What Would Be Your Trigger Event?

[Wheelgunner]

What would it take to make you believe that you no longer had legislative or judicial protection of your Second Amendment rights? What event would make you snap into action (leave the country, hide your firearms, etc.)? Obviously an outright, open federal policy of collecting all privately owned arms would get most gun owners into gear, but would anything less than that set you in motion?

[Glenn]

I am guessing we will know soon

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I think we might well, too, Glenn. Otherwise, it would take an awful lot of bad things coming from DC, like Directive 10-289.

It will have finally confirmed to me that the election was stolen, rather than just suspicion. Government employees leaving

their jobs while other gov employees doing illegal acts. And I just thought the IRS were the bad guys.

 

I think we would know it, especially if we didn't pay any attention to the news, because it would be covered up by those

fools.

 

Sad part of it would be that there would be no reason for it.

Edited December 17, 2012 by 6.8 AR

[CM1021]

I have been thinking about this all day!! I read something earlier about a blowhard psychologist that said all 2nd amendmen supporters were fooled into believing we had a say so in this country and we don't really know what marshall law is and there would be hundreds of thousands of lives lost because of our "foolish" beliefs. I hope and pray that our fellow americans in LE and mil would not open fire on their own citizens!! We don't need another civil war!!

[RobertNashville]

I'm not sure we'll reach that point; not because Obummer doesn't want to make all firearms illegal but for an entirely different reason.

 

Time.

 

I think even Obama will move slowly...pushing here and there.  In the meantime, we continue to rack up debt at over a $Trillion a year and continue to print completely worthless currency.  What I'm saying is that unless large and significant changes are made and made soon, we'll probably see a complete economic collapse before we see government troops going house to house to search for and collect firearms.

Edited December 17, 2012 by RobertNashville

[QuietDan]

Not close enough yet. Closer than before. Not discussing my tipping point.

[Chucktshoes]

I've been pretty upfront with my view that we are getting closer and closer to all hell breaking loose. I won't share what my line is, but as I have said before, y'all should figure out where your own line is. Our government seems intent on crossing all of them. Edited December 17, 2012 by Chucktshoes

[Guest PapaB]

I wouldn't leave my country, but it seems that my country may be leaving me. The progressives are turning the USA into another member of the EU. This doesn't just include our 2nd amendment rights, they're tearing apart the bill of rights.

[Wheelgunner]

Understandable that most prefer to remain tight lipped about this stuff.  Would you guys change your plans if it looked like the majority of Americans really don't want to keep their rights?  RobertNashville, you made a good point about the looming consequences of chronic fiscal irresponsibility.  

 

I wonder about the logic of sticking around in a nation where my fellow citizens attach ever less importance to constitutional rights.  And I have begun to doubt that most Americans prefer to be free men over the reassurances of a nanny state.  

 

I'd rather take a long vacation than personally survive a Dr. Zhivago scenario.

[Glenn]

I know someone that is seriously considering leaving the US. Most places he has studied have problems of their own. Unstable governments, poor infrastructure, corrupt law enforcement, etc. I am anxious to see what he finally comes up with.

[Jamie Jackson]

I took an Oath a long time ago, and it's still binding.

Without the Bill of Rights, this is no longer America...it barely is now.

 

A Constitutional Convention would pretty much be a certain end to what we have left.

[Moped]

Not close enough yet. Closer than before. Not discussing my tipping point.

I won't discuss it either.  Is it getting closer, undoubtedly, but it's still far away.

[Guest TNSovereignty]

Interesting question.  You know our grandfathers thought the time was at hand with the 1934 National Firearms Act.  And well before that we had the enactment of The Fed in 1913, which of course led to our fiat currency.  Roosevelt made it illegal to hold gold until Ford rescinded it ... for how much longer?  Also we have the 1968 Gun Control Act - horrible legislation & we still have its impacts.  What I'm getting at is that we cannot look at recent events solely from the vantage point of our own generation.  If our forebears from the 30s were still around, they'd tell us that we're well beyond the tipping point.  Jefferson would tell us we're a lost cause.  Still wondering what R. E. Lee might tell us.  

 

I'd say forget the 'tipping point' & start making preparations.  Buy some silver & any other commodity that has intrinsic value.  Learn to do something with your hands, then teach your sons.  Buy materials to stockpile some weapons & ammo, and don't keep it all in the same space.  If you're an urbanite consider getting yourself a bit of land & put an RV on it.  If you're of rural stock, get to know your neighbors very, very well; learn who can be trusted.  

 

The cataclysmic event we're discussing may be generations away - let's pray that's the case.  It may be next week.  I've traveled the world, been to every continent save Antarctica, and haven't found any New Worlds.  This is where my family has to make a stand.  

[sgjay]

Of all the threads that I have read, this one made me think the most. My honest answer, I don't know. I do know that, thinking back, things seem to be moving in a direction which will undoubtedly cause me to make that decision sooner than I would like. I think alot about the future, my children's future. Will they live free or not? Will they even know the difference? If they are not free will they blame me for not having tried to stop the erosion of their freedom. I hope I have the courage to act when the time comes. For now I can only work within the system (vote,write to my lawmakers), watch the news and practice at the range.

Edited December 19, 2012 by sgjay

[Guest PapaB]

Understandable that most prefer to remain tight lipped about this stuff.  Would you guys change your plans if it looked like the majority of Americans really don't want to keep their rights?  RobertNashville, you made a good point about the looming consequences of chronic fiscal irresponsibility.  

 

I wonder about the logic of sticking around in a nation where my fellow citizens attach ever less importance to constitutional rights.  And I have begun to doubt that most Americans prefer to be free men over the reassurances of a nanny state.  

 

I'd rather take a long vacation than personally survive a Dr. Zhivago scenario.

Leading up to the Revolutionary War, appx 1/3 of the people wanted to revolt, 1/3 wanted to keep the status quo and the final 3rd couldn't decide. Our Founding Fathers were in the minority when things first hit the fan. Where would we be today if they'd decided to leave rather than make a stand?

Edited December 20, 2012 by PapaB

[Wheelgunner]

I am grateful they did make a stand, but I'm not at all confident that even a third of our fellow Americans would support making a stand today. The underlying question I struggle with is, "Is it worth making a stand for constitutional principles in a democratic society if the majority of the electorate prefers to reject those constitutional principles?" You see, that question pits our love of democracy against our love of God-given, inalienable rights.

On a side note, and in response to PapaB's post, I quote from the footnote on page 171 of Congressman Ron Paul's book, "The Revolution":

"John Adams is often misquoted as saying that one third of Americans supported the Revolution, one third opposed it, and one third were indifferent. Historians have repeated this incorrect quotation time and again. Adams was in fact speaking of American support for the French Revolution. Historian William F. Marina has shown convincingly that a majority of Americans supported the American Revolution." Edited December 21, 2012 by Wheelgunner