Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Welcome to the Slaughterhouse: The Gun Control Debate.... AGAIN!


"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." George Washington
Welcome to the Slaughterhouse, America!!


by Nicholas Meyeres

The shooting in Newtown, Connecticut was an horrific tragedy. My heart goes out to those that lost loved ones that day. I can’t even imagine the heartache and anger one must feel after such an event, but talk of new gun control measures is never the course we should take no matter how filled with emotion we all become.

After all, what gun control advocates don’t seem to understand is that outlawing gun ownership will not reduce crime. In fact, the areas with the strictest gun control laws (like Chicago for instance) are also the most violent. But even if that wasn’t the case, as I have said on a previous blog post, enforcing gun control requires criminal behavior on an even more massive scale: In order to disarm gun owners and regulate gun producers, the government themselves must commit crimes against the people by violating the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution. That is, the government must forcibly expropriate the property of gun owners against their will. Therefore, gun control cannot reduce crime when enforcing gun control is a crime in and of itself.


And it can't be said enough times- as basic as is sounds- criminals are deterred by armed victims, while gun control disarms the law-abiding ones. After all, a criminal will always find a way to obtain and use a gun- legal or otherwise- especially in a so-called “gun-free zone” where only the criminals are armed. In essence, unarmed citizens make easy victims. It really is that simple. 

Further arguments state that the 2nd Amendment was envisioned with only flintlock muskets in mind even though the word “arms” was the purposefully open-ended word our Framers used. But that argument is fundamentally flawed. If that were how it worked then the 1st Amendment wouldn’t apply to the Internet, or any other form of communication created after the signing of the Constitution. And I can’t imagine anyone arguing that free speech in electronic communications should not be allowed today. That being the case, why then are AK-47s and AR-15s being considered for a ban?

Furthermore, according to the FBI's own statistics it is clear that when considering 5 and 10-year trends, the 2011 estimated violent crime total was 15.4 percent below the 2007 level and 15.5 percent below the 2002 level. Simply put, we are safer today than we have been in some time contrary to an exploitative media and liberal alarmists that would have us believe otherwise.  And as the graph below indicates it has to also be said that compared to the other top 10 “killers” in the United States, firearm homicides are at the very bottom of the list. Tobacco use tops the list at 529, 000 deaths a year, followed closely by medical errors, unintentional injuries, alcohol abuse, motor vehicle accidents, unintentional poisoning, drug abuse, unintentional falls, non-firearm homicides, and lastly at just over 11,000 deaths a year- firearm homicides.


But aside from that, an armed populace is a strong check against government gone awry. It was Thomas Jefferson who said, "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves from tyranny in government." Frankly, contrary to popular thought, guns provide many more designations aside from protecting yourself from home invasion or for the purpose of hunting.

Americans would do well to remember the harrowing stories of the brave Jewish Resistance who armed themselves and fought off the Nazis for as long as they could.  It should also be reminded that the Communists of Vietnam, Russia, China and Cambodia murdered millions of their own people only after first disarming them. However, you don’t think we will ever need to protect ourselves from our government in this day and age?

Please recall that Japanese Americans were interned on American soil during World War II against their free will by this very government. Also, don’t forget that blacks were enslaved and that Native Americans were purged and crushed into dust by that same government, as well. Trust me, it can and already has happened here many times over in America. 

Not only that, but gun control has very racist roots. The very first gun-control measures in American history were designed to keep arms out of the hands of blacks and Native Americans. The Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies both prohibited the sale of guns to Native Americans in the early seventeenth century, and the “Black Codes” of the mid-eighteenth century required French colonists in Louisiana to disarm and beat “any black carrying any potential weapon.” That is why ALL arms need be allowed by “We the People”.


But still, yes, guns do indeed kill people as I have even said- if they are in the wrong hands, that is. But, you could say the same thing about a hammer, a kitchen knife, a drinking straw or any other object that could be construed as a weapon. In fact, also according to the FBI, the #1 weapon used in violent crimes is a baseball bat. Should we ban baseball bats, too? After all, a gun is impotent while it sits on a counter, unloaded. It only gains power when a bullet is added to the chamber and the trigger is pulled.

It's simply the truth: If you ban guns, bad people will still find a way to do harm to others.  

The same week as the Newtown tragedy a knife-wielding man injured 22 children and one adult outside a primary school in central China where guns of any kind are not allowed. Timothy McVeigh used fertilizer and a truck to kill 168 people in Oklahoma. Box cutters were to blame for 9/11. Does that mean we should we ban all of those everyday items, as well?

Let's go one irrational step further; by some accounts the shooter was said to be autistic, or had Asperger’s Syndrome.  So, as with Japanese Americans during the 40’s should we round up all people with developmental disorders and put them in camps since clearly that must have played a factor in the deaths of so many because the shooter suffered from it himself? Of course not. Less freedom is never the answer. Only with more freedom can we truly be safe in a world like the one in which we live today. 

In short, in order to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again we should endeavor to educate ourselves in the ways of self defense so we can be stronger and more aware of everything around us, including gun use. We can’t sit on the sidelines for someone to step in for us in times when waiting for a police officer to arrive simply isn’t enough. It will take the heroic deeds of common, everyday individuals working together towards the same goal of true freedom despite being wary of our own liberties as American citizens.

After all, if a man wields a gun against my family, I for one will never be ashamed or afraid of my own willingness and strength of character to protect my loved ones by any means necessary. Can you say the same?