There are now some who are calling for GPS tracking of legal firearms. It has been reported by WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore that Ald. Willie Cochran (20th), a former police officer, has said “safety is … a much more important issue than is privacy.” “It is extremely important that we look past this privacy issue, at this point, and understand how important it is for us to address the issue of safety,” he added.
I would like to make the argument that not only is this completely absurd, but unconstitutional as well.
If we apply this mentality to our society, all in the name of safety, then just how many activities we rely upon on a daily basis would be banned, limited, or policed?
Car accidents happen everyday; and we already have devices such as GPS, Onstar, and (soon) black boxes for our safety. Will they stop them from happening?
We are subjected to all sorts of pat downs and searches when we board airplanes, but will that stop them from running off the runway or leaking fuel? How many more subway accidents have to happen in NYC before we start banning riders from standing on the platforms? Maybe we should consider making amusement parks and water rides illegal since they can cause us harm as well.
Once you open Pandora’s box, as we have, there is no going back. Once we allow all levels of government into homes and private lives at this alarming rate, we can only expect to lose more of our freedoms.
They are already starting to put black boxes in our cars to track us. Our cell phones are being used to monitor what we say and write. At what point do we wake up and realize that having a GPS tracking device on our phones is not really about locating it when it’s lost. The electrical devices in our homes now, thanks to smart meters, are already tracking our usage. The appliances we use are monitoring our water consumption every time we wash clothes, take a shower, or flush the toilet. You cannot surf the Internet anymore without getting flashy ads from advertisers promoting products you just viewed.
Every day, we lose a little more of our privacy. Every day, we lose a little more of our freedoms. Every day, we are becoming more of a police state than we ever could have imagined.
There are multiple databases created by local, state, and federal agencies that keep track of just about everything . The Freedom Of Information Act makes it easy to gather personal information on just about anyone and then makes it legal to publish, as we have seen with the Journal News Gun map. And we cannot forget all the goodies in the Patriot Act under the presumption of keeping us safe.
Our schools are asking our children all sorts of private questions through nosy surveys and questionnaires that we have not consented to. Our doctors and hospitals ask us questions on intake forms that have no relevance to the visit. Social sites and others are trying to collect as much information as possible from you in order to make your experiences better, but is the information really private when more than half of the companies are in bed with the federal government?
At what point will Americans say “Enough!” to this ever-growing police state and stop the assault on our liberty?
Photo credit: waif69 (Creative Commons)
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No, safety should not trump privacy.
However, we should also be allowed (or taught) to ensure our own safety.
Roads incidents have increased because drivers are not being trained, for instance. OnStar and “black boxes” for vehicle telemetry won’t prevent this, and it won’t even help. Proper driver training will help – but, apparently, we’re too worried that we’ll “damage someone’s self-esteem” by failing them on a driving test, or perhaps we’ll “hinder their mobility.” (There’s a public transportation infrastructure pretty much everywhere, last I checked.)
This is far from the only problem, but it is emblematic. And instructive.
The rise of the police state … All in the name of “safety.” Just as it happend in Germany, Russia, etc. That’s how it ALWAYS happens. (Never let a good crisis go to waste)
I am NOT anti-law-enforcement. (I have been a sworn officer myself.). However the increasing militarization of our local and state law enforcement agencies by the Feds thorough DHS is frightening.
It also appears that Obama is purging high level officrs from our military if they indicate they would refuse to fire on Americans who disagree with his policies (Think impending gun confiscations, which will create significant resistance. Think Wounded Knee, think Ruby Ridge, think Waco, before you say “It can’t happen here.”)
http://www.examiner.com/article/renowned-author-obama-wants-military-leaders-who-will-fire-on-u-s-citizens
Look at the atrocities I’ve mentioned … Perpetrated by our own government.
“The urge to save humanity is always a FALSE front for the urge to rule it.” –American writer H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
Those who do not view armed self defense as a basic human right, IGNORE the mass graves of those who died on their knees at the hands of tyrants.
“Uncontrolled search and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal of every arbitrary government. Among deprivations of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit of the individual and putting terror in every heart.” Justice Robert Jackson, Chief U.S. Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials
“A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” – George Washington
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.” — William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783
“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” — Thomas Jefferson
“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” -Thomas Paine
“A government that doesn’t trust it’s law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is itself unworthy of trust.” — James Madison
I just unlocked my gun and asked it what it thought of this goofy alderclown Willie Cochran’s spewing of it’s worth encroaching on our rights to have another law and some funny gps gizmo tracking. The gun just sat there, I prodded it for an hour, maybe two, demanding an answer, it sat there in dead silence. I even pretty pleased it. This thing just sat like it was a dead lump of metal.
Why won’t my gun talk to me? According to the “experts” these guns are shooting, looking for something to shoot, causing all this political commotion, so they must be thinking and acting out.
Why won’t my gun interact with me? I must be the only one with a gun that’s too lazy to communicate with me.
‘Gun Control is not about guns; it is about control.’
‘Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.’
“It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, BUT THEY MEAN TO GOVERN. They promise to be good masters, BUT THEY MEAN TO BE MASTERS.” –Daniel Webster
“Those who trade liberty for Security have neither.” –John Adams