(Part 3) Top products from r/progun

One of the best contemporary books I've read in recent months that gives a nice overview of the events leading up to and through the American Revolution is Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution by A.J. Langguth. It covers a lot of the background (from around 1765ish, I think) all the way through Yorktown.

Another absolutely great book describing the events surrounding the eruption of open hostilities between England and the colonists on 19 April 1775 (Battle of Lexington and Concord) is Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer. This book serves as the basis for the history portion of Project Appleseed, some of the best and most fun rifle marksmanship training out there. If you've never done an Appleseed weekend, I highly recommend it.

A lot of the things I read now tends to be original source material....as a lot of authors can put their own spin or interpretations on events (whether intentional or subconsciously). While slightly more difficult to read, original source material is invaluable in understanding the events as they happenned. For this, I recommend not only the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Federalist/Antifederalist Papers, but Founding America: Documents from the Revolution to the Bill of Rights is also a fascinating resource.

> ....when the creator/owner of /r/xkcd (among others) finally went inactive for six months, allowing a better group of folks to take over.

begin irrelevancy/

I just read the book by the creator of that sub, ["What If?"] (http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420590797&sr=1-1&keywords=what+if+serious+scientific+answers+to+absurd+hypothetical+questions).

It was quite funny, and the stick figures are great!

/end irrelevancy.

I think the best thing we could do is find a way to fight gang violence. Most counties have had only 0-1 homicides and only a handful contain the majority of homicides with many being specific to certain streets. Fighting gangs and providing better mental health treatment is the best solution to gun violence.

Sources:

https://crimeresearch.org/2017/04/number-murders-county-54-us-counties-2014-zero-murders-69-1-murder/

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/25/most-murders-occurred-in-5-percent-of-countys-says/

https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-murders-concentrated-in-5-percent-of-counties

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-duwe-rocque-mass-shootings-mental-illness-20180223-story.html

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20130124/mental-health-and-firearms

> I truly believe the Founding Fathers had one of the best ideals ever conceived and put into place; leave us to make our own choice. If we fail, we fail. But at least WE, as a people, got to choose. And so far we seem to be doing OK. Room for improvement sure, but that shows we are still growing and that's the key.

Actually the ideals of the founding fathers spread across the world and spread democracy. Read this.

>It's a little below my level

Lol, sorry but that is super hipster sounding. =P

Awe, now you edited it. =P

It's a decent series, not amazing like the Enemies Trilogy. However the Divided we Fall series brings up a LOT of what you guys are talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/Enemies-Foreign-Domestic-Matthew-Bracken/dp/0972831010/ref=la_B00350B7EU_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453305557&sr=1-1

Ayn Rand didn’t write textbooks but nice try.

I was thinking more along the lines of this for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Economics-High-School-Version-Krugman/dp/1429218266

> True story, look it up.

I hear you. You're preaching to the choir here ;) One of the books in my firearms reading collection is Silencer History and Performance, which talks about requiring silencers in some European countries, as you point out.

Supporting data:

https://www.amazon.com/This-Nonviolent-Stuffll-Get-Killed/dp/082236123X

The Origin of the Second Amendment

The Founders' View of the Right to Bear Arms: A Definitive History of the Second Amendment

The Second Amendment Primer: A Citizen's Guidebook to the History, Sources, and Authorities for the Constitutional Guarantee of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

I guess they're taking their "Agents That Fly" moniker pretty seriously.

I believe I read it in this book. You should be able to find it for a reasonable price somewhere other than in this link. Sorry I couldn't find a web link for it.

I think this is a great book.

http://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Black-Rifle-Upgrades-Accessories/dp/0692317260/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449305871&sr=8-1&keywords=eugene+stoner

https://www.amazon.com/Shays-Rebellion-Hanging-Co-Leader-Captain/dp/1481829548

https://www.thoughtco.com/shays-rebellion-causes-effects-4158282

Another effect of the rebellion was bankruptcy protection.

How’s about a tenured professor with a Ph.D. From Columbia University?

No?

How about one from MIT?

Suit yourself

Howard Zinn: A People's History of the United States

http://www.amazon.com/A-Peoples-History-United-States/dp/0060838655

This is not without flaws (No history book is), but includes a nice overview of the labor struggles that most history books gloss over.


Oh yeah!

