. home . interests . firearms .
I'm a big believer in an individual's right to keep and bear
arms. The Framers of the Constitution clearly believed in an armed
citizenry to keep each other and the Government in check. As Thomas
Jefferson said, 'Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those
who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.' In other
words, gun laws only affect the law-abiding citizen; the
criminal will always find a way to enact crime, and any law, by definition,
will not phase him. Prohibiting lawful citizens from protecting themselves
only does two things: 1) empowers the criminal with more assurance
that he can indeed get away with his crime, and 2) lulls the citizen into a
false sense of security by making him rely on the police force for
protection (who, as even held up in court, has no responsibility to protect
an individual citizen).
Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have guns.
If you're of a left-leaning or liberal mindset, you're probably thinking 'but how many more children have to die before we get rid of all the guns?'. By definition criminals do not honor laws. The only thing more laws will do is restrict how we can defend ourselves against criminals. Remember, it's not the piece of metal that kills. It's the person using it. We have personified the firearm as evil in order to avoid dealing with the actual human being who misuses it, or the real motivations of such misuse. We should be addressing mental issues in this country and punishing those who would misuse any device in committing crimes, not trying to punish law-abiding citizens in the chance that they may break the law in the future.
The unfortunately large and out of touch government of this country is trying to scare the population into fearing
firearms, when in fact an armed population is a safe population. All locations
that have strict 'gun control' laws have higher levels of violence.
We must continue to fight to hold on to the rights preserved by the U.S. Constitution,
the same rights that are being infringed every day with the passage of more and
more gun laws by the liberals who for some reason still think they work.
What part of 'shall not be infringed' don't they understand? Last time I checked it doesn't say "may be infringed just a little bit", or "may be infringed when people get scared".
Chicago and New York City have the most strict laws against owning and carrying guns. Do you feel safer walking the streets of those cities at night? Of course not, because the criminals do not follow those strict laws. It's that simple.
Common fear, uncertainty, and doubt:
- 'The second amendment applies only to large state militias or the National Guard'. Actually, no. Why would nine of the ten articles in the Bill of Rights apply to individuals, but just this one apply to state governments? It makes no sense. The Bill of Rights is a document protecting individual freedoms from government infringement (notice: not granting rights, but protecting existing human rights outside of any government system). If you read the other historical documents by the founding fathers, they supported an individual's right to bear a firearm. Also, the National Guard was formed by act of Congress 140 years after the Bill of Rights was authored. If the 'militia' is meant to be made up of your general population, then the Framers wanted to make sure the general population was always ready. That meant making sure nothing could bar them from keeping arms. Remember they just got done kicking out the King through the use of arms by the militia made up of the people. They wanted to make sure the people could do that again if necessary.
- 'A gun is more likely to kill someone you know'. Did you know that the folks who provided these lovely statistics included gang wars and drug-related fatalities as 'someone you know' since the gang members murdering each other 'knew' each other? Amazing what they'll do to get statistics to lean in their favor.
- 'A handgun is dangerous with children around'. A negligent parent is dangerous with children around, not a piece of metal. Fact is, even with all the stupid parents out there, handgun accidents are falling at an amazing rate, thanks to safety programs sponsored by the NRA. A child is 30 times more likely to die in your car. And you can't do anything about other drivers that may kill you, but you can learn proper gun safety!
- 'Handguns are never used much for self-defense anyways'. There are 2.5 million defensive uses of guns every year. 95% of those are without a single shot fired.
- 'We can get rid of violence by making guns illegal'. England's subjects used to be heavily armed until the beginning of the 20th century. There was almost no crime at that time. Then, slowly, the government started restricting ownership, ultimately banning all handguns and any means of self-defense in 1997. Now, with all of the people unarmed and defenseless, crime is rampant. In fact, England now has the highest crime rate in the West. In the US, the 17 states and the District of Columbia that do no allow citizens to carry concealed weapons have an 81% higher crime rate than the states that do allow their citizens to carry concealed weapons. Just think about this! If you're a criminal who wished to, say, rob a convenience store for cash or mug somebody, would you rather do so in a state that lets their citizens exercise their right to carry weapons, or a state that does not allow it? Naturally you'd target the defenseless victims over the armed citizens. The fact is that allowing citizens to exercise their right to carry weapons deters crime. Criminals will always find arms on the black market, so if we make guns illegal, we cannot defend ourselves and turn into helpless subjects.
Important links:
- A Nation of Cowards [a must read]
- Taking On Gun Control
- Gun rights
- NRA
- VCDL
Manufacturers / Retailers