Well, the president has made it very clear that he plans to unilaterally do all he can to remove the rights of Americans to possess firearms. It’s very plain to me that we Americans do have Second Amendment rights to possess firearms if we wish. It’s also clear to anyone who has studied history that the first move of any dictatorship is to disarm the citizens. Both Hitler and Stalin and many, many others did so. By the way, there is zero statistical data to show that taking firearms away from any population makes things safer for those people. You may recollect that Australia did something like that a few years ago; and, yes, gun violence is down—but not violence. Total violence is up.
I’m 74 years old; while I spent a full career in our military as an airborne, ranger, infantryman and was a pretty good warrior, I’ve been retired 30 years now and I’m not as effective a warrior as I once was. A 20-year-old male in good shape just might be able to take me out; two or three of them certainly could—if I was unarmed. So, the physically weaker you are, the more you need a firearm as an equalizer should you be confronted by those who would hurt you or your loved ones. Who would want to do that? Well, our nation is not short on bad guys—many of them kids who grew up with no fathers or any parental influence; we’re getting more of these kind every day.
Oh, and then there are the terrorists who say they want us all dead and have already begun attacks in this nation.
Most of these bad guys are cowards—they’re certainly not looking for a fair fight—they want to overwhelm their victims and do whatever they wish, whether it’s robbery or physical attack or murder. So, the weakest among us are the most vulnerable—thus the most in need of an equalizer—a firearm–the very item that our president wants to take away from us.
I think everyone knows that street drugs are illegal in the US. I hope everyone knows that they’re available on virtually street corner. Passing laws stop law-abiding citizens from using drugs—but it doesn’t stop those who wish to disregard the law. The same logic applies to gun restrictions. The restrictions are only followed by, yes, law-abiding citizens. The criminals don’t follow them. So, why does our government want to disarm only the law-abiding citizens?
If you read the history behind the Second Amendment you’ll see that the founders were very, very worried about a national government that got too powerful and began taking away the rights of the citizens. Yes, there was a separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches and more separation of powers between the states and the federal government—specifically laid out in the Bill of Rights, specifically the Tenth Amendment. Nonetheless, the founders knew that those in power often want more power—so they insisted on the second amendment so that the people could remain armed and be able to take down any federal government that started acting dictatorial.
Friends, if there ever was a time in the last two hundred years of our nation’s history when the citizens need to be armed, it’s right now. There are terrorists in the nation now. When they start to become active in your community there will be no time to contact the police. When someone confronts you with a weapon of any sort—including a bomb—the time to act against them is right at that moment. As long as some person—or, better, a number of people, react against the attacker then the odds of all surviving is pretty good.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Some people are simply uncomfortable with firearms—or, perhaps with any weapon. These fine people should not arm themselves. To be properly armed means to have a weapon and to have developed the skill to use it properly. These skills have to be maintained. I’m not making a call for everyone to be armed—but I am calling on all who can properly do so to get armed.
Children must be educated on firearms; they must know that they’re not toys and what to do if they find one. The National Rifle Association’s Eddie Eagle program is designed for children—it does not teach them to shoot. Speaking of the NRA, they’re really getting some bad press from the national government and hard-core liberals these days. Isn’t it interesting that they’re getting attacked for things that are not being done by their members. If you didn’t know it, it’s a very, very rare shooting incident committed by an NRA member.
Anyway, our president’s actions are consistent with those of a person in power who wants to assume dictatorial powers. I have no idea what is going on inside our president’s head; I do not know what he is thinking. But I can see what he’s doing—and his actions are very consistent with such people as Hitler and Stalin. All we can do now is try to survive this year.
