The Right To Bear Arms

The first unalien-able right listed by Thomas Jefferson in the Decla-ration of Indepen-dence is the right to life. It is placed first in the hierarchy of man’s rights because no right is more important to mortal man than that one, for certainly when a man is deprived of life, all the other earthly rights he might have possessed are forever lost to him. But even if the right to life is recognized and acknowledged by a government, as our government has done, of what practical benefit is that recognition if the government nonetheless removes from a man’s grasp the very implements necessary to realistically preserve and defend the life he is said to be entitled to? Some might argue that it is enough that the police possess firearms to defend us. But where does a police officer’s right to employ a firearm in the defense of human life actually come from? Who bestows that special privilege upon him? Though it may be surprising to some, in America that privilege comes to a police officer through none other than the people themselves. Many years ago, during the formation of our governments, federal, state and local, we the people empowered our elected officials and representatives to give to any duly appointed police officer the right to use a gun in our behalf to defend the lives of others. At that time, a time that is now all but forgotten, the people granted to government the power to use lethal force to defend human life. They were able to grant that power to government because they possessed it themselves. It naturally resided within them--and always had and always will--by virtue of their unalienable right to life, their unalienable right to save themselves from death at the hands of a violent person or persons. What a great tragedy it would be, if we as citizens, or our government, ever forgot where our government’s just powers come from, if suddenly the government believed it could deny to its citizens their unalienable rights, rights that are not now, nor ever were, theirs to give or take. Remember, dear citizens, God gave you life; the government did not. It was God, your creator, who placed value upon it. So don’t let the government ever tell you that you do not have the right to defend your life by any means whatsoever, or that you must rely solely upon your local police department or other government agencies for your protection. That just isn’t so. If our government, the one created and handed down to us by our freedom-loving ancestors, the one that worked so well until about 60 years ago, can no longer control crime and the proliferation of guns among criminals; if that government cannot ensure and safeguard our right to life, what business does it have denying those of us who are law-abiding citizens the means of defending ourselves on equal terms against criminals? Is it not reasonable to suppose that whenever any government cannot protect its citizens from criminal elements within society that they may revert back to their unalienable right to life as justification for defending themselves? We don’t need the government’s permission to do that. With or without the government’s blessing we possess that right. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, we are “endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Those rights, granted to us by God Himself, cannot be withheld, rescinded or nullified by mere human governments. All we need to possess those rights is the courage to claim them and the willingness to defend them.