As a person who tends to lean more to the left on most issues, I have to draw the line in the sand when it comes to the 2nd Amendment to our Bill of Rights. This one amendment, more than any other signifies our freedom. This is the marker that separates us from other countries and societies. We have the freedom and the right to keep and bear arms. We have the right to defend ourselves…..even from our own government.
The repeated calls for repealing the 2nd Amendment, or efforts to diminish its intent, usually come after yet another disturbing incident that was allowed to go totally out of control, and then incessantly broadcast by what is supposed to be our news sources until we reach a point of saturation. This is quickly followed by calls for disarming American’s.
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear here; If someone is intent on killing you or several of you, not having a gun will not stop them. People are poisoned, stabbed, strangled, beaten to death, set on fire and die from multiple causes inflicted by another individual every day of the week. This is not because American’s have the right to own guns.
I find it odd that more people die each year from drunk drivers than from gun incidents. Yet no one calls for another prohibition. There are no passionate pleas to ban alcohol; no diatribes on how alcohol consumption is killing innocent people. Besides, this might infringe on YOUR rights.
The right to keep and bear arms is not the cause of rampage killings. It’s the individual who decided to kill other human beings who is the cause. A gun can kill no one until an individual picks it up and uses it. Just like knives can’t stab anyone unless someone picks them up and uses them as a weapon. In a fatal car crash resulting from drunk driving……who or what is at fault; the vehicle or the driver?
The flaw in all the arguments for banning private gun ownership is that somehow by taking away this right, everything will be just peachy. It won’t be. The same individuals who are intent on inflicting injury or death to others will simply find some other means of getting the job done. People are the real threat……not the weapons they choose. Taking away the right to own guns does not and will not reduce that threat.
When the Bill of Rights was assembled, the second most important issue to the founders was this right to keep and bear arms. Of all the other rights enumerated, this was paramount in establishing a free society. They also knew that it is only when government has worked secretly against its own people they become afraid of them and seek to disarm them.
The 2nd Amendment is the lynch pin of our freedom. As a nation we identify ourselves as free people by virtue of the fact that we can keep and bear arms if we choose to. And it is exactly this reason that so many want to see it repealed. The loss of this right would be psychologically devastating as so many would see it for what it is…..the true end of our freedom.
Right now the major source for attacks on the 2nd Amendment, are being directed through the United Nations. Yesterday, Senator Obama put a bill on the floor of the senate called the Global Poverty Act. This act would mandate not only a 7% tax on our GDP, but also calls for the banning of small arms. Small arms and weapons includes, hunting rifles and shotguns, not just handguns.
Attacks on the 2nd Amendment have come from all quarters. The efforts to paint it as “all liberals want to ban guns, and all conservatives don’t” is just more staging. The fact is, our government wants us disarmed; its just that no one wants to be seen as the perpetrator of this unconstitutional infringement on our rights.
Using the UN to implement the disarming of America also makes us vulnerable to international law as opposed to our own sovereign laws. International law does not recognize the right of the individual to defend himself, claiming that to do so is a crime in its self.
The UN also claims that this ban is necessary to protect women and children, and those who wish to commit suicide. This would be the same UN that sits by idly while hundreds of thousands die as a result of genocide. Where are there concerns about women and children and the suicidal then?
The real aim of the Global Poverty Act and its intent to disarm America is to make sure that we have no way to fight back. And as Americans, we most likely would.
For those who disagree with this, don’t worry about it. Once the North American Union is established we won’t have any rights at all, much less the 2nd Amendment. One of the first things that will be done after the merger is complete is to abolish the bill of rights and then to disarm the public….. leaving you completely at the mercy of the military and local law enforcement.
Marti Oakley
copyright 2008
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Don Bowman
The PPJ Gazette 