Some still make the plea, “The Constitution was written by people who only had muskets. These protections don’t cover modern weapons of war”. It’s easy to note that the founders also owned cannons, but disregarding that, Noah Webster wrote in 1787, “Before any standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops”. Not only does that cut against the argument that our Rights don’t extend to modern sporting rifles, but also that the normal citizen should have access to actual “weapons of war” as well.
Finally, the argument that seems most popular in today’s social climate is, “The Constitution is outdated. The 2nd Amendment is a relic of a more barbaric and violent time. It should be repealed”. With the Biden ‘Plan to End Our Gun Violence Epidemic’ it seems that this idea has institutional backing. It doesn’t outright call for the repeal of the 2nd Amendment but does everything short of that to make it effectively null. It runs the gamut, from outright gun bans and “buybacks” (fancy words for forcible confiscation) to changing the laws that protect firearms manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits over the misuse of their products. There is a proposed limit to the number of firearms and ammunition a free individual is permitted to buy on a monthly basis and new, broad definitions used to declare a person unfit for firearm ownership such as “mental reasons” and/or if they are charged with a “hate crime”. Both are incredibly subjective terms that allow for plenty of federal interpretation. They also want to completely ban all online sales of guns and ammo and completely eliminate private sales between law-abiding citizens. It seems there is a very wide chasm between Thomas Jefferson’s, “No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms” and 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” to the, “Hell yes we’re going to take your AR-15” of Beto O’Rourke and, “Upon being elected, I will give the United States Congress a hundred days to their act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws. If they fail to do it, then I will take executive action” of now-Vice President Kamala Harris.
To be so fundamentally opposed to the 2nd Amendment is to be opposed to the very concept of individual liberty and personal freedom & responsibility that the entire American system is founded on. To say that the average American is too careless or dangerous to be trusted with the responsibility of firearms ownership is to also say that he/she is also too careless to be trusted with the responsibility of free speech. Or the responsibility of freedom itself. William Pitt said to the House of Commons in 1783, “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” For this despotic administration it would seem that’s exactly what they want us to be. They believe that their position in government gives them authority over the lives of the citizens and their Rights, but the Founders knew that Rights presuppose government. Government can’t give you Rights, all they can do is attempt to take them away. And that’s exactly what they plan to do. Unfortunately for them that “spirit of resistance” that Jefferson spoke so highly of is still alive and well in many of the citizens of this great nation. Perhaps one is reading this now.
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