The Founding Fathers deliberately designed a government with systemic checks and balances. The Second Amendment is the most important check and balance that the American people have on their government. Too often the rhetoric among the educational elite, the mainstream media and left leaning politicians in America portraits the Second Amendment as this quaint vestige of the past, incorrectly interpreted today as an actual right granted to the people. But it was a right granted to the people, very deliberately by the genius framers of our government. When our country was contemplating severing its ties from the Crown of England, it began as a war of words, whereby prominent Americans tried to appeal to English Parliament with reason in the quest for equal rights. British Parliament typically responded with new Acts and taxes further frustrating American sentiments. It wasn’t until the British Governor of Massachusetts sent troops into Concord to seize guns from regular citizens’ homes that violence erupted and the Revolution was set into motion. The act of attempting to seize guns from British subjects in America finally pushed the Americans to declare independence. The Founding Fathers were students of history and knew from experience that an unarmed citizenry is vulnerable to dominance from aggregating political power. The Second Amendment was intentionally placed into the framework of our government to protect the people from the government and to ultimately preserve the Constitution itself over time.
The 20th Century was rife with political violence throughout the world. Tens of millions of people were slaughtered by their own government without any form of defense. This occurred most notably in Germany, Russia, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Korea, Spain, the Balkans and Cuba. None of these countries granted constitutional rights to their people to bear arms the same way the United States did, therefore it was easier for a powerful group of totalitarians to aggregate power, manipulate the military and literally cull their population as desired. Some estimates are upwards of 60 million people were murdered by their well armed government without any form of viable resistance. This is the genius of our Founding Fathers in penning the Second Amendment. The United States Constitution is the oldest standing constitution in the world right now. Many other countries have tried to implement a very similar constitution, literally forging our document as written, but none have experienced the same success as our constitution. This has been the case in many South American republics that tried to emulate our constitution, but with no success. But why? Because none of these constitutions included a right for the people to bear arms. This right actually preserves the document itself because it acts as a deterrent to those that wish to usurp it. So nobody ever rises up to usurp the government and the document lives on – continuing to grant the other liberties it bestows upon its people.
After all of the horrific violence our country has seen in public places since Columbine, some throughout our country have questioned the necessity of regular Americans owning semi-automatic rifles. They want to compel our government to outlaw the sale of such firearms. Why is this opinion wrong? Because many Americans own these guns as a check on their government. When I articulate this position, I often hear the objection that a man with an AR-15 is no match for tanks and aircraft, which would certainly be deployed by a government intent on attacking its own population. They say my argument is ridiculous. But it is not ridiculous. The reality is, a collection of men with AR-15’s is a formidable match for a government deploying a military against its population. Here’s why: the current size of the U.S. military is somewhere around 1 million active duty personnel. It is true we have one of the most technologically sophisticated military’s in the world, but it is still primarily run by people. In order to effectively eradicate your own population like the Nazi’s or Soviets, you must rely on people subordinating to your commands. If the military was seriously deployed to execute American people, they would be met by some 300 million guns and a far larger fighting force than they would ever imagine; certainly tens of millions of people, heavily armed (thanks to their right to own guns). Local militias would form in every single county of this country to resist such an operation, very well armed and nearly impossible to overcome. The military ranks would be rife with insubordination making success impossible. The costs are too great for a military of 1 million people to face thousands of well armed militias, many of which would be manned by ex-military trained civilians, to ever carry out such an operation – tanks, planes and all. Members of the American military would simply deny such commands and it would never happen. And it never has happened. Why? Because – “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. So what is the result? Our constitution has lived a long prosperous life.
A conversation about liberty must necessarily begin with a discussion about guns. Guns are the ultimate guardians of all liberties granted to us by our Constitution. Without the Second Amendment, our Constitution may not even exist today. If you cherish liberty, you must respect the Second Amendment, because without it, powerful politicians are likely to usurp your rights and even kill you if they find it expedient. If you don’t believe me, read a history book about the 20th century. It’s pretty much the most common theme of the century. Person without gun gets killed by their government because the government has guns and they didn’t. A country without gun rights is rife with arbitrary and capricious violence but also void of all liberties.
Liberty rules,
Viktor Liber
Liberty Concord 