Most people are under the misconception that our 1st amendment rights of free speech, religion, and the right to express ourselves are protected exclusively by the constitution. While it is true that these things are provided for by the Constitution, they are ultimately guaranteed by the 2nd amendment. The basic human right of self-protection necessitates that citizenry have the ability to own and carry firearms. Not only as a deterrent from the evil factors of society that would do citizenry harm, but as protection from injustice imposed upon that citizenry, be it foreign or domestic. Our country was founded upon that principle when we separated from the most powerful empire in the world at that time. A task not done by asking nicely, but by raising up arms and taking a more direct approach.
Yes, it is true that weapons and culture have drastically changed since the tail-end of the 18th Century, but the premise has only strengthened. In the 19th century alone we have witnessed time and time again the common trend of disarmament and subsequent devastation of a country’s populace. In Russia from 1929-1953 20 million were kille d, in China from 1948-1952 20 million more were executed, in Uganda 300,000 Christians were killed from 1971-1979, executed under government supervision after they were forced to disarm.
“But that would never occur under the American government!”, you may be thinking. Perhaps, but you must consider our history when you make this assumption. The first true gun control regulations that received real consideration occurred after the civil war in 1865, where law-makers endeavored to make it impossible for newly emancipated African-American slaves to bear weapons. In fact, in the infamous Dredd Scott decision Judge Taney cited this as a reason to not allow African-citizens the right of full citizenship, stating his reasoning as “It would give them the full liberty of speech […] and to keep and carry arms wherever they went.” This means that the abhorrent practice of lynching was made possible against citizens whom were wrongfully disarmed by their government.
Not recent enough for you? What about the civil rights leaders of the 1950’s and 60’s? People like Malcolm X, whom advocated for the gun rights of all Americans, because he recognized that for safety to be achieved one would have to be able to protect themselves. The same Malcolm X that was famously photographed brandishing a m1 carbine after several death threats were made against him and his family, a gun that fires a varmint round and could carry 30 rounds in a single magazine, sound familiar? Or consider Martin Luther King Jr., whom after several threats to his life applied for a concealed carry permit, only to be denied by in home state of Alabama after they judged he did not have sufficient “moral character.”
Now let’s look at the present, Statistics compiled in 2015 by the Center for disease control and prevention (CDC) reported that 36,252 Americans died due to firearms. At the very least (not counting female suicides) 17,657 of these deaths were self-inflicted. That leaves 18,595 instances to account for, the majority of which occurred in cities like Chicago, Houston, and New York, places that have extremely strict gun control laws. Now let us also take into an account that there are 70 million gun owners in the USA, the VAST majority of which will never hurt anyone.
On a final note, there has been a string of Mass Shootings in the past 2 decades, all of which are unspeakable tragedies and my heart goes out to all the victims of these incidents and their families. But the fact remains that 98% of those shootings occurred in Gun-Free zones, more so in (in a report from the Crime Prevention Research Center) European countries with extremely strict gun laws, places like France, Norway, Finland, Belgium, and 7 others had a higher frequency of mass shooting than the US. So, with that in mind, is gun control the real answer?
Sources:
Dean, B. (2018, March 28). Gun Control Dictator Style – Tyrants Who Banned Firearms Before Slaughtering The People. Retrieved April 01, 2018, from https://freedomoutpost.com/gun-control-dictator-style-tyrants-who-banned-firearms-before-slaughtering-the-people/
Deaths: Final Data for 2015 (Rep. No. Vloume 66, Number 6). (2017, November 27). Retrieved April 1, 2018, from Center For Disease Control website: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_06.pdf
The Dred Scott decision : Opinion of Chief Justice Taney. (1860). Retrieved April 01, 2018, from https://www.loc.gov/resource/llst.022/?st=gallery
UPDATED: Comparing Death Rates from Mass Public Shootings and Mass Public Violence in the US and Europe. (2018, March 21). Retrieved April 01, 2018, from https://crimeresearch.org/2015/06/comparing-death-rates-from-mass-public-shootings-in-the-us-and-europe/
