Should You Own a Firearm?
Copyright © May 1, 2009 by Robert Wayne Atkins, P.E.
All Rights Reserved.
The United States Constitutional Bill of Rights
Amendment I - Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Freedom to Peaceably Assemble - December 15, 1791.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II - Right to Bear Arms - December 15, 1791.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
A Simple Explanation of the First Two Amendments
to the Constitution of the United States
If you do not want to attend church then you do not have to. However, if you do want to go to church then the Constitution of the United States protects your right to attend the church of your choice and no person, or group of persons, or government has the right to prevent you from exercising your freedom of religion.
If you do not want to read a particular magazine or newspaper or internet web site then you do not have to. However, if you do want to read a magazine or newspaper or internet web site then the Constitution of the United States protects your right to read the material of your choice and no person, or group of persons, or government has the right to prevent you from exercising your freedom in this area.
If you do not want to own a firearm then you do not have to. However, if you do want to own a firearm then the Constitution of the United States protects your right to own and carry a firearm and no person, or group of persons, or government has the right to prevent you from exercising your right to bear arms.
A Brief Historical Overview
A government cannot subjugate and persecute its citizens if those citizens have:
- the right to own and carry firearms, and
- the right to purchase, store, and/or reload the ammunition necessary for those firearms.
History is replete with examples of entire societies that were destroyed by governments who first disarmed their citizens using the illusion of peace and safety. After peaceably disarming all of its citizens those governments then systematically passed new laws and imposed new taxes. Any citizen who voiced a dissenting opinion was quickly arrested and a public example was made of that person to discourage any further resistance or opposition.
Those government leaders then quickly expanded their power and assumed the same rights and privileges as the kings of olden days. They become the ruling elite and they enjoyed all the power and privileges of their office. Everyone else became an expendable slave. This included the individuals in lower level government positions. If they did not enforce the rules of their leaders then they would be eliminated and replaced with someone who would obey.
The quality of life for those high level government leaders improved for a short period of time as they legally and illegally robbed the citizens under their jurisdiction through taxes, confiscation, imprisonment, and the death sentence. However, their prosperity did not last indefinitely because those leaders didn't produce anything of value. They didn't grow food, they didn't manage a ranch with livestock, they didn't make clothing, they didn't build transportation vehicles, they didn't repair those vehicles, they didn't do anything except steal from the people who did all the honest necessary jobs within that society. But the people who did those jobs quickly realized there was no benefit in working diligently so they only pretended to work and production dropped off dramatically. When that happened there was no surplus being produced. There was not even enough to satisfy all the high level government leaders. Therefore the government eventually collapsed and a new form of government emerged to take its place. But unless that new government was different from its predecessor then it also did not last.
The original authors of the United States Constitution understood the above concepts. They did not want a government similar to the one from which they had just won their freedom. Instead they drafted the Constitution of the United States with its Bill of Rights in an effort to create a lasting government that would be subject to the people it governed. To help guarantee that the new U.S. government did not subjugate its citizens the authors of the Constitution gave all U.S. citizens the right to own firearms without any restrictions ("the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.").
The Future of Individual Liberty
Individual human rights will never be protected by any government or by any law.
All governments (democracy, republic, socialist, communist) will subjugate and trample upon the rights of the common people if they can get away with it. The only way common people can lead lives of safety, and enjoy freedom from tyranny and crime, is if the common people have a power that is equal to their leaders and to the criminals who live among them.
Physical combat weapons such as swords and spears and shields do not provide that equality because a stronger taller person has a decisive advantage over a smaller weaker person.
On the other hand, a modern firearm makes all people equal. A five-foot tall 90-pound female can successfully resist an attack from a seven-foot tall 250-pound male if she has a loaded firearm in her hand. (Note: If you are a lady and you are considering the purchase of a firearm then I suggest that you purchase and read the following book written by a woman from a woman's point a view: Effective Defense: the Woman, the Plan, the Gun, 2nd Edition, by Gila Hayes, 2000.)
A modern firearm helps to make all people truly equal, including:
- criminals and their potential victims, and
- government leaders and the people they govern.
If you take away the right of the common people to own and carry firearms, then you place those people at the mercy of unscrupulous government officials, politicians, and criminals. This is why the authors of the Constitution of the United States drafted the first two amendments to the Constitution. The first two amendments guarantee all the other freedoms that the citizens of the United States currently enjoy. If you restrict or modify either of those first two amendments then in a very short period of time the United States will no longer be the land of the free. Instead it will become the land of the wealthy and their slaves. And those slaves will be expendable at the discretion of our government leaders.
If you personally do not want to own a firearm then you do not have to. You may simply depend on someone else to protect your rights.
However, if the only people who have firearms are:
- government officials and their police force, and
- the law-breaking criminals within your society,
then you will have no rights at all.
Conclusion
At the current time in the United States each adult has the right to legally purchase and own one or more firearms. You also currently have the right to legally purchase and own a variety of other firearm related items, such as ammunition, scopes, laser sights, holsters, high capacity magazines, and reloading equipment and supplies.
You may choose to exercise your rights in this area or you may choose to ignore them.
If you choose to exercise your rights then you can always sell your firearms and other items at some future date if you decide you no longer want them.
But if you choose to ignore your current rights, and those rights are taken away from you at some future date, then you may end up wishing you had exercised your rights when you could have legally done so.
Respectfully,
Grandpappy.
Grandpappy's e-mail address is: RobertWayneAtkins@hotmail.com