The Push to Ban Your Guns
"To disarm the people...[i]s the most effectual way to enslave them."- George Mason, 1788
Once upon a time, those who opposed gun rights used to use the great line of “Look, no one is trying to take your guns, we just want some ‘common sense’ gun laws.” Ah, the good ol’ days. Now not only are the ultra-liberal elite trying to ban the sale of new semi-automatic rifles but, yes, they are trying to take the old ones too.
Moment of honesty, I am a conservative white (cis) male. No, I don’t hate other races, genders, ethnic groups, religions, or even those with opposing political ideologies. I care that people are honest and educated. The elitists on the left would have you believe that this is yet another issue which the left and right are butting heads, but I know my fair share of those on the left who enjoy shooting and owning guns as well.
So, who are the ones that are really trying to take our guns? What I have come to notice is we have 3 groups of people who are truly opposed to gun ownership and who are fanatical about banning guns, regardless of the facts, or empirical evidence. You have the blissfully ignorant do-gooders, the maliciously ignorant, and the predators.
The blissfully ignorant don’t know, don’t care what you have to say and just want peace, man. They will typically either admit that they don’t know about guns and gun laws or they spout off a bunch of stuff they heard on biased media outlets. They range from progressives to conservatives who “just want the hurting to stop.” Their intentions are good, just not well thought out. They are easily lied to because they are scared. You can talk to these people, but they will usually scoff. They generally mean well.
Then you have the maliciously ignorant, who don’t know but want you to believe they are experts. It’s the guy on that school shooting thread you know you shouldn’t be reading because it will just get your blood pressure peaking. The guy who claims that the AR-15 is a military grade machine gun that the Founding Fathers never intended you to have. (Never mind that the arms the Founding Fathers owned and used to win our freedoms were, shockingly, ‘military style’ weapons.) It includes the people who don’t understand history and the power that is given to the government when they willingly give up arms. And yes, the ones that call Trump "literally Hitler" while asking that the government take away our guns. Go figure.
Then you have your predators. Now I am tempted to say “Liberal Politicians”, but we all know better than that. Its reaching far beyond the left side of the isle or just the politicians. These people think they know better than you do. They believe people are meant to be ruled over and cannot be trusted. They will try and pry any tool away from you that allows you to be self-sufficient. They need you to need them, they want to control you, and freedom and liberty are their mortal enemy.
These groups are now playing to and on our emotions. They are pulling on the heart strings of every mother and father who see innocent children being turned into victims by poor security measures and blaming it on the tools that these disturbed individuals have used. If you have continued to read this far, I expect you know where this is going. Drunk drivers and cars. Boston bombings. China stabbings. The list goes on. The problems aren’t the tools, it’s the people wielding them.
“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery."- Thomas Jefferson, 1787
We now have articles being printed (by “Republicans”!?) about abolishing the 2nd amendment. We have sitting governors and presidential candidates exercising thought experiments on live TV asking “If we banned AR-15s, would you REALLY feel your 2nd amendment rights were eroded?”, John Kasich. We have other politicians tweeting that “we ARE coming for your guns.”, Gavin Newsome. And our ‘Republican’ President is even willing to give up our rights in an act of appeasement.
Sadly, this doesn’t stop at the 2nd amendment. It also has to do with your 4th amendment rights. They want to write policy that circumvents your rights to due process in order to bar you from owning a gun because they believe that they know better than you. They don’t look at the constitution as law, they see it as a guideline in which they can interpret however they might see fit. Everyone wants to put a political spin on our rights and try to mold them to fit their agenda. Just like the people who say the 2nd amendment was never intended for the private citizen, but only for a well-regulated militia which they argue is our national guard.
"I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers."- George Mason, 1788
“A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms… "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."- Richard Henry Lee, 1788
"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."- Samuel Adams, 1788
No more. We have a right and a duty to stand up and say NO! We have a duty to educate the ignorant. We have a duty to educate the viewers of mass media. But in order to do that, we must first educate ourselves. We do ourselves no favors when we aren’t prepared to answer the uneducated and the ignorant.
“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson
There is a new study going around that was being pumped out by Everytown for Gun Safety, that all the major media outlets have been reporting on saying there have been 18 school shootings in 2018. That’s scary, right? Good thing it’s not actually true. Does anyone bother to question this stat on air? No. Because people are too lazy, or the media is too dishonest to allow rebuttal. Folks, out of those 18 school shootings, only 4 include someone who was not the shooter (suicide), being shot. This study includes suicides, accidental discharge off campus, and a pellet gun.
Our Commander-in-Chief recently urged, instructed, the Attorney General to ban bumpfire stocks. Now you can argue that these stocks are a novelty item and a gimmick. They are. But the problem is that it doesn’t end there. It never ends there. Read the entire memo and you will see that the lax verbiage leaves the door wide open to any device or modification that can increase the rate of fire. Say goodbye to your new $200 trigger system. Let’s also not mind the fact that it is extremely easy to perform bumpfire without any modification or accessory. It’s about “shall not be infringed” not about what you may or may not use. You are giving up part of your freedom for a false sense of security by throwing the anti-gunners a bone that they would NEVER throw to you.
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
In times like these I am torn on the approach to take. Part of me wants to scream from the hill tops why all of these people are wrong. Part of me wants to slap these people until they hear reason. Part of me wants to just disengage all together and shake my head. I know we cannot be silent but we do have to take a step back and be thoughtful in how we conduct ourselves. Keep in mind that the American Patriot is being dragged through the dirt in our Media. They make us out to be angry extremists who hate anyone who doesn’t agree with us, or look like us, or pray to the God we pray to. What’s funny about that is were not all conservatives, we’re not all white or males, and we’re not all Christian.
With that in mind, don’t be the angry little troll taking jabs at everyone. Don’t be that macho tough guy spouting off about how you’d “kill anyone who tries and takes my guns!” Those types of responses don’t make anyone want to engage with you or take anything you have to say seriously. We have to make sure that every word has meaning and is useful to the conversation and we have to be knowledgeable about the topic at hand.
“Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances. “- Thomas Jefferson
We cannot be silent, but that does not mean that we cannot be kind. All too often these exchanges get heated because they aren’t face-to-face interactions, they are internet-based retorts that lead to “gotchas” and people having to have the last word. Everyone is an internet tough guy. We should be better than that. No, I take that back. As Three Percenters we should not be better than that; we HAVE to be better than that.
What will help those predators who want to take our guns, is an angry mob shouting everyone down. Stay vigilant and steadfast in your beliefs but engage people in a way that you would hope to be engaged with. Yes, its cliché, but treat people the way you want to be treated. You have facts and reason on your side so study up and be prepared because when they come in on pure emotion, facts will shine through.
Even if guns “aren’t your thing” I implore you to understand their importance in our history, our future and our freedoms. We do not have a gun problem in this country, we have a societal problem in this country that does not want to offend or hold people responsible for their actions. More laws change nothing and only further infringe on our rights.
For more information on gun stats, gun laws and current events, visit the following and consider donating
https://crimeresearch.org/
https://gunowners.org/
https://www.firearmspolicy.org/
https://home.nra.org/
