ON TARGET

10-19-17       By Dave Gunn

The Second Amendment – Guardian of All Others

     Now that the dead are buried and many of the injured out of the hospital, we may embark upon the discussion of gun control.  We have waited until now, unlike slip and fall lawyer Chuck Schumer, space cadet Nancy Pelosi and that harpy Hilary Clinton, all of whom didn’t have the decency to refrain from capitalizing on the suffering of the Las Vegas victims and their families in their rush to score political points.

     The subject of gun control is a bit sticky for Democrat lawmakers because so many of them are from states where hunting is a widely practiced sport.  They dare not do what the far-left of their party would have them do and seek to confiscate all guns.  It would be political suicide.

     So they chip away at the Second Amendment to our United States Constitution with measures designed to restrict the use of guns or the availability of certain guns and ammunition, and enact registration and licensing laws.  Their theory is that one might eat an entire pound of bologna without being noticed if done one slice at a time.

     The latest target of the gun control advocates is the bump stock, which accelerates the firing frequency of semi-automatic weapons almost to that of automatic weapons.  As the mass murderer in Las Vegas used one, it now becomes the source of the evil, not the man who used it.

     The truth is, almost any object can be used to commit murder by someone who is determined to do it.  And mass murder is always possible if one is determined enough.  As the Klingons are fond of saying, “Four thousand throats may be cut in a single night by a running man.”

     The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution is very clear on the subject of gun control: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary for the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

     Now if words mean anything, any restriction on obtaining, keeping and carrying firearms is unconstitutional.  This means that local, state or national legislation and court decisions including those of the United States Supreme Court are not to infringe on the right of United States citizens to own how many and whatever kind of guns they swish.

     Liberals will say, “No one needs a bump stock,” or “No one needs an automatic weapon,” or “No one needs an assault rifle.”  Excuse me, but who are they, or you or me to tell anyone what they need.  It is up to each individual to decide what they need.

     Liberals will also say that no one needs an assault rifle for hunting.  Again, who has to right to say what a hunter might need?  Let each hunter decide what he needs.  Of course, home defense might be a good use for an assault rifle.

     But what is an assault rifle?  Could not any rifle be used to commit assault?  So could a baseball bat or a tire iron.  Perhaps we should outlaw jump ropes, which could be used to strangle someone to death.

     Liberals are fond of saying that the framers of the Second Amendment did not and could not envision automatic, semi-automatic, or assault rifles.  That is true.  However, when they wrote the Second Amendment, they could and did fully understand the musket, which was the state of the art firearm of their day.  One could say that the musket was their assault rifle.

     “Yes,” say the leftist gun grabbers, “but guns were only supposed to be available for the militia.”  So who is the militia?  The Second Amendment defines them as “the people.”  Our founders understood the militia to consist of every able-bodied man who could use a gun.  But notice that the militia was necessary for the security of a free state.  Here we see the real intent of our founders.

     The men who gave us our national constitution did not want to keep gun ownership from being restricted so that men could hunt.  Their purpose was to give the people a defense against tyrannical government.  It is most difficult to enslave an armed populace, and the more heavily armed are the people the more difficult it is for a government to usurp their liberties.

     It is the Second Amendment that gives us our defense of the other nine in the Bill of Rights.  To infringe on our liberties concerning speech, religion, right to a jury trial, and all the others, tyrants must first infringe on our right to keep and bear arms.

     Now you know why liberals want to chip away at the Second Amendment.  They don’t advocate its repeal, for that would alarm the people.  Rather, they take a slice at a time, hoping you will not notice.

[Dave Gunn is the nom de plume of Dr. David E. Gonnella, Pastor of the Magnolia Springs Baptist Church in Theodore, Alabama.  The opinions expressed are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the church or its membership.]