On Wed, 12 Feb 2003 23:30:12 -0500, Declan wrote: > Note by broad conservative community I do not include > politically-active gun owners, who would like an actual principled > stand on the 2A. Fat chance.
People who look for "principled stands" by a government, any government, aren't paying attention. Other than surviving and maintaining control over the governed, governments have no principles. That kind of thing just gets in the way of survival and control and potentially limits a government's options. Example: From the Declaration of Independence to the Sedition Act took only 22 years, and that was when the founding fathers still actively dominated political life. Today, a USA Patriot Act takes only minutes to enact, with neither debate nor hearings, and members of Congress don't even complain of not being able to read it before the vote.
