Once again, America is rocked by another mass shooting--specifically, the recent massacre that occurred in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater which left 12 dead and 71 wounded. It's more than understandable--at least to me--that when such horrific events take place decent people ask themselves what can be done to stop such brutal and senseless bloodshed. Is there anything that can be done? Whatever actions we take to prevent such violence can we ever really be assured that it will not happen again? Absolutely not!
Unfortunately, senseless violence has been around as long as recorded human history--and beyond (see Cain and Able). Look, we can work harder at trying to encourage some morality and a sense of decency and respect toward others in our society--something sorely lacking now, in my opinion--but it will never prevent all violence. Evil and mental illness will always be with us. It is what it is.
Right on cue, the usual suspects have begun to advocate for more gun control following the Movie House Massacre. Folks like Jesse Jackson, Salman Rushdie and others see guns as being the problem, not the dark heart of the individual who employs the gun in the commission of a violent crime.
You know, people were killing folks en masse long before guns were invented. It has never ceased to amaze me how people find more and more diabolical ways to exterminate each other. The argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people" seems to fall on deaf ears for those who push for the elimination and strict control of all guns.
For example, I can sit next to pile of guns all day long and nobody will get killed or hurt. It's not until I pick up a gun and kill somebody with it does the gun present a lethal threat. But is it the gun that presents the lethal threat or the one who wields it? I think that should be self-explanatory. But it is not to many. But, then again, many have hidden agendas. WINK!
My reaction to the massacre in Colorado is simple: give me the right to defend myself and others. BEHOLD! We, as Americans, have that right! It's called the Second Amendment. I have the right via the U.S. Constitution to defend myself. I will not give that right up! EVER! It's evil to even propose that I should have to--particularly following the atrocious atrocity that just occurred in Colorado.
Victims of the Movie House Massacre
There's a reason the Second Amendment follows the First! Our Founders were well aware that free speech and the ability to defend oneself from tyranny and violence is central to the preservation of America as founded. It is an unalienable right endowed by our Creator. Like Ben Franklin once wrote (emphasis mine):
"The very fame of our strength and readiness would be a means of discouraging our enemies; for tis a wise and true saying that one sword often keeps the other in the scabbard. The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war. Those who are on the guard and appear ready to receive their adversaries are in much less danger of attack than the secure, the supine, and the negligent."
--Benjamin Franklin
Consider the words of George Washington on the vital importance of the Second Amendment (emphasis mine):
"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence. To ensure peace, security, and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference--they deserve a place of honor with all that's good."
--George Washington
George Mason, drafter of the Virginia Bill of Rights, accused the British of having plotted "to disarm the people---that was the best and most effective way to enslave them ... by totally disusing and neglecting the militia."
Patrick Henry:
"The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun....Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own self defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in our possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defence be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?"
James Madison:
"Besides the advantage of being armed, which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate government ... forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, ... the several kingdoms of Europe ... are afraid to trust the people with arms."
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."
Thomas Jefferson:
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
Alexander Hamilton:
"Little more can reasonably be aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed and equipped."
Benjamin Franklin:
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Abraham Lincoln:
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it."
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