Tuesday, August 9, 2011

I have to draw the line in the sand when it comes to the 2nd Amendment to our Bill of Rights.

I have to draw the line in the sand when it comes to the 2nd Amendment to our Bill of Rights.
This one amendment, more than any other signifies our freedom. This is the marker that separates us from other countries and societies. We have the freedom and the right to keep and bear arms. We have the right to defend ourselves…..even from our own government.
The repeated calls for repealing the 2nd Amendment, or efforts to diminish its intent, usually come after yet another disturbing incident that was allowed to go totally out of control, and then incessantly broadcast by what is supposed to be our news sources until we reach a point of saturation. This is quickly followed by calls for disarming American’s.
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear here; If someone is intent on killing you or several of you, not having a gun will not stop them. People are poisoned, stabbed, strangled, beaten to death, set on fire and die from multiple causes inflicted by another individual every day of the week. This is not because American’s have the right to own guns.
I find it odd that more people die each year from drunk drivers than from gun incidents. Yet no one calls for another prohibition. There are no passionate pleas to ban alcohol; no diatribes on how alcohol consumption is killing innocent people. Besides, this might infringe on YOUR rights.
The right to keep and bear arms is not the cause of rampage killings. It’s the individual who decided to kill other human beings who is the cause. A gun can kill no one until an individual picks it up and uses it. Just like knives can’t stab anyone unless someone picks them up and uses them as a weapon. In a fatal car crash resulting from drunk driving……who or what is at fault; the vehicle or the driver?
The flaw in all the arguments for banning private gun ownership is that somehow by taking away this right, everything will be just peachy. It won’t be. The same individuals who are intent on inflicting injury or death to others will simply find some other means of getting the job done. People are the real threat……not the weapons they choose. Taking away the right to own guns does not and will not reduce that threat.
When the Bill of Rights was assembled, the second most important issue to the founders was this right to keep and bear arms. Of all the other rights enumerated, this was paramount in establishing a free society. They also knew that it is only when government has worked secretly against its own people they become afraid of them and seek to disarm them.
The 2nd Amendment is the lynchpin of our freedom. As a nation we identify ourselves as free people by virtue of the fact that we can keep and bear arms if we choose to. And it is exactly this reason that so many want to see it repealed. The loss of this right would be psychologically devastating as so many would see it for what it is…..the true end of our freedom.
Jay Draiman, Northridge, CA