Govermnents recycle 900 years of elitist history

by Jane Gaffin

Every day another aggravating proposal surfaces from yet another Marxist-Leninist group telling people to get used to the idea that their "rights" are now only "privileges".

Excuse me for asking? What happened in this great debate to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms 1982 and the Magna Carta of 1215, from whence flows all current British common law?

Then the radicals chip away until everything on the list of "privileges" is eradicated. Rolled into their latest doctrine is the objective to eliminate fishing and hunting as a "sport".

A wide spectrum of animal rights and gun-control groups oppose the enslavement and harvesting of domestic and wild animals, whether it be as pets, or killed for food, clothes and sport.

Fish is the latest target.

The political agenda is already being upheld by government-owned health care lackeys who brainlessly promote meatless and fatless diets; some doctors canvas patients about gun ownership.

Onside with the animal-rights activists is a contingent of cheerful helpers in the form of an inordinate number of unimaginative bureaucrats and "non-government" organizations (NGOs) who gladly recycle the master-to-slave theme.

These environmental influence peddlers recommend their politically-correct drivel to unthinking politicians, who, carte blanche, pass those dangerous recommendations into legislation.

It makes new criminals out of new regulations by creating new offences and punishments.

There are only two ways man can survive: one is by the independent work of his own mind; or, two, he must survive as a parasite who feeds off the works of society's contributors.

A government body is nothing more than a collective machine that does not have a brain, much less a creative thought in its non-existent head, nor the power to reason as a unit.

Yet collectivists, who depend on society's contributors to survive, want to cut off the hand that feeds it.

That does not sound intelligent.

Motivated by jealousy, collectivists seize all means of production. They remove access to their special-managed land and lakes and declare natural resources off-limits to the peons in the name of protecting the environment from anglers, big-game outfitters, fishing-guide operators, trappers, farmers, loggers and miners.

The whole existence of collectivism pivots around a dictum that "everything is for the public good", or the good of the tribe. Some "tribesmen" are more privileged than others by virtue of their elitist status.

This master-to-slave scheme is a killer of a relationship, as has been learned throughout human history. Civilization cannot survive under such debilitation. Once civilization perishes, it will require another 500 years in the Dark Ages to recover as a functioning culture.

Government bodies, boards, Indian bands, NGOs dictate through a series of discretionary licensing, permitting and tagging systems who can and cannot fish and who can and cannot hunt, and which species they can and cannot take for fun or profit.

They dictate where sheep hunting will not be opened and close spring bear hunts on emotional whims.

They dictate who can operate game farms and which species they can keep in captivity. A game farmer or a big-game outfitter can only sell his land, concession and privately-owned business to a government-approved buyer, providing he's "allowed" to put his assets on the auction block.

A game farmer can't export his animals without a permit, which the local government has refused to issue in the past. Yet it's illegal to butcher the animals without a permit, which the government also has refused to issue in the past.

If the game farmer can't afford to feed the animals over winter, the herd would die a slow, agonizing death by starvation. The blundering bureaucrats, without a whit of care about the elk, could then carry out its mandate of charging the farmer with cruelty to animals.

According to a Feb. 6 Star article, captioned "(Environment Minister) Kenyon Takes Bait for Angling Changes", the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board's preference is not to have wildlife in captivity, particularly to generate private profit.

Of course not! "Profit" is a single dirty word, just as "personal gain" constitutes double dirt to a Marxist-Leninist.

The management board conceded there may be no way around eliminating the "wildlife captivity" practice in the Yukon, in which case the collective unit "thinks" only one facility should be "allowed".

Exactly who is doing all this "allowing" and "disallowing"? The one "allowable" facility will be managed, of course, by a "non-profit" organization.

Step by step, governments are outlawing certain implements for hunting which will eventually slip into dictating the exact calibre of firearm that must be used to harvest specific animals.

Some locales have banned deer hunting with the low-powered .223 cartridge because the chances are great of not effecting a "clean kill".

The arguments of gun owners, who use sport hunting as a bona fide reason for keeping firearms, are now being countered with more Draconian laws.

Through attrition, sport hunting and fishing will be banned. Then the police will conduct a door-to-door confiscation of hunting rifles, ammunition, fishing rods and barbless hooks.

Firearms officers are already withholding licenses and registrations from individuals who are not categorized as subsistence hunters; courts are upholding the arbitrary decisions.

The Star reported that a private hunter was denied a request to hunt with a crossbow. The management board wants to maintain a prohibition on the use of crossbows for hunting.

The management board had concerns about the potential wounding but not killing animals and thought crossbows opened potential for silent poaching. As well, the first nation has concerns about the attitude of hunting being a "sport", it said.

An historical reference of August 30, 1146, serves as a reminder that some things never change: "A conference of European leaders outlawed the crossbow. It was hoped that by banning the weapon, wars would eventually end."

Despite the prohibition, crossbows continued to be used until the 16th century, when they were replaced by firearms.

As one might expect, the early guns were owned only by the elite because a gun is a great equalizer. The great source of power would offer commoners freshly-poached game, which the king owned; the gun opened potential for freedom.

The nobility did not want the commoners entertaining any silly notions. Therefore, gun ownership was tightly controlled.

A gun was only to be used to hunt. Since the commoner did not have the "privilege", much less the "right", he wasn't permitted to own guns.

All game was owned by the king, and the sport of kings was hunting, which was reserved exclusively for the upper echelon.

From the Middle Ages to the mid-19th century, the right to hunt anywhere in Europe rested on the decision of a king. Hunting was a great sport and was followed by socializing over lavish feasts, another one of any king's great passions.

In Greystone Communications 1996 home video production, "The Story of the Gun", the late gun designer Bill Ruger explained: "The game belonged to the king. And the right to hunt in England was a matter of great controversy. It didn't extend there. You could be a yeoman or local squire and have a farm of some sort but didn't necessarily have any right to hunt.

"The ownership of firearms could only be justified as a hunting weapon. Unless you were someone born with a hunting privilege, you couldn't hunt. Therefore, what was the use of a firearm?"

While the nobility enjoyed its highly-respected sport of hunting to the fullest, the various sports gamekeepers roamed the countryside looking for poachers. To be in possession of a carcass was a serious crime.

The royalty owned everything and everybody, even if you had a freehold on the property. You could be a serf and living in a house by the creek. But if you took out your bow and arrow or maybe even a crude firelock and shot a deer, you'd likely be hanged in any country ruled by royalty.

Then came the wheel lock, a design believed to have originated in the watch and clock-making shops of Europe. It was basically a spring-round overgrown cigarette-lighter action that struck sparks within the firearm.

As soon as designers had a reliable ignition system that was weatherproofed for a sure-fire every time the trigger was pulled, the convenient-to-carry handgun evolved.

The handgun could be carried loaded, primed and ready to fire and could be concealed on the person. These features led to several European countries outlawing wheel locks.

Of course, the exception to the rule was the military.

An authorization to carry a concealed weapon was brought forward in 1523 as a City Ordinance in Italy.

"An especially dangerous kind of firearms have come to be used which are called wheel lock with which harm can easily be committed. His Excellency, knowing these are devilish arms, prohibitis them being carried without explicity authorization under penalty of having a hand cut off."

The Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board, acting as a flunky for the radical animal rights and anti-gun groups, has not shown one spark of originality by recycling 900-year-old history.

I suggest everybody start suiting up for the Dark Ages.

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Copyright 2004 diArmani.com