Gun rights for credit card fairness - a darned good deal!

May 13, 9:07 PMDC Corporate Ethics ExaminerJim Cunningham

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I've been a big supporter of the credit card reform bills making their way through Congress and have covered them here extensively. I expected big-time Republican opposition to them. In a surprise act, Republicans, presumably in exchange for voting for the credit card bill, have attached a provision to insure peopleís rights to possess guns in National Parks (after the right was emphasized by Bush and suspended by Obama.)
I think it's a darned good deal.

I've been to a bunch of National Parks, and I'm from Colorado, so I know that sometimes being in a National Park means being isolated. Isolated from the police, hospitals, help, anyone. Sure, if you're in the city and some opportunist tries to hurt you or take advantage of you, a reasonable argument can be made that you should call the police rather than simply blowing them away with a pistol. But in a National Park, you're often out in the middle of nowhere. If you need to protect yourself from a four-legged beast, or a two-legged beast, itís up to you. You're on your own. Itís entirely in your hands.

Personally, I pack a Smith & Wesson whenever I travel off the beaten path. Now, I'm about as liberal as they come, but when it comes right down to it, I make sure I'm prepared and ready to defend myself, my family and my property. When Iím traveling out in the boonies, for me, this means having a firearm near at hand.

The idea that National Parks are some sort of 'Garden of Eden' where no harm can come to you if we just inform people that itís illegal to bring firearms into these areas, is simply ridiculous. And I mean that in the most dictionary-definable way; the notion is worthy of ridicule.

Sure, the gun-rights nuts are raving about the National Parks gun ban - you would expect them to. But here I am, a liberal, telling you that itís a bad idea - that people should be allowed to bring their guns into our National Parks. Second Amendment Rights arguments take many forms, and opinions on them depend on political leanings, previous experience, peopleís relative trust in law enforcement, human nature and thatís just for starters. Mine comes from growing up around cops and being taught to watch out for ëopportunistsí.

But, here, I'm talking about the all-American Right that we've all become accustomed to, to have a gun at its absolute most fundamental. You're out in the middle of nowhere, with nobody around to help you and someone or something intends to hurt you. THIS is where the rubber meets the road and the most liberal among us would trade anything for the reassuring feel of the weight of a gun in our hand.

Party politics aside, when you're out in the middle of nowhere, with the police nowhere near, it sure is nice to be armed if you choose to be, just in case. And it only takes once.

So, yeah. I can't wait to stick it to those credit card companies that have been sticking it to us for so long. And if we have to give in to the idea that we need to allow ourselves the right to protect ourselves when we're out in the middle of nowhere- oh, well, I guess we're going to have to suck it up and accept that ever-so-inconvenient right to save our own asses when nobody is there to do it for us, I guess weíll just have to accept that "compromise".

And shame on those who will call it a compromise!