Gun Laws

The controversy over gun control continues, which made me reflect on what our founding father had to say. It is obvious that they were concerned that the future would consist of those who would want to rewrite the constitution, or a least eliminate the items that they disagree with. Read the following quotes by our founding father and see how strong they felt about the 2nd amendment.

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”

         Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

 

“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”

Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787

 

“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”

Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776

 

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

 

“And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; or to raise standing armies, unless necessary for the defense of the United States, or of some one or more of them; or to prevent the people from petitioning, in a peaceable and orderly manner, the federal legislature, for a redress of grievances; or to subject the people to unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, papers or possessions.”

        George Washington, Debates of the Massachusetts Convention of    February 6, 1788

 

 

“That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use arms in defense of so valuable a blessing, on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my opinion.”

George Washington, letter to George Mason April 5th 1769

 

“To disarm the people…is the most effectual way to enslave them.”

George Mason

 

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country.”

James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434, June 8, 1789

 

“The constitution shall never be construed…to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”

        Alexander Hamilton

 

“Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”

George Washington  First President of the United States

 

“Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense 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?”

Patrick Henry American Patriot

 

“The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution.”

Thomas Jefferson Third President of the United States

 

Here are some quotes from modern day patriots:

 

“The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.”

Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, Art of the Rifle

 

“Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution by claiming it’s not an individual right or that it’s too much of a public safety hazard, don’t see the danger in the big picture. They’re courting disaster by encouraging others to use the same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don’t like.”

         Alan M. Dershowitz

 

“Most gun control arguments miss the point. If all control boils fundamentally to force, how can one resist aggression without equal force? How can a truly “free” state exist if the individual citizen is enslaved to the forceful will of individual or organized aggressors? It cannot.”

          Tiffany Madison

The attack on the 2nd amendment is far from over. You should understand that your right to defend yourself is in jeopardy as well as the constitution. What is it about the second amendment that some people don’t understand? What is so bad about law abiding citizens wanting to protect themselves ? Are we supposed to be just like sheep and allow evil to have its way? 

Some say, police will protect us. Well, I’m a big supporter of our law enforcement however, they cannot be everywhere at the same time. They respond as quickly as possible, but unfortunately, all too often, they arrive after the crime has occurred.

Law abiding citizens with a gun can ward off crimes, in many incidents, never needing to fire a shot. The presence of the gun has stopped crimes, period!

Many people want to point to Australia gun control as a successful example. However, let’s look a little deeper at this success. In 1996 Australia’s gun buy back and turn in program netted nearly one million guns being destroyed. But after that private gun ownership once again steadily increased and now exceeds what it was before the buyback. In 1997 gun ownership in Australia grew from 2.5 million to 5.8 million guns. Can you really call this success?

European countries such as Belgium, France and the Netherlands have even stricter gun control laws than Australia, but their mass shooting rates are at least as high as those in the United States. During the past eight years the per capita casualty rate from shootings in the European Union was actually 27 percent higher than the U.S. rate.

According to the London Times the city of London, who has restricted all guns, now experience a murder rate higher than New York City for the first time in history. They also have seen a 40% increase in knife attacks. In addition, the frequency of ax attacks have increased.

Repealing the 2nd amendment will not stop evil people from doing bad. More gun laws and restrictions are not going to stop those who want to do harm from having their way. A bad guy with a gun can only be stopped by a good guy with a gun. Don’t believe it? Go ask ask a police officer why he carries a gun.

And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

Luke 18:3

My prayers go out to the victims and victim’s families of Parkland. Once again evil has had its way to injure and murder innocent people.

2 Timothy 3 states; But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Let’s face it, the world is full of evil people. People who have harden hearts. People who have no respect for human life. People who are cowards and pray on the innocent.

It is natural to want to see action following a tragedy such as the one in Parkland. Who doesn’t want to see something created that will stop this type of of situation from ever happening again. The problem is, we cannot legislate the heart. We cannot make people care about others with pen and paper. There are currently 20,000 state, local and federal gun laws on the books. Not one of these law can stop an active shoot event. Why? Because evil people don’t abide by the law.

Following the Columbine shooting, no gun zones were created throughout the country. No guns are allowed on school property. I ask you, How’s that working for us? No gun zones create soft targets. This means there is no resistance to someone wanting to do harm. No one with a gun to stop someone with a gun. Since Columbine there have been over 25 school shootings. Are we so naive that we believe that a killer wanting high body counts are going to be stopped by a sign that says “ No Guns Allowed “? These people are willing to break any law to accomplish their goal.

An assault rifle was used in the Parkland shooting. So let’s outlaw assault rifles. That will stop this from ever happening again. The problem with this thinking is most past school shooters didn’t used assault rifles. In addition, if we outlaw such guns they will still be available on the black market. In 1994 Congress passed a law that placed a ten year ban on certain assault type weapons. That same law expired in 2004. During the ten year ban there were 28 mass shooting incidents most of which were accomplished without the use of assault weapons.

Another problem to consider is that China has a total ban on firearms. But they too, have experienced numerous school killings. No guns were used. Instead the children were hacked to death with machetes and hatchets. If an individual wants to do harm they will find a way to accomplish the goal no matter what laws are passed.

So some say we should do away with all guns. Why should the law abiding citizen be punished? They have done nothing wrong. Instead, all they want to do is to have a means to protect their families and themselves. Law Enforcement will protect us. The fact is law enforcement usually arrive after the incident. This is not a criticism of our police. I support our police. I have worked side by side with local police for many years. My own daughter is a police officer. Unfortunately most police departments are under staffed. Based on the current population of the U.S., 1 police office must protect over 1,800 citizens. That is an impossible task.

Most active shooter incident are over in less than twelve minutes. But in that time frame many lives can be taken. EMS and law enforcement must work together to develop aggressive approaches to counter the shooter. (This will be discussed in a later article.)

Yes, changes must take place, but let’s make sure we make changes that will actually work. We need people to stand up and report suspicious things that doesn’t look right. We need to teach people to be more aware of their surroundings. Monitoring social media and following up on potential threats can go a long way in preventing attacks such as experienced by Parkland.