Sen. Diane Feinstein is threatening to bring a bill to the US Senate Monday that will outlaw assault weapons in the United States. Feinstein’s distraction of Democrats only makes their position weaker and leaves the US government spinning its wheels at a critical time as we approach the fiscal cliff. But it seems there’s nothing stopping the Left from jumping full bore into the gun control debate in the wake of the deadly massacre of school children in Newtown, CT. After all, “Never let a crisis go to waste.”
Fortunately for liberty lovers, the Democrats have little chance of enacting any real major reforms over gun control. Especially not with a Republican controlled House of Representatives firmly committed to the 2nd amendment codified by the Supreme Court in recent years via Heller & Chicago V. McDonald. No, it appears the Democrats are prepared to take the role of Sisyphus from Republicans and do their pa
Personalities such as CNN talk show host Piers Morgan and skeptical science writer Michael Shermer have come out with statements against guns following the shooting. Their arguments were basically that the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution was envisioned with flintlock muskets in mind. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that opinion expressed by the British talk show host Morgan who must be feeling the sting of American powder burn through the centuries since 1776 as many Brits do (No empire no longer). But to hear Shermer state that the 2nd amendments is about bearing flintlocks is ludicrous. He states, “The 2nd Amendment gives you the right to bear such arms as flintlock muskets that take a minute to load & fire a round. Bear all you want!”
That argument is flawed.
Why? Because if that were how it worked then the 1st amendment wouldn’t apply to the Internet. No one would argue that free speech in electronic communications is not a function of the 1st amendment. The American founders used the word “arms” when describing what they could bear. Although they could not envision the Internet coming to exist, the simple fact that it is nothing but an advanced telephone covers it under the 1st amendment. So then Congress shall write no law. For the 2nd amendment it would seem certain that Washington, Madison, Franklin, Jefferson and many others would have sided with the American peoples right to own military grade weaponry. After all, we are the militia. The 2nd amendment covers private ownership of M4’s the way free speech covers the Internet.
Americans should remember the stories of the brave Jewish Resistance who armed themselves and fought off the Nazis as long as they could. The Communists of Vietnam, Russia, China and Cambodia murdered millions of their own people after disarming them. Many in the United Kingdom have been warning us not to give up our guns. There’s plenty of reasons to echo Charlton Heston’s Primal Scream, “From my cold, dead hands!”.
Some still remember that Japanese Americans were interned on American soil. Some won’t forget that blacks were enslaved and the Native Americans were purged and crushed into dust by this government. And all governments have poor track records for protecting the safety of their disarmed citizenries. We may never have true justice.
But we can have peace.
Liberal gun grabbers and people who fear weapons generally are those who are the least familiar with guns of any sort. Senator Feinstein who is introducing the gun control bill has been seen using demonstrations of submachine guns with her finger in the trigger area. That is basic gun safety 101 taught to anyone who applies for a hunters safety permit. Once in a short but heated debate with a group of female liberal NYC teachers I stood as a lone libertarian against their scathing reprehension of my strict support of gun rights. They argued that guns were dangerous and scary. I argued that they had never fired one so they were afraid of what was only a tool and I told them I had taken a safety class as well. They softened their tones upon hearing of the respect and safety lessons taught in gun classes. It seems like there’s a way out for liberals to unlock on the gun control issue if there’s training involved before bearing weaponry.
I would even encourage more civilian training in how to use weaponry. Civilians should have more access to military resources on the weekends. I myself trained with my uncle who is a retired Master Sergeant in the US Marine Corps. As a Category P. for one weekend as a child, I was issued an M4 carbine with strict orders that if I lost the weapon during the training, I would be going to jail. I test fired blanks and live rounds with a Squad Automatic Weapon, my M4 and I even used tear gas grenades & flares in night stalking exercises. The Marines with me in tow took turns assaulting each others platoons & trading fire with 5.56 blanks. I tear gassed an entire platoon single handedly. It was exciting and character building. Going through a gas chamber with your mask off will make any young rebel think twice about tangling with riot cops in the future. I also realized that soldiers were just normal people too, like me. That was important for my understanding of the military.
I realized while I trained that weekend that learning how to defend myself in such a way meant if I ever had to do it for real, I wouldn’t be as scared. I had experience. I knew how to protect myself. I never forgot the lessons of how to treat a weapon with respect… especially after my rather miserable afternoon with a toothbrush & disassembled rifle. My uncle forced me to clean it over and over again until it passed muster.
In order to prevent tragedies such as Newtown and 9/11 we should educate ourselves in the ways of self defense so that we can be stronger and more aware. We can’t wait for someone to step in and “do something”. We need to step in and do it ourselves. It will take the actions of individuals working together towards common goals saying that we can be free despite any tragedies that may occur. We will not be afraid of our liberties. We will not be ashamed of our strength and our willingness to protect our families and loved ones. We will survive and we will have our guns. No one is going to take them away from us.
And we will have peace.