According to the FBI 2008 Crime Statistics, in that year the total number of people killed in Washington state by rifles of all kinds was...two. That's "2." One. Two. That's from ALL rifles, not just semi-automatics.

According to the National Safety Council, the minimum number of people killed every year by drivers talking or texting on their cell phones is 2,600.

In an effort to confront the true sources of danger and suffering in America, guess which of the two the Seattle-based group Washington Ceasefire is trying to ban?

Yep. You guessed it. If there was ever a case of a solution in search of a problem, the misguided efforts to ban semi-automatic rifles is it.

Hang up and drive.

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“Close your eyes, it can’t happen here…” (California Uber Alles, Dead Kennedys)

Genocide is the boomerang crime: as hard as we try to throw it away, it just keeps coming back.

Anyone who thinks the Second Amendment is a frontier anachronism best swept under the rug or apologized for at smart cocktail parties need look no further than recent actions by elected U.S. senators and congressmen to see why the Second Amendment is now and always will remain relevant for the defense of life and liberty:

In his recent book “The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power," journalist Jeff Sharlet exposed ties between “The Family,” a lobbying organization disguised as a prayer support group, and currently elected members of Congress. He went further and also showed links between The Family and new legislation in Uganda that would make homosexual behavior a crime punishable by death.

In short, the Ugandan law is nothing short of genocide, a genocide backed and enabled by The Family and those members of Congress who belong to it.

According to The Raw Story:

“Sharlet reveals that David Bahati, the Uganda legislator backing the bill, reportedly first floated the idea of executing gays during The Family's Uganda National Prayer Breakfast in 2008.”

Worse, U.S. Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) appears to have been there in person when the plans for genocide were hatched—at a "prayer breakfast," no less.

Rachel Maddow’s December 9th interview (embedded below) with James Sharlet details the strong ties between the U.S.-based Family, the Ugandan branch of The Family, and the kill-the-gays legislation. As Maddow implies, even for members of The Family (and Congress!) not actively supporting this, silence implies more than consent:

“We have talked to the offices of a number of elected officials, conservative politicians here in the U.S. associated with The Family, and while a number of them have told us they’re against this bill none has said they will do anything publicly to stop it,” says Maddow.

In addition to Inhofe’s involvement, some members of Congress apparently live at reduced rent rates or free in The Family’s compound in D.C. It's impossible to see how you could live rent-free with an organization and then claim not to be supporting its goals, or to claim you aren't in any way responsible for its actions. Members of The Family are NOT restricted to far right Republicans—Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) has lived in the shadowy group’s house for seven years.

Despite the The Family’s links to genocide in Uganda, at this writing President Obama himself is scheduled to speak before The Family’s National Prayer Breakfast in February 2010. Such is the influence of money and power in Washington that the president himself—an alleged friend of gays and gay rights—will be speaking before a group actively engaged in rounding them up and murdering them in plain view of the world.

Which brings us to the Second Amendment. If you think Senator Inhofe and other elected American leaders working for genocide in African wouldn’t do the same thing in America if they could, you are deluded. If you think Americans couldn’t be cowed into going along, or turning a blind eye, the lessons of history—even in our own country—strongly indicate otherwise.

The Second Amendment is not about hunting; it’s not really even about protecting yourself from burglars or assault. The Second Amendment is about never having to worry about the midnight knock at the door when they come for you, your loved ones or your neighbors. It’s best we remember that, especially when we see our elected officials working to create death camps right before our eyes.

Molon Labe.

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(Previously posted on Blue Steel Democrats.)