Issue Position: Gun Control and the 2nd Amendment

Issue Position

Some people misunderstand the nature of rights. A "right" is not granted to us by our laws, or Constitution, or Bill of Rights. A right is granted to us by our Creator. The founding fathers saw fit to enumerate many of these rights in our Constitution and the Bill of Rights to ensure that we, the people, understood them to be rights that could not be taken away by any tyrant, foreign or domestic.

Let me be abundantly clear… The 2nd Amendment is an individual's right enumerated in our Bill of Rights in order to help us secure all other rights against the threat of tyranny at home and abroad. The 2nd Amendment is not about hunting, nor sport. Federalist Paper #46 stressed the logic that a fully-armed militia (which, in our founding fathers' eyes included EVERY able-bodied man of age) would be an overwhelming force against any national army, including our own.

While it might seem "reasonable" to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, or those on a no-fly or terrorist watch list, or those who might fit some other suspicion of being potentially dangerous, no basic right can or should be infringed without due process. For example, one can be put on a no-fly list by complete accident. One can be put on a terrorist watch list with no due process whatsoever. And what of "mental illness"...?

There was actually a minor movement back in the 80's and 90's by those who believe there is no God to view ALL religious folks as mentally ill. "All believers of all faiths are crazy!" How short the path to such a view could be, given the barbaric fervor of militant Islam! That attitude could, then, be turned into a prohibition upon all men of faith to bear arms due to this "mental illness". Think it could never happen? Trusting in the good nature of politicians and the bureaucrats they appoint is the ultimate foolishness.

I could support instant background checks to ensure guns are not sold to felons. Those checks, however, must be against lists which have resulted from some action of due process against the would-be gun owner, not against some arbitrary list from some unelected bureaucrat.

The fact is that murders occur because of the sinfulness of mankind, not because of the weapon of choice. There was violence and murder long before there were guns. Guns make the taking of life easier, but also make the defending of life easier. Those who blame guns for gun violence instead the holder of that gun prove themselves utterly foolish and they reveal their own ignorance of the very nature of mankind, both the criminal AND the tyrant.

If, however, we understand that there is an "end game" for those who wish to control us, then we must take a long view and fight against every incremental infringement of our right to bear arms. If we allow ourselves to gradually lose an ability to defend ourselves by just one small "reasonable" step at a time, then we will eventually become that proverbial boiled frog.

Gun ownership is a God-given "right" because it is akin to the right of a person to defend himself, whether against individuals or against governments who mean him harm. Would slavery have existed in a world where every African owned a gun and knew how to use it? Would slavery have continued in a world where every slave owned a gun? Many of the quotes that people attribute to groups like the NRA, such as "When owning a gun becomes a crime, only criminals will own guns...", are actually paraphrases of comments made by our founding fathers...in this case, a citation from Cesare Beccaria that Thomas Jefferson included in his own writings.

Let's be frank and put an end to the farce...because evil motives are surely at the heart of it all. If our President actually believes that a gun-free zone provides the safest possible environment, then I would invite him to remove guns from every guard, and every Secret Service agent in or near the White House. The D.C. capital cops have guns; just wait on them to arrive if you have some emergency. Let his own family stand unprotected. The foolishness of gun control advocates should become almost instantly self-evident. Our founding fathers understood that an armed public is a safer public, safer from the aggressions of overly-ambitious men from without and within.

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