Opinion: Protecting the Second Amendment requires constant vigilance
By MARK BALLARD
Guest columnist
Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014, 9 p.m. — As state after state moves toward disarming law-abiding citizens, we all need to look at the Second Amendment, it’s meaning, and why the Founding Fathers put it into the Constitution.
The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads, “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.”
The anti-gun zealot interprets the meaning of the Second Amendment to be that people in the militia were allowed to own guns, but no one else. This is a totally ridiculous belief. Why? Well, the Second Amendment was ratified on December 15th, 1791. At that time there were no convenience stores, meat markets, and the such. Outside of the city limits, every family was on its own. They farmed, raised some cattle and lived off venison, rabbit, squirrel, etc. Does it make any sense that the Founding Fathers would tell all of these families — as well as those continuing to move west — they could not own a firearm? No.
These people want to disarm all Americans, whether they legally possess and use their guns or not. Do I believe anyone illegally possessing or using a gun should have it taken away? Definitely. If disarming Americans is truly about “safety and protection,” then why do the gangs and thugs all across America — especially in Los Angeles, Chicago, and our nation’s capitol — have weapons? The laws are there forbidding them to own guns and use guns. So, why is it that the authorities do not enforce existing laws in these cities and take the illegal weapons away? Instead they want to take our only tools for self-defense away.
Why disarm Americans? Why take away our self-defense? Let’s look at the previously mentioned cities. They have been “gun free” for years, yet they have the highest crime rates in the country. They cannot (or will not) enforce the laws already on the books. Why give criminals a pass, yet make more laws restricting law-abiding citizens? There is only one reason. The disarmament of the citizens gives the government total power to do as they wish.
“The right of the people to keep and bear arms” is designed to prevent the government from overreaching its authority. It gives the citizens the power to protect themselves not only from criminals but from tyranny as well. Should the government become tyrannical, and it seems to be heading that way, the Second Amendment gives us the authority to take power away from those in government and basically start over. Any infringement on the Second Amendment is just another step toward tyrannical control.
We all need to be ever vigilant in all of our personal freedoms. Any change in an existing law, or passage of a new law that chips away at our freedoms, no matter how slight, needs to be vigorously opposed to prevent advancing an agenda of disarming America for their own wants and needs.
Call and write your Congressmen or local politicians and demand that any attempt to take away our rights is stopped. We all need to work together to keep the freedoms our Founding Fathers fought for, and that all active duty and veterans have fought for and continue to fight for. Every little piece of our freedom that is chipped away only encourages them to take away more and continues to weaken our personal freedoms.
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