Quick, name America’s oldest civil rights advocacy group. If your answer isn’t the NRA, you’re wrong. If you think the right to bear arms isn’t a “civil right” anymore, you’re the recipient of a most illiberal education. Politically foppish pedants deem the 2nd amendment a time-bound right (i.e. no longer “inalienable” today). In fact, this amendment is nuanced; thereby inviting mis-interpretation – which is why the NRA exists.
The paramount reason for the right to bear arms is to prevent tyranny. The film Red Dawn depicts how effective armed resistance can be (US teens against Soviet occupiers) and begs the existential question: should the US military alone be responsible for the defense of freedom? The framers of the constitution said “no” by ensuring local militias and armed civilians. In 2020, we the people have witnessed home-grown tyranny; thereby proving the genius of Madison and the other framers.
Central-state restrictions on religious freedom are textbook acts of tyranny, and Democrat mayors (De Blasio) and governors (Newsom) have banned group worship in churches, synagogues, and mosques by sending armed police to confront unarmed Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Don’t forget the tyrannical mobs: recall videos of a St. Louis couple, armed and alone before their home, and Minneapolis shopkeepers, begging arsonists and looters to spare their life’s work.
The right to self-defense is paramount to one’s right to life. Americans hope a standing army and local law enforcement make the need to self-defend ourselves a rarity, but 17,000,000 firearms (a new record) were bought in 2020. Ignore the gun debate and see we the people: why did 5% buy a gun this year? The guess here is they were scared into gun ownership by images of riots and calls for defunding the police.
As a practical matter, Americans own guns for many reasons; the operator of an all-night convenience store, rancher in Montana, and single mom on a night shift. These folks exemplify the reality of modern America: 24-7 threat of robbers, predators, and rapists. How is it even possible that Democrats can ban gun ownership AND defund the police? Every red-state Gomer knows this won’t work, but that’s the progressive plan.
Leave it to boxer Mike Tyson to justify the 2nd amendment: “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” My “punch in the mouth” was a childhood encounter with two armed bootleggers in the mountains, when I was hiking (no cell phones in 1966) miles from the nearest road. Perhaps my youth (12) was a great defense, but the singular life lesson is vulnerable moments happen. And, while I keep no gun in the house, I respect those who do (have a gun).
Truth be told, anti-gun advocates are naive and selfish. They assume gun ownership is THE problem and ignore the many Americans in harm’s way. The facts (source: CRPC) beg to differ:
- 1,500 gun deaths are in self defense with a legally owned gun.
- 75% of gun-related crimes involve illegally owned firearms.
- 65% of gun deaths are suicides, 17% are gang-related, and 15% are by law enforcement in the line of duty. That’s 97%.
- Each year, 54% (1,687) of US counties have no murders, and 2% (63) account for over half of all murders.
Can you handle the truth? It’s un-neighborly to deny the operator of an all-night store a legal firearm, un-realistic to deny a rancher a high-powered rifle, and heartless to deny a single mom a concealed-carry permit. Just because the horse has been replaced by the Honda doesn’t mean this is the age of Aquarius. Sometimes, good citizenship requires driving the speed limit at night and showing a car-jacker the business end of a revolver. And that’s a fact, Jack!