I am a Park Ranger and support an individuals right to own weapons but...[More]This comment just came in on an old post. In case anyone is interested, you can either try to educate this guy or just give him a big "Molon Labe!" to go with that big "but" of his.
It's so stupid it doesn't dignify a response.
ReplyDeleteTo the park ranger who commented:
ReplyDeleteI assume that as a park ranger you know something about animals. I also imagine that you have had occasion to advise neophyte campers and hikers who were worried about "rattlesnakes" that "If they don't bother them they won't bother you."
Sound advice.
If you would, please take a moment to reflect on how you would react to seeing someone poking at a rattlesnake with a stick. You would probably try to stop them before they got hurt, but you would probably also think they were either stupid, evil, or insane. You might also think (justifiably so) that if they got bit, they deserved it.
So. How long do you think you can poke gun owners--who, as a group, are among the most productive and peaceful members of society--with your various legal "sticks" before you get "bit"? And whose fault will it be when it happens?
All we want, you know, is to be left alone. Speaking for myself, I won't object if people go hiking miles from anywhere armed with nothing more than a cell phone. The result of their decision is between them and Charles Darwin. But, by the same token, I am not about to let anyone force me to emulate their folly. And anyone who tries will find that, like the person poking a rattlesnake, they probably would have been better off to mind their own business.
Just something to meditate on during your next walk in the woods.
Dave
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