I have
thought about writing on the subject of guns for quite a while now but I wasn't sure of exactly what I wanted to say, rather I wasn't sure of how to say what I
wanted. Just for full disclosure let me
state that I am currently a member of the NRA.
The NRA likes to tout the 2nd Amendment as being all the
authorization a person needs to lawfully carry a gun, sorry, not true. The 2nd Amendment, and in fact
Amendments 1 through 8, have been misconstrued as being the rights of all the
People in these United States. This
fallacy has been perpetuated by what is called the Incorporation Doctrine, a
doctrine that could ultimately give the Federal Government all the power they
could ever desire over the citizens of these United
States .
I purposely left out the 9th
and 10th Amendments since the 9th states that all powers
not stated in the Constitution and not given to the States remains in the hands
of the People and the 10th states the same only for the States, in
other words these back up the preamble to the Bill of Rights. Speaking of the preamble to the Bill of
Rights, most do not even know it exists, it plainly states that the Bill of
Rights are further restrictions on the Federal Government, they are not rights
of the People.
Every State has a Constitution,
these individual Constitutions are the ones that need to be studied and
defended or fought. Several States
prohibit the private ownership of guns, as is their right. If you live in a State that prohibits the
ownership of guns then you have two choices, fight the State legislation to
have the Constitution legally amended, or move to another State. Vote with your feet.
Recently we have had several
tragedies involving guns within the borders of these United
States . No person of conscience believes these
shootings should have happened, and they are right. Where they are wrong is the belief that
Government regulations or even Law Enforcement could have prevented them. I do not have the answer for what would have
prevented them but I do believe that advertising that guns were not allowed was
a contributing factor, like painting a target on someone’s back.
The morning
talk shows are competing for air time with ways to prevent these types of
tragedies in the future. What no one
seems to be willing to say is that tragedies of this nature are going to
happen, no matter what the Government or the anti gun activists do. Those that do not like guns are going to do
whatever is possible to get guns out of the hands of the average person; this
will not stop the crimes. You can take
all the guns out of the law abiding citizens’ hands and those that want to
commit a crime using a gun will still be able to obtain one.
The Government can increase
regulations making it harder for the law abiding citizen to purchase a gun, but
it will not stop the criminals, if anything, it may increase the violent crimes
committed on the law abiding citizen.
These measures will also turn many citizens, citizens that have never
knowingly broke a law in their life, into criminals because they will hide guns
or even openly oppose Government officials when they come to try and take the
guns.
Ted Nugent
likes to say that an armed citizenry is a polite citizenry. There is a lot of truth in this statement. If there were no signs advertising no gun
zones, if there were no laws that created financial burdens and mounds of red
tape for the ownership of guns and if there were not the stigma of gun
ownership that the anti-gun activists are creating, criminals would not know
who is armed and who is not. Criminals are
opportunists that prey on the weakest and easiest targets; this means those
they believe to be unarmed and unwilling to fight back. The Aurora shooting is one of the best
examples of this, even in the mans supposed deranged thinking he chose a
theater that was posted as a gun free zone over ones that were closer to his
home that were not posted.
The morning
talk shows are also awash with experts spouting off about how the Sandy
Hook shooting would not have occurred if the Mother had locked up
the guns, especially knowing her son had some mental problems. Again, if the guns were locked in a safe or
not it really would not have mattered.
If some one is determined enough they will find the guns, even if it
means finding out the combination of the safe, after all, this man did kill his
Mother before he went to Sandy Hook . People that want to commit crimes will figure
out how to commit crimes, they instinctively know things that the average person
would not even think of.
I heard one so called expert say
that if you are going to have a gun for protection then it should be on your
person and be the only one that is not under lock and key. Well there are a few problems with thinking
this way, are you going to sleep with it strapped to your waist? Have you ever had children wander around the
house in the middle of the night? In
rural areas guns are used to protect both family and livestock from both two
and four legged criminals. For a gun to
be a useful tool it must be ready to perform the task it was designed for. The best defense for this is to become
educated, educate your family and be cognizant of who is in your home and where
your unlocked guns are, just as you keep track of where you car is and the keys
for it.
If you want
to outlaw guns because they are so dangerous then you might as well outlaw
anything with a point, anything that can be used as a club and all motorized
vehicles. The only sure fire way to
ensure your own safety from others is to never interact with another person,
live in a rubber room and only eat things that have been tested and sterilized
to the point that there is no taste at all.
In other words no one can ensure you are going to be 100% safe; that is
life. The Government can not protect you
from all things that may hurt or harm you, all they can do is create
regulations that make life hard and turn otherwise law abiding people into
criminals.
There is
some question as to just what the real motive of the Government is. Do they not employ body guards that carry
guns? So exactly why do they want to
take the guns from the average citizen?
There is historical evidence that Governments that take the guns also
take the freedoms of the people, is that what you want? Not me.
I know this
is an unpopular stance on this topic but it is a stance that has to be
defended. I am just as sickened by all
the tragedies that have occurred recently, but I am trying to be realistic about
all of it. Life is not fair, it never
has been. There are no guarantees in
life and there never has been. Laws are for
honest people not for those that want to commit crimes such as these.
Steve Avery
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