When lighters are outlawed...

March 2, 8:53 AMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea

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Terror in Topeka!

The nanny state has reached a new level of jaw-droppingly stupid ridiculousness. Meet Kansas state senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau, D-Wichita, who's Senate Bill 106:

...would make it illegal for a retailer to sell cigarette lighters to anyone under 18 and also make it illegal for anyone under 18 to have a lighter...

Why?

“In our fire prevention efforts, we feel that there is absolutely no reason for any child under the age of 18 to have free access to or possess a cigarette lighter or any open flame device,” said Lt. Mark Chairs of the Wichita Fire Department.

So, would a match be an "open flame device," Mark? And what will this do to Boy Scout fire safety merit badge recipients, where among other things, the potential young firebugs are asked to light a match, start a charcoal fire, melt wax, start a camp cooking fire, demonstrate how to use a camp stove and lantern...along with competence at safety and prevention. You're saying these kids can't be trusted on their own with a Bic?

Just for yucks, I'd like to see Oletha pass the Boy Scout test. Right after she holds this burlap sack and clucks for snipe.

This just goes beyond words. I was going to go into everything from driving a car to my immigrant grandfather to Audie Murphy, or even to unaccompanied minors riding buses while armed, but what's the point? This is what our rulers think of us--that they are the arbiters of what we can be trusted with and when.

This is the crux of the "gun control argument."

That presumptuous mandarins such as Oletha and Mark dare even weigh in on this shows how far we as a society have allowed the principle of self rule to degrade. These are servants who forget their place, ignorant and petty usurpers, and it's time for free men and women to cast such as these out.

Back when our Founders were developing the Constitution, one of the major debates was whether or not it should contain a Bill of Rights. Some demanded one, fearing the national government would otherwise overreach its bounds. Others fought against it, and one of the most principled arguments came from "One of the People" in rebuttal to Tench Coxe.

"Place the sovereignty in the PEOPLE, and all the mysteries of government which have arisen out of kingcraft and priestcraft tumble to the dust," states a passage from the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, July 2, 1789.

"What should we think of a gentleman, who, upon hiring a waiting-man, should say to him—'my friend, please to take notice, before we come together, that I shall always claim the liberty of eating when and what I please, of fishing and hunting upon my own ground, of keeping as many horses and hounds as I can maintain, and of speaking and writing my sentiments upon all subjects.' A servant must be a fool, who would not suppose such a master to be a madman... Let these truths sink deep into our hearts: that the people are the masters of their rulers and that rulers are the servants of the people..."

It's past time we showed the servants who's in charge. Instead, Oletha's constituents will probably re-elect her by a landslide.

[Thanks to Zachary G for the tip]