Let me just say this as forcefully as I can: anyone who argues that the Second Amendment does not protect the individual’s right to keep and bear arms is either arguing from ignorance or lying! In most cases, primarily those of average citizens, they argue from ignorance instilled by our schools and our media. But in the case of those who are in positions to know better, they are most always lying to you. They may argue that the Second Amendment applies only to the ‘militia,’ or they may argue about the definition of the militia or even that the need for the Second Amendment has passed. But everyone – everyone – who makes an argument like that is a tyrant who is seeking control over you – everyone! There are no exceptions! You can see it in this story about a former member of the Supreme Court who is lying about the Second Amendment for the purpose of establish control over the population at large:
Former Member of the Supreme Court Wants to Add These Five Words to the Second Amendment
Now, instead of quoting the founders, or worrying about the definition of militia, or even debating whether or not the Second Amendment is obsolete, let me go straight to the Declaration of Independence to explain why everyone who claims the right to bear arms is not an individual right is wrong. Then you test my explanation against what the founders believed to see whether you think the founders would have disagreed with me. Just keep in mind, this requires that you know and understand what the founders believed: specifically, Natural Law and Natural Rights as Locke explained them.
OK, the right to self defense is a Natural Right. It is the Natural Right the founders claimed to justify their action to break away from England. As a Natural Right, it is inalienable. That means it can neither be given nor taken away. Self defense includes any and all means of defending one’s self, and that most definitely includes weapons. Self defense is not limited by society because it is an inalienable right. It cannot be given or taken away. So this means you have the right to use a bat, a knife, a sword, a pistol, a rifle – even a machine gun to defend yourself…if that is what you chose to use (incidentally, machine guns are primarily defensive weapons when employed by military forces).
There you go; that’s all there is to it. You have an individual Natural Right to defend yourself. It cannot be given or taken away – period. This right to defend yourself includes the right to use weapons to do so, and that includes fire arms. And this is exactly what the founders meant when they wrote the Second Amendment: that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Anyone who seeks to infringe on that right is seeking to disarm you. They are trampling on your inalienable Natural Rights. And that is the act of someone who wants to control you, not protect you. After all, if you surrender your right to defend yourself, are you now placing yourself at their mercy? And does that not mean you have given them control over you and your life and property?
So understand this and never forget it. Any attack on the individual right to keep and bear arms is the act of a tyrant – period!
Now, a word from the founders – just because:
* James Madison: Americans have “the advantage of being armed” — unlike the citizens of other countries where “the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
* Patrick Henry: “The great objective is that every man be armed. . . . Everyone who is able may have a gun.”
* George Mason: “To disarm the people [is] the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”
* Samuel Adams: “The Constitution shall never be construed . . . to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”
* Alexander Hamilton: “The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.”
* Richard Henry Lee: “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.”