And here we go again--more "enemies, domestic"

Actually we should call them what they are: Criminals who knowingly broke several laws, tried to run away like cowards instead of facing their accusers in court, then pulled guns on American police officers. Now one's dead and two are shaking in their boots in Canada, where they ran to a second time after jumping bail.

This story, taken from the Rocky Mountain News, pretty much spells it out. A crazy family named Welch who grew drugs and amassed a collection of illegal weapons--some of which had been stolen from other people--decided that they'd run and try to hide behind guns or in other countries because they lack the courage to stand up for their beliefs in court or accept the consequences of their actions. And of course they, like the Alabama Free Militia and the Browns below, all have their following of camo-clad wing-nuts--fellow losers who resent a society that they can't succeed in.

But I have no sympathy for the crazy Welches or any of the others. Like most decent Americans, I own guns and I value the right that enables both me and other decent law-abiding people to do so. However I don't consider people like the Welches or the Browns or the Alabama group to be decent, law-abiding people. Involvement in drugs, refusal to pay taxes, making illegal machine guns and bombs, and threatening law enforcement officers and other innocent citizens with death pretty much takes them out of that category and I'm all for seeing them go to prison because frankly it's because of people like them that the rest of us need guns.

But like the militia types, you get beyond the bluster and the facade crumbles. The Welches talked tough when they thought that they were all big and bad with their guns, but as soon as lawful authority neutralized one of them, the rest blubbered and bawled and surrendered--to run away again of course. Without their guns and a bunch of fellow militia nutters around them, these types are always craven cowards. That's why I just can't respect them. They all talk the talk about how righteous they are, but as soon as their moment of truth comes, they scamper and hide like frightened mice. So much for their "righteousness". Even they know that they're wrong and all they ever accomplish is making the rest of us gun owners look like loons, which we're not. The media and the legislators need to be reminded that these people aren't us, and we law-abiding gun owners don't support them.

One thing's for certain though, as the Welches can surely attest: There's a big difference between playing with your guns at a militia meeting and actually pointing them at a law enforcement professional who is probably better equipped and better trained than you are. The first may get you admired by other losers in the room, but the second, as we've seen over and over again, is likely to get you deservedly dead.