Quote:
An armed society is a polite society...goes both ways, eh?
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Sorry, but this is one of the most misunderstood and ludicrous statements about guns that exists.
The quote from Heinlein...
Quote:
An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.
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It basically means that people are living in fear of violence all the time because if they do or say something wrong, they may have to fight for their lives. That isn't being polite. That is fear.
Being armed doesn't make gangsters polite to one another. Being armed doesn't make armies polite to one another, or countries.
It is merely a quote about fictional events of a fictional society. Believing it works in real society is naive.
Beyond this Horizon is hardly a good model for society to follow, even if we could.
Quote:
If I had thought for one second that I'd be a different person carrying a gun than I was before I started to carry one, I'd have never carried one.
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Absolutely right.