BATTLE

8

Our founding fathers were wise when they gave us the right to bear arms. It is an empowering right as it allows people to own the means to defend themselves, their families, and their possessions. Without this right, criminals would be able to run rampant over law-abiding citizens and the government could conceivably revoke all of our other rights because we would not have the means to stop them.

People with guns forged this great country of ours. It is because we had guns that we were able to throw off the oppressive chains of British rule and become who we are today. It sure as hell wasn't because Thomas Jefferson wrote a very good paper about being free. It was because we Americans were packing beat. And it is because of owning guns that we remain free. Like the quote on the Pennsylvania 1st Unorganized Militia web page says "When people fear the government, it's tyranny. When the government fears the people, it's liberty." I can't argue with that logic.

But even so, there are Americas who want all sorts of gun control laws passed because of the amount of shooting deaths we have in this country, even to the point of revoking the right to own a firearm. Let me run some facts by you. According to the NRA, accidental firearm deaths are at an all-time low. In fact, you are more likely to die in a car accident or drowning than to die from being accidentally shot according to statistics. So if you want to ban guns, you'd better start banning cars and swimming pools too.

In regards to crime, gun control has actually raised crime rates. Washington D.C.'s banned handguns and their homicide rates tripled. Washington still has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country and yet still remains first in the nation in homicides. Clearly we can see that gun control only makes the public more vulnerable to crime, but anti-gun lobbyists don't seem to care about that, especially Handgun Control, Inc. (HCI). Dennis Henigan of the HCI is quoted in USA Today as saying that self defense "is not a federally guaranteed constitutional right." I seem to remember from my grade school history classes that we as American citizens have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I think being able to defend myself is very essential to my life, my liberty and my pursuit of happiness.

We live in a time where no one wants to take responsibility for anything, and so we blame the guns for killing people more than we blame the people pulling the trigger. It's easy to blame guns. They can't fight back. But those who believe in the right to defend ourselves can and will fight vigilantly for the freedom of owning a gun.