02-25-2005, 05:10 PM
Some won't understand 'gun nuts'
Published in the Herald News 02/22/05
![[Image: john_whiteside.jpg]](http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/images/columnists/john_whiteside.jpg)
"The current position of the United States... is that the Second Amendment more broadly protects the rights of individuals, including persons who are not members of any militia or engaged in active military service or training, to possess and bear their own firearms."
Solicitor General Theodore Olson wrote those words in two court filings, which reverse the government's longstanding interpretation of the Second Amendment.
Finally some plain old common sense on the gun issue is spoken by Uncle Sam.
For years, we gun owners have felt discriminated against as the liberal do-gooders slowly attempted to disarm us. But we had a few chuckles along the way.
Last fall, I chuckled to myself after a police buy-back program that bought 143 guns for $50 each. The program was considered a big success.
But three days after that success was announced, I was standing in an old building with a solid locked door just south of Joliet. There were more guns inside that building than any buy-back program could ever afford.
The guns in that building included everything from a Civil war musket to a .45-caliber submachine gun. Mounted on the walls were a variety of rifles, shotguns and pistols. There were antiques and modern weapons.
One display was of several dozen German rifles from World War I and II. Beside them were British, Italian and American rifles used in the same wars. On another wall was a collection of .30-30-caliber repeating rifles, each one beautiful and a treasure from history. Another display in a wooden rack was of double-barrel shotguns.
In that room, I saw .22s and .25s and .32s and .38s and .45s and all the other calibers ever made for pistols. I saw 12-gauge and 10-gauge and 16-gauge shotguns. I saw single shot weapons and rifles with large magazines.
The owner of all these guns told me he had been collecting them for 35 years. It's his passionate hobby. In great pride, he can tell the history of each one of his guns.
He loves his guns. Yes, that's right, he loves 'em.
But that is something that the anti-gun folks fail to understand. They have never held a pistol in their hands and felt the thrill of hitting a target. They've never oiled and cleaned a weapon with the affectionate hands of a shooter who can be as tender and loving with that weapon as a father diapering his baby's bottom.
No, the anti-gun faction just believe that guns or wrong and the Second Amendment is outdated for modern times. Trying to explain to them the love between a shooter or collector and his guns is about like trying to explain faith and religion to an atheist.
I have no idea why some of us feel like that about our right to own a gun. In my case, it goes back to my childhood and the love affair I had with an old single-shot, bolt-action Winchester .22-caliber rifle. One of my dreams then was to someday own and shoot a pistol.
I bought my first really fine handgun 25 years ago in the Will County State's Attorney's Office from a prosecutor, who was a gun advocate. I carried that Colt .45-semiautomatic out of the courthouse in a brown paper bag.
When I fire that weapon, I realize I have just fired one of the best handguns in the world. This weapon was the official sidearm of American soldiers for almost a hundred years.
Yes, in the eyes of an anti-gun individual, I'm a gun nut. But I sure know a lot of people who are gun nuts, too. We are responsible citizens who simply enjoy the sport of shooting.
Over the years, I've met many collectors and admired their collections of weapons. Like a woman showing off a piece of diamond jewelry, a collector will show a gun to another gun lover.
I fully realize that anti-gun people fail to understand this concept. They just see the evil that can be created by a gun and not the evil in the heart of someone who would misuse a weapon.
Unfortunately, I can't afford to collect some of these historic weapons like many men and women across this nation. All I can afford to collect are baseball hats.
But my favorite hat is inscribed, "Gun control means being able to hit the target."
I am thankful for the Second Amendment and those individuals like Charlton Heston and the NRA who have defended it. It's good to see that Uncle Sam is now on our team.
Editor's note: Longtime Herald News columnist John Whiteside completed numerous columns before his death. The Herald News will publish the remainder of his work.
02/22/05
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Published in the Herald News 02/22/05
"The current position of the United States... is that the Second Amendment more broadly protects the rights of individuals, including persons who are not members of any militia or engaged in active military service or training, to possess and bear their own firearms." Solicitor General Theodore Olson wrote those words in two court filings, which reverse the government's longstanding interpretation of the Second Amendment.
Finally some plain old common sense on the gun issue is spoken by Uncle Sam.
For years, we gun owners have felt discriminated against as the liberal do-gooders slowly attempted to disarm us. But we had a few chuckles along the way.
Last fall, I chuckled to myself after a police buy-back program that bought 143 guns for $50 each. The program was considered a big success.
But three days after that success was announced, I was standing in an old building with a solid locked door just south of Joliet. There were more guns inside that building than any buy-back program could ever afford.
The guns in that building included everything from a Civil war musket to a .45-caliber submachine gun. Mounted on the walls were a variety of rifles, shotguns and pistols. There were antiques and modern weapons.
One display was of several dozen German rifles from World War I and II. Beside them were British, Italian and American rifles used in the same wars. On another wall was a collection of .30-30-caliber repeating rifles, each one beautiful and a treasure from history. Another display in a wooden rack was of double-barrel shotguns.
In that room, I saw .22s and .25s and .32s and .38s and .45s and all the other calibers ever made for pistols. I saw 12-gauge and 10-gauge and 16-gauge shotguns. I saw single shot weapons and rifles with large magazines.
The owner of all these guns told me he had been collecting them for 35 years. It's his passionate hobby. In great pride, he can tell the history of each one of his guns.
He loves his guns. Yes, that's right, he loves 'em.
But that is something that the anti-gun folks fail to understand. They have never held a pistol in their hands and felt the thrill of hitting a target. They've never oiled and cleaned a weapon with the affectionate hands of a shooter who can be as tender and loving with that weapon as a father diapering his baby's bottom.
No, the anti-gun faction just believe that guns or wrong and the Second Amendment is outdated for modern times. Trying to explain to them the love between a shooter or collector and his guns is about like trying to explain faith and religion to an atheist.
I have no idea why some of us feel like that about our right to own a gun. In my case, it goes back to my childhood and the love affair I had with an old single-shot, bolt-action Winchester .22-caliber rifle. One of my dreams then was to someday own and shoot a pistol.
I bought my first really fine handgun 25 years ago in the Will County State's Attorney's Office from a prosecutor, who was a gun advocate. I carried that Colt .45-semiautomatic out of the courthouse in a brown paper bag.
When I fire that weapon, I realize I have just fired one of the best handguns in the world. This weapon was the official sidearm of American soldiers for almost a hundred years.
Yes, in the eyes of an anti-gun individual, I'm a gun nut. But I sure know a lot of people who are gun nuts, too. We are responsible citizens who simply enjoy the sport of shooting.
Over the years, I've met many collectors and admired their collections of weapons. Like a woman showing off a piece of diamond jewelry, a collector will show a gun to another gun lover.
I fully realize that anti-gun people fail to understand this concept. They just see the evil that can be created by a gun and not the evil in the heart of someone who would misuse a weapon.
Unfortunately, I can't afford to collect some of these historic weapons like many men and women across this nation. All I can afford to collect are baseball hats.
But my favorite hat is inscribed, "Gun control means being able to hit the target."
I am thankful for the Second Amendment and those individuals like Charlton Heston and the NRA who have defended it. It's good to see that Uncle Sam is now on our team.
Editor's note: Longtime Herald News columnist John Whiteside completed numerous columns before his death. The Herald News will publish the remainder of his work.
02/22/05
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