” argument.  They don’t care who wins, so long as they can watch someone lose.   They are quick to go to name calling or other personal attacks, but are just as quick to take offense if you seem to be winning through reason and logic.

There is a fine line between taking a hard stance and defending it, even to the point of being rude, and being a troll.  I think the trick for all of us is to identify these people, ignore them of they’re on the other side of an issue, and convince the other side of the issue to ignore them if they’re on our side.