Treading Upon Dead Children.

In some sense I feel like I'm beating a dead horse when it comes to gun control measures and the Second Amendment, but my outrage at what the leftists in the government are trying to foist upon the American citizenry is overpowering. I cannot and will not be silent.

If you're truly interested in my defense of the Second Amendment you can look at some of my other posts so I will not take the time to repeat it in full here. What upsets me the most is the President and his followers using recent tragedies, especially Sandy Hook, as a stepping stone for taking freedom that is not theirs to take e.g, the freedom to protect ourselves from evil doers. There is no difference in the filth they are spewing about gun control and using dead Marines as a platform to gripe about sequestration.

In the past few days the President has paraded around with some of the families that lost children in the Sandy Hook massacre. He, along with others, have vowed to push stronger gun control measures under the guise of honoring the deaths of those children and an effort to assuage the anguish of the parents. What those parents probably don't realize is that honoring the deaths of their children is not the driving motivation behind the current batch of gun control propositions. Rather, they are being used as a convenient tool in an effort to disarm law abiding citizens. Those on the left have one goal in view, gain more control over the population for the government. This is almost always wrapped in some kind of humanitarian ideal that leads to less equality, less opportunity, and less freedom. Of course, one of the most important steps in this plan is to disarm the people so that they have no way of resisting, in any meaningful way, the encroachment of the government.

Perhaps the most stomach churning statement that has been made was by Senator Harry Reid when he said, "The least Republicans owe the parents of those 20 little babies who were murdered at Sandy Hook is a thoughtful debate about whether stronger laws could have saved their little girls and boys." First of all, there is absolutely no willingness on the side of the liberals to have a "thoughtful debate" on the issue. To them "thoughtful debate" means bowing to their ideas. Anything else is quickly shot down as shameful. Secondly, the liberals decry thoughtful debate over these 20 children whose lives were lost but the same "thoughtful debate" is unwelcome when it comes to millions of unborn babies that are murdered each year through legalized abortion. If they were really concerned about saving lives they would consider banning any form of voluntary abortion on demand. Alas, when these two issues are considered together we begin to see the real wolf behind the fluffy white clothes.

The truth of the matter is this. There are already a number of laws in place to address the issue of violence in our society. For those who may not understand what I mean, it is already illegal to murder other people and there are severe consequences to breaking that law. It is also illegal to commit armed robbery or assault. Furthermore, it is already illegal for citizens to own machine guns, grenades and grenade launchers, tanks, shoulder fired missiles and many other types of weapons. If sweeping gun legislation passes then it seems to me that we need to create some additional laws concerning alcohol. Drunk driving deaths in our country are some of the most tragic because innocent people have been killed by someone who chooses to misuse an otherwise legal substance. If we really want to save lives then we should outlaw all forms of alcohol as well. Funny thing, we did that once and then decided it was a serious infringement on people's freedom.

Let's not be foolish and believe that gun control is an effort to stop violence and please stop using the grief of families as a political tool to reach evil ends. In fact, let's not even call it gun control because that isn't what its about. Let's call it freedom control. If we really want to honor the deaths of those children let us give people the means to defend against tyranny of all forms. Heck, while we're on the topic of honoring deaths let's honor the deaths of millions of American fighting men and women who have given their lives to defend freedom and the Constitution that guarantees it. To those in Washington, please stop lying to the public. If your ideas are so great then let them be known. It is a coward who needs to hide behind twenty elementary school students.

Semper Libertas,
RV

The Second Amendment: Ensuring Freedom

Photo courtesy of jaz1111

Most of us are aware that in addition to the Constitution there is something called the Bill of Rights. These amendments to the Constitution were added because of some concern that the federal government might overstep the bounds of their authority and our nation would, once again, live under tyranny of the few. The Bill of Rights, as I understand it, was written to ensure certain liberties for the individual and the states. At this point in the game centralized government was limited while the states still retained a great degree of authority. Sadly, the 10th amendment seems to have faded along with the ink with which it was written. The federal government now holds nearly absolute power to trump any state law that is deemed, by way of constitutional review, to be "unconstitutional." As our ideology shifts from liberty and freedom to control and authoritarianism we have seen the legislative, judicial and executive branches of the government grasp more and more power. In part, I believe this was part of the reason that the southern states broke from the Union during the Civil War (Of course, slavery was a major issue but lets be honest there were other reasons too.) 

