I want to take a moment to talk about need. Whenever you hear a gun fearing wussy talking about taking our rights away, some moron invariably pops up and says, "you don't need an [insert evil gun type]". As soon as someone says "you don't need a machine gun", or "assault rifle", or "handgun", I know exactly which hole they are speaking out of.

No debate should ever come down to a question of need. When you start trying to justify property ownership on the basis of need, you start down a path that could rid us of many of today's modern devices. For instance, any one of us could get along without our refrigerator, television, computer, telephone, video game system, toaster, or even electricity. The automobile strikes me as being particularly unnecessary.

From a personal standpoint, you could rely on public transportation, or simply just walk every where you go. Sure, you'd have to reorganize your life, perhaps by finding a job nearer to where you live, but getting rid of your car would mostly just be a huge annoyance.

From a national standpoint, you can compare and contrast guns and cars quite easily. Each year, tens of thousands of people are directly killed by the automobile. Guns, on the other hand, are used defensively in private hands to save millions of lives each year. You could argue that policemen and firemen use automobiles to save lives, but then again, they also use guns. Conversely, you might find a policeman on foot, horseback, bicycle, or even roller blades, but you'll almost never find him without his gun.

Plus, with cars there are all sorts of indirect concerns like pollution, or dependence on fossil fuels. Cars create smog that chokes our nation's urban areas, and they add to noise pollution which forces us to keep our windows shut and build huge sound barricades along our suburban interstates. Sure, a gunshot may be louder than a car, but the overall ambient noise and sheer volume of cars creates quite a nuisance.

In history, cars are just over 100 years old, whereas guns have been around for centuries. After our nation was founded, we survived over 100 years without a single automobile. How long would we have survived without a single gun? Sure, both are crucial to today's military, but a soldier on horseback with a good rifle still stands a better chance of surviving than if he were driving around in a car with no gun. (Although either one could still probably conquer France.)

Whether you want to admit it or not, you could probably do without your car. Sure, you'd have to rely on public transportation, and your quality of life would decline, but it could be done. Hell, you could even resort to walking everywhere and probably live a longer and healthier life. For longer distances, you might want to invest in a horse and buggy. It seems to work for the Amish, so why not you.