To ensure that it isn’t too late, I have recently re–embraced my rights granted to me in the bill of rights (aka the preamble) of my constitution. Particularly, the second amendment. People who know me know that I am a big believer in the first amendment which, as every knows (or should know) is freedom of speech. I find it funny that many people support this 1st amendment, but they are against the second amendment. As the saying goes, the 1st amendment is so important, that the second amendment was made to guarantee it.
I think that a lot of people jump onto political party agenda bandwagons without realizing WHY this amendment exists. You have to have a grasp on the history of our country to get it. We left to form our new country to get away from a government that was repressive. We didn’t want to be told what we could or could not say or think. We did not want to be forced into a certain particular religion or any religion for that matter. This is not the role of the government. These things were so important that they were written as the foundation to our constitution. Originally started as the “Constitution of Virginia” which was written in my home state, it was solid for 200+ years and I would argue, still solid to this day.
Today, in 2010, we have been witnessing a government that has been repressive to say the least. In my opinion, we have been losing our rights slowly but surely over the last 30+ years. The government has been taking over some of the most important institutions on our lives. They run things like our banking system (The Federal Reserve), our Housing industry (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac), our health care (which looks privatized, but permitted to only a few companies by the government. and who knows what will happen to it now), our transportation systems (Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation), and our communications (the Federal Communications Commission).
Look at those things. Now look at where all of the problems are in the United States right now. Do you see a pattern? The pattern is that WE CAN’T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!! I don’t mind some socialization, it is not about that. I just don’t trust this government to do it right. This government is screwing this country up so badly that I cannot even put it into words and we have sat by all of this time and let it happen. The sad thing is that 99.9% of us are still standing by and letting this happen because we are simply oblivious to the way things work. Americans are lazy, unmotivated, and uneducated and because of this apathy, those of us who see the truth are prisoners of our own government.
Not me. Fuck that.
Back to my second amendment rights… The second amendment is not just the right to bear arms. It is not some Warmongering mindset that America has been labeled with. We don’t want guns because we a re a bunch of hellraisers. that is not what that amendment was written for. It wasn’t for wars. It wasn’t for hunting. It wasn’t so that we could kill each other or become barbarians. Quite the opposite. Read these words carefully.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The key words here are “necessary to the security of a free state”. You see, our forefathers knew that the government that they were escaping form had repressed them leaving no way to rebel and stand up once things had gotten too far. This amendment was written, and made number 2 on the list, because they realized how important it was that they did not allow that to happen again. This right allows us to bear arms not to protect ourselves against outsiders but for something much more important. It allows us to protect ourselves from our own government. All of the other reasons mentioned above are important also, but this was the true reason that it was written.
This is what I have chosen to do. I already had guns as a kid. When you live in the country, and in the South, you grow up around guns. But my guns were for mostly hunting. Now, I have purchased some guns for my own protection. Now before you thinking I am going into full kook mode, let me clarify one thing very clearly. I HOPE THAT I NEVER HAVE TO USE THESE GUNS!!! Sincerely. All of the stuff that I am talking about here is not part of some nut job columbine scheme nor am I going postal. what I am doing is simply exercising my rights as an American citizen before this right, like many others, gets taken away as well.
It is happening people. I don’t understand why so many people are blind to it when it is right in front of your eyes. You have rights and if you don’t use them, you may lose them. Luckily for me, I am using mine and as to paraphrase the true sentiment of what says in the subject of this post…
“You can have my RIGHTS when you pry them from my cold dead hands.”