Steve AKA Dr Deuce (and historian too),
Well worded!
There's an awful lot (too many) people in this country that don't understand
what's going in our country. Belonging to the National Rifle Association is
only one of several "rights" organizations that I belong to. Among these is
the American Bikers (motorcyclists) Aimed To Educate (ABATE). I joined
ABATE a long, long time ago. We are constantly fighting laws aimed to
deprive us of the freedoms we have when riding, though we did lose a big
one here in New Jersey. I started riding in the early sixties, back when
helmets weren't required. I truly know the feeling of having the wind in my
face and long for those days gone by. Today, I no longer have the choice
of putting a lid on my head. And the government has so deemed it that the
children in this country, at least in NJ, must wear a helmet when riding a
bicycle. Okay, protect the kids noggins, but since they'll grow up with
this law, if or when they ever decide to ride a motorcycle they'll never
know what "in the wind" truly means. ABATE asked for support from the
"cagers" (car people) and didn't get it. If we could have repealed the law
before it went on the books, we would have had a fighting chance to stop
the passing of the seat belt law. Here in NJ they passed the belt law several
years ago, but the police were not allowed to stop drivers not wearing the
belt.
A ticket could only be issued for noncompliance if the driver was stopped for
another mv infraction. Well, everybody sat back, until the state passed a
bill requiring the mandatory wearing of belts and at the same time decided
to give the police the power to stop and ticket those not using them. The
fines are stiff, to say the least. Now there's an uproar, as evidenced by
letters
to the editors of various newspapers, about the loss of their right to decide
whether or not they wanted to wear the belts. That's it -- choice -- not a
safety
issue, it's the loss of the right to decide. Kids lost it and don't even know
it.
Minor deal to some, but the goverment is chipping away a little at a time.
It won't be long before our only defense against a wrongful goverment, what
the Second Ammendment was created for, will be rocks and bottles.
Joe Young
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