One of the rights delineated in the Bill of Rights is the citizen's right to bear arms. It should not be news to anyone that this right has come under heavy fire in the past few decades, and sometimes not without reason. To the average person it looks an awful lot like there is a connection between violent crime and firearms. Therefore, it would seem like the logical thing to do would be to eliminate firearms. Let me say, I am not angry with people who believe this way, I just think it is a misguided solution to a serious problem. 

Currently, many people try to reinterpret the second amendment to say that it was meant to allow for a National Guard of sorts. For those unfamiliar, the National Guard is the military force under the direct control of the individual states. These are part-time soldiers and airmen who serve "one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer." Now, I can tell you from first hand experience that the federal government can, and does, use the National Guard for its purposes. Again, I have absolutely no problem with this. If it were not for the National Guard we may not have had the manpower to engage in both the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

However, there is a problem. The National Guard of today bears little to no resemblance to the militia that fought the Revolutionary War. These were men who went about their daily lives and business until the need arose for fighting men, citizen soldiers, to defend their land and communities. At that point they would gather their own arms and gear, go fight and then return home as the situation allowed. One of the greatest problems that faced the British, and has kept enemies at bay for years, is the fact that everyone was armed in America. It is one thing to engage and defeat a standing army, it is something completely different to defeat an entire nation of armed citizens. We have seen the truth of that in both Iraq and Afghanistan. There is certainly no formal army in either theater but there is an armed insurgency that has proven very difficult to defeat. 

With all of that being said, it is clear that the right to bear arms has great importance when it comes to national security. In effect, it is a very real deterrent to those unfriendly nations who would like to do us harm.  The last war we fought on our own soil was 150 years ago and it was between ourselves! 

The second important part of the 2nd Amendment has to do with protection from tyranny. The Founding Fathers knew all too well what it was like to live under tyranny and fight for freedom. Without freedom of arms it would have been like shooting fish in a barrel for the British during the revolution. This amendment is one of the most daring checks established by our founders. It is a built-in check against the government they were establishing to help keep that government from violating the freedom of the citizens. The last thing they wanted was for their government to overstep its bounds like the one they just fought for freedom against. Thus far, it has worked fairly well.

The third aspect of the 2nd Amendment is that it ensures the individual's right to self-protection. I am in no way a promoter of senseless violence, but rest assured that if violence is brought to my family and those I care about I will exercise my God-given right of defense. Just as an armed citizenry has kept foreign invaders at bay it also keeps would-be evil doers at bay. The bottom line truth is that criminals that will break the law and commit violent crimes will also break the law and find illegal sources for firearms. Furthermore, guns are not the source of criminal activity, evil hearts are. Crime has been alive and well since the beginning of time. Brutus didn't kill Cesar with a pistol, he stabbed him with a knife and Cain didn't have an assault rifle when he killed Abel. Firearms may make violence easier and more impersonal but disarming the good people only gives the criminals an advantage. 

The Swiss give us an interesting example of exactly what I'm talking about. They are required to train with the military and once their training and service is complete they are required to take their military firearm home with them to keep. "Crazy, right-wing gun toters" you say, peaceful country with almost no violent crime says I. Check out this interesting article for more on the issue. Machiavelli said it in 1532, "The Swiss are well armed and enjoy great freedom."

I believe that the 2nd Amendment is one of, if not the, most important freedoms our Founding Fathers insured for us because it protects the rest. Properly understood and carried out it helps ensure our freedom from foreign invaders, it protects us from the tyranny of our own government, and it protects our families and communities from evil doers.

RV