Civil Rights movement:

Charels Cobb: This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed

http://www.amazon.com/This-Nonviolent-Stuffll-Get-Killed/dp/0465033105

These two books will provide a decent balance in historical perspectives.

I'm reading Dana Loesch's book Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to Disarm America, and I was stunned at how ignorant I was regarding how black american gun owners have been treated.

The Amazon reviews are hilarious.

>This started out as a 5 Star rating, but quickly went down hill as the evening progressed.

>After saying our prayers to Jesus and Charlton Heston, I sat on the edge of my kids bed to read them this book, when I shifted my position and accidentally set off my 9mil that was strapped to my hip, shooting myself in the thigh. This wouldn't have been so bad, flesh wounds happen, other than the fact that I hit an artery and started spurting blood all over my kids Ted Nugent and Sarah Palin sheets. 4 Stars for not covering a gun's safety in your book.

>After tying a tourniquet to my leg and wiping the blood off the kids, we headed to the emergency room for treatment. We made sure to bring the book along to continue reading the story to the kids while we waited, not wanting to waste a valuable teaching moment.

>There were a lot of minorities in the Emergency Room when we got there, some that were even carrying intimidating guns on their hip, frightening my family. I'm sure they were up to no good. But fortunately, I still had my 9mil. on my hip, and my wife had our trusty AR-15 on her shoulder, so we knew we were safe.

>It wasn't until after the shootout, while talking to the police officer that I found out that the Stand Your Ground Law works both ways. Evidently, a white man with a gun is just as scary to a black man as a black man with a gun is to a white man. Who knew? 3 Stars for not explaining this in your book.

>After being treated for multiple gun shot wounds and feeling quite light-headed from the blood loss, we went home to discover our house being robbed! Unfortunately, they found my .357 in my nightstand. So much for home protection! The bastard shot me in the other leg before running off into the night! 2 Stars for not covering how to properly secure your guns in your book..

>To say the least, I'm seriously reconsidering my position on open carry and endorsing your book. But your book really is a solid 1 star, really.

More sources for the gulag claim here: it appears historians are conflicted about the total number of people imprisoned by Stalinist Russia. Historian Anne Appelbaum, author of Gulag: A History puts the number at 1.2 to 1.5 million, a figure corroborated by historian Steven Rosefielde. Comparisons to history aside, America is currently has the highest incarceration rate per capita in the modern world today, including China and North Korea.

As far as internet freedom, please note I mentioned "western world," more specifically I will compare to OECD countries only. The US also imprisons people for internet speech. I will definitely stand by my claim that the USA is in, let's say the top 3, most surveilled state in the OECD nations. Moreover I will argue in other nations surveillance mostly comes through court orders in the judicial system, whereas in America mass surveillance via initiatives like PRISM is performed without case-by-case judicial oversight.

>firearms homicides trending down over time, while firearms ownership trends up.

Crime in general is decreasing as methods of detecting and punishing criminals advance, increasing the cost of committing a crime. Firearm ownership alone is not the full story as studies have shown increased firearm ownership is the result of gun owners buying multiple guns, not more people buying their first gun. This is evidenced by polling data that shows the number of people with a gun in their home trending downwards over time.

Meanwhile, evidence is quite clear than nations with nationwide gun bans experience a far lower homicide rate, and a drastically lower firearms homicide rate, than the USA.

>Your opinion about 2A causing tyrannical behaviour is simply that, your opinion. I would like to see you connect your opinion to actions that the government has taken.

Broad strokes - the more people use guns to commit crimes and violently fight back against law enforcement and the government, the more militarized and tyrannical the law enforcement and government becomes out of necessity for survival. There is the idea among the 2A community that civilian gun ownership makes the government "afraid" - this could not be further from the truth. In reality when police believe everyone they encounter could shoot them, it incentivizes the police to act quickly, brutally, and without mercy, because the paradigm shifts from "I'm peacefully helping my community and I have faith they will engage with me peacefully as well" to "I'm waging a war against criminals who are trying to wage war back, and the only way I can stay alive is to shoot first and ask questions later." The complete history of American police militarization follows this pattern - the police militarize in response to increased gun ownership among the public and the criminals they are meant to fight against, and now we end up with the highest levels of police killings, harassment, incarceration, and brutality in the developed world. Civilian gun ownership actively incentivizes tyranny - it does nothing to stop it.