Thorongil

Benkei is not very literary, though. :joke:

In the New Testament, Satan is said to be the god, ruler, and prince of this world, and I am wont to agree, if not literally at present, then certainl...

He got to a good age.

You know, the irony is that I have no problem with certain forms of socialism, like market socialism or socialism defined as the cooperative ownership...

He's gone to the great troll kingdom in the sky. He will not respond.

@"jamalrob" @"Baden" Mods, rejoice. I won't protest the banning of Dachshund the "Burkean conservative." :wink:

That entry was clearly written by a butthurt leftist. No doubt. :lol:

Yeah, not buying it. This is just bad trolling.

You're an odd one.

:brow:

Thanks for the projection.

Your ilk, smug left wingers who substitute sarcasm for reasoned debate, outnumbers everyone else by a large margin on this forum. You are typically bl...

There is actually a difference in meaning, perhaps subtle, between saying "there is an individual right to bear arms that is conferred by the Second A...

You have said and shown nothing, I'm afraid.

This. We are a Republic, if we can keep it, as Franklin said. The founders didn't have nice things to say about democracy, and with good reason, in my...

I don't know what fresh blather this is, Benkei. Do you not understand what I said that you quoted? And no, my position doesn't contradict Heller.

Yeah, sounds fine. Yeah. I'd have to know more specifics, but I'm not opposed in principle to such measures. The "waiting" is of some concern, however...

The ever widening lines of argument in this thread are beginning to blur. By "legitimate," I meant that you agree that there is an individual right to...

You've delineated one purpose, which isn't the only one. As a means of target practice, its purpose is to hit a target. As a hunting rifle, its purpos...

No, I didn't change my position. Here you're using "protection from government tyranny" as the premise that leads to the conclusion "there is a right ...

I have explained how your reason for banning semi-automatic weapons would apply equally as much to handguns, and any gun for that matter, that constit...

I disagree. I might add here that very few cases of defensive gun use involve the firearm being discharged, or if it is, it'sdischarged as a warning s...

Yes. That's was precisely my intent.

Correct, this is why the second premise in my argument is there. I don't say the right to self-defense gives me the right to bear arms, but that beari...

These aren't the claims I'm making, but strawmen.

No it isn't. I haven't derived any ludicrous consequence. Yes, I have done so. My position is that handguns can be as, if not more, effective than rif...

I agree, but I am arguing on principled grounds here, not practical ones. The fact that it would be difficult to enforce doesn't say anything about wh...

Sure, why not? And its logical consequences do affect third parties. It drives up the cost of health care, for one, and an obese pregnant woman puts t...

Your concern seems to be about mass shootings and the fact that rifles are typically used in them, which is true. The logic, then, is that if we want ...

I'll just recapitulate it: I possess the natural right to defend my life. The use of adequate, effective, and reasonable means is sometimes required t...

I had a feeling this comment would come up. Taking a principled stance always offends certain sensibilities. I make no apologies for not having my min...

There isn't a moral difference. Both are wrong. And abortion outrages people, too....

He's talking about the wounds caused, not the ability to kill many persons quickly, which was the criterion we were discussing. I just gave a list of ...

Then you haven't actually been reading my comments carefully. You don't understand my argument, which is no substitute for thinking it invalid.

The almost 700,000 abortions per year, in the U.S. alone, is not a small figure, no matter how much it has statistically declined. The 32,000 gun deat...

Yes, fornication, masturbation, and homosexual acts are notoriously difficult to prosecute, for obvious reasons.

It is actually, in several states, including liberal ones like Massachusetts. I would need to think about and determine whether all the items you list...

Here we ought to distinguish between an intrinsically immoral act and a circumstantially immoral act. I also believe that eating animals is wrong in c...

I was thinking of "not moral" in the sense of "immoral," not as a general category of non-moral things. I think everything that's immoral should be il...

Whence do the laws of the state acquire their authority, if not in the degree to which they reflect the natural (moral) law? If they are contrary to t...

You've not demonstrated this claim.

The Orlando shooter disagreed, and he had a large death tally. Also, I said that a handgun, under certain circumstances, is better than an AR-15, whic...

I qualified what I was undecided about with respect to euthanasia, which you have ignored. I'm not undecided about one person taking the innocent life...

Yes, it is untrue to say this. Killing someone unintentionally and/or in self-defense isn't murder. Killing a heinous criminal wouldn't be murder but ...

Mhmm.

I got that already....

It seems you're equivocating over the word "unlawful," which can mean "not legal" or "not morally right." Abortion is lawful in the first sense at pre...

Guns exist today and they didn't in the past. I fail to see how this fact disables the right to own and carry them for self-defense. The natural right...

Abortion should be made illegal, because it's a form of murder. You seem to think that no laws can contradict.

I haven't quite made up my mind on that issue, but I tend to think so, yes.