• Twitter
  • Facebook
News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

Gun crazy

Guess I know who to go see when the revolution starts:

An admitted militiaman got 41 guns and more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition back from the government Friday.

The guns were confiscated when Thomas Piatek and six other members of the Hutaree militia were arrested in 2009 on charges that they planned to kill police officers and overthrow the government. He was acquitted in March, when a federal judge, Victoria Roberts, found there was insufficient evidence in the case. Piatek and the others then petitioned to get their weapons back.

The implements of destructions — which included an AK-47, handguns, shotguns, crossbows and swords — required two trips to take home, according to TV station WLS.

When Piatek arrived to pick up his property from the Hammond, Ind., police station, he was already packing heat.

Wow, "admitted militiaman," what a genius way to telegraph your prejudice in the very first sentence. That's right up there with "confessed alcoholic" and "self-described prostitute." And then to follow that up quickly with "implements of destruction" and "already packing heat" -- could there have been a more anti-gun approach to this story.

But it's an interesting question: Can you have too many guns? My brother in Texas has around 10, I think, when you add up all the handguns and rifles, and that doesn't seem too many to me for someone stuck out in the middle of nowhere. But I think when you get beyond 30, it's worth wondering, especially when they're owned by an "admitted militiaman." I've met a couple of those, and I have to say they make me a little nervous. Maybe they shouldn't, but they do. It's one thing to worry about the apocalypse and try to prepare for it. It's quite another to almost seem eager for it to come.

Quantcast