Apparently, stupid questions do exist

As evidence of that, I offer the following question from Quora, along with both my (slightly edited) original answer and some other thoughts.

Assume that the States have reached a compromise and agreed to pass two constitutional amendments, as long as both pass at the same time. One would limit the right to bear arms. What other right would you be willing to limit in exchange?

In exchange? Really? Allow me to rephrase your question in broader, but I believe completely accurate terms.

“Assume that the States have reached a compromise and agreed to pass two constitutional amendments, as long as both pass at the same time. One would limit a right specifically protected by the Constitution. What other right would you be willing to limit in exchange for the first right being limited?”

Seriously?

Perhaps you are thinking in terms of “gun folks” liking the right to keep and bear arms, and other people liking some other right. So, if the first group accepts limitations on their rights, what right of the other group would they like to see limited? It becomes a sort of “you can limit my freedom as long as I can also limit yours.” Why, in the name of all good common sense, would an ostensibly free people, even if barely smart enough to tie their own shoes, agree to such a thing?

This guy comes into the ER complaining of a headache. He has little round divots in his skull. Some of them go all the way down to the dura mater. He says, insists really, that he fell asleep in the rocking chair on his front porch and “woke up with a really bad headache.” He is admitted, forthwith. Just a little bit later, another man comes into the ER. He, too, has little round divots in his skull, some all the way down to the dura mater. Fell asleep on his front porch and woke up with, you guessed it, a really bad heacache. An alert ER nurse notes that their listed addresses put them next door to each other. Upon further investigation it is learned that

1. they were, indeed, next door neighbors
2. they had a disagreement
3. they decided to settle the disagreement by taking turns hitting each other in the head with a ball peen hammer

That is what your question proposes: “I’ll let you hurt me, but you have to let me hurt you too.” It is what stupid, immature adolescent boys do. It is not how reasonable people approach liberty.

Great jumping Shiva/whiskey tango foxtrot, over/OMG. This is not a case of “my” rights and “your” rights, or even “their” rights. The rights protected by the Constitution are our rights. I am not willing to see any of them further abridged, limited or infringed.

So, no. I’m not making the exchange of any right for the loss or limitation of another. Hands off all of them.

The additional thoughts

Early in my military career I was a member of that species fondly referred to as a “deck ape.” Some will know what this means. My apologies in advance for reverting to that sort of communication.

This is, beyond any hint of a shadow of doubt, one of the dumbest, most asinine, most poorly thought out questions I have ever encountered. It is also what happens when someone who doesn’t have two f***ing brain cells to rub together thinks he can be clever. You sir, are a waste of space and protoplasm. You use up oxygen that could be put to better use by my cat when she’s taking a s***. You should have never been born. Your mom should have closed her legs and told your dad “no,” or he should have had his balls cut off before he could achieve the Big Squirt. My freedom is not for sale or available in exchange to you or any other dumb ass or collection of dumb asses just because you think your ability to string together a sentence means you have any sort of usable intelligence. Leave me and others, and our freedoms, the f*** alone for, should you one day achieve your apparent goals, rest assured that I or someone like me will happily put a bullet in your f***ing head. Have I communicated my disagreement in terms you can understand, dips***?

Here. Have video clip. This one’s for you (starting at 0:25).

*DEEP BREATH*

Ahem.

This rant is hereby concluded.