Recent saber rattling by North Korea should have us keep in mind those nations that have the largest armies. According to Wikipedia, by including the military and all reserves, militia and militarily trained police forces, available statistics show the number, in millions, stack up as follows – North Korea 7.7, South Korea 6.6, Vietnam 5.5, India 4.8, China 3.5, The U.S 2.4, Brazil 2.0, Cuba 1.2 and all the rest are less. It would seem that we should have cause for concern. But, rest assured, we have one great advantage that none of these countries have, nor any others. We have a Second Amendment.
The latest available census data shows there were 894,543 licensed hunters in one recent year in the state of Wisconsin which made it alone the eleventh largest army in the world. More people under arms than in Iran, more than in France and Germany combined. These individuals, men, women and youngsters, were deployed in the woods of a single American state to hunt with firearms. They did so efficiently and with expertise - no one was killed and only ten buildings of any nature, being mostly abandoned barns, were hit by stray bullets. Michigan had 1,005,000 hunters the same year. All told, our country had 13.7 million hunters in our fields and forests in one year.
Oh! By the way, in case you may worry about these guys and gals running out of ammunition, we have a back-up force, a ready reserve - the Archery Trade Association’s latest count tells us we have 18.9 million Americans active in archery and bow hunting.
Nuclear power aside, America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower. That's why all our enemies, foreign and domestic, would love to see us disarmed.
Letter to Editor, Bradenton Herald,3/28/16
The latest available census data shows there were 894,543 licensed hunters in one recent year in the state of Wisconsin which made it alone the eleventh largest army in the world. More people under arms than in Iran, more than in France and Germany combined. These individuals, men, women and youngsters, were deployed in the woods of a single American state to hunt with firearms. They did so efficiently and with expertise - no one was killed and only ten buildings of any nature, being mostly abandoned barns, were hit by stray bullets. Michigan had 1,005,000 hunters the same year. All told, our country had 13.7 million hunters in our fields and forests in one year.
Oh! By the way, in case you may worry about these guys and gals running out of ammunition, we have a back-up force, a ready reserve - the Archery Trade Association’s latest count tells us we have 18.9 million Americans active in archery and bow hunting.
Nuclear power aside, America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower. That's why all our enemies, foreign and domestic, would love to see us disarmed.
Letter to Editor, Bradenton Herald,3/28/16