This is an article about gun control I wrote for the school newspaper when I was a senior in high school. Just your typical conservative/libertarian argument against gun control. It's not necessarily 100% what I believe to this day, but I have love for all of my children.
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One day, all the animals got together for a council. The lions at the meeting proposed that horns be made illegal for bulls. They cited a few incidents where animals had been accidentally harmed by another animal’s horns. The lions explained, “Why does a bull need horns to eat grass, anyway?”
The answer is: The bull needs the horns to keep the lion from eating it.
I am convinced that gun control is one of the worst things we could do to our nation. People need guns to protect themselves.
Imagine a scenario. A bank in Wahpeton is getting robbed. The man walks in, pulls out his gun, and says, “Everyone on the floor!” Everyone listens.
Suppose that all the customers and employees in the bank are carrying concealed weapons. The robber walks in and says, “Everyone on the floor!” The other people all pull out their guns and say, “No, sir. You lay on the floor.”
Econo Foods has a sign on their door saying, "Bremer Bank bans guns on these premises." What does that say to a criminal? ROB ME. Suppose the sign said, "Bremer Bank requires managers on staff to carry handguns and take classes in self-defense." What does THAT say to a criminal?
There are three types of people when it comes to gun ownership:
(1) Honest citizens.
(2) Criminals.
(3) The Government.
Honest citizens just want to live their daily lives as they want to. Honest Citizens who carry guns do so in order to explain to everyone else, "Just let me live my life as I want to." Why would you want to pass a law that prohibits honest citizens from owning guns? What could that possibly accomplish?
Criminals don’t pay attention to the law. That’s why they’re called “criminals.” The kids that shot up Columbine High School broke 18 gun laws by doing what they did. Would two more gun laws have stopped them? How about ten more? The criminals don't care about the law. Criminals will always have guns.
Now, suppose all of the teachers in Columbine were required to carry guns for self-defense. Would those two kids be as likely to have stormed through the school shooting everyone?
Australia actually DID pass a law that outlaws firearms. No guns allowed on this premesis. Within the first 12 months, armed robberies went up 44%. How do you have armed robberies where there are no guns? Duh. Criminals don't CARE about the law. They will ALWAYS have guns. In the Australian state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms went up 300%. I ask you: Did gun control work?
During the previous 25 years, before this law was passed, there was an overall steady DECREASE in armed robberies. The law is passed, and armed robberies go through the roof. What happened? The honest citizens no longer have a means to protect themselves against criminals.
The Government needs guns. If our police force and military had no guns...we'd all be speaking Mandalorian. However, what if our government goes bad? What if our government starts killing us? Hitler did it, Stalin did it, Hussein did it, Mussolini did it, Pott did it, Clinton did it.... We shouldn't prevent our government from having guns, but we should have some sort of backup plan in case something goes wrong.
Our founding fathers knew what that backup plan would be: The Second Amendment. America's ORIGINAL Homeland Security.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”
The Amendment simply states that a militia is necessary to the security of a free State. Therefore, the right to have weapons shall not be infringed.
If the people fear their government, we do not have a free State. We have tyrrany. If the government fears its people, and are afraid to pass any legislation that its citizens will not agree with, we have a free State.
Our government should be afraid of us, not the other way around. They should be cowering in fear, knowing that its citizens are armed and ready to make them answer for any injustice. If Congress passed a law that the citizens didn't like, the patriots who love their country and love their freedom would gather the people and lobby Congress. With force.
Remember the American Revolution? King George was ruling over the American colonies with power, greed, and cruelty. Read the Declaration of Independence to get a better idea of how much they really hated King George. Finally, we had enough. We threw the tea in the harbor, got out our guns, and said, "We're not gonna take it anymore."
What if this needs to happen again? What if, sometime in the future, the wrong people get in charge of our government? What if we need to have another "tea party"? How would we ever win a revolution with no guns? Imagine if King George had passed gun control, and we had to fight the American Revolution without any weapons. How would that have played out?
Article VI of our Constitution states, “This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”
This means that if any law is passed that goes against the Constitution, it is not a law at all. Suppose the City of Wahpeton passed a law that states, “The Wahpeton Daily News is hereby prohibitied from writing about the subject of politics.” That law would be declared unconstitutional from the minute it was passed, and the Daily News would be under no obligation to obey it.
Now, suppose that Bill Clinton gets a law passed that prohibits citizens from owning assault rifles. That law (not due to any minor “technicality”) is null and void. It goes against the Constitution. Period. The Constitution always has precendent over any other law or court ruling.
The purpose of the Second Amendment is not so you can go duck hunting. The purpose of the Second Amendment is so you can protect yourself against anyone who decides to violate your right to life, liberty, and property.
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, 13 million citizens (about 6 million being Jews) who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million "educated" people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
Have we gone nuts? Next time someone talks in favor of gun control, ask them "Who do YOU want to round up and exterminate?"
I don't know who is behind this, or who has what agenda to get America unarmed, but it needs to be stopped. We let them walk all over us with their unconstitutional "Patriot" Act (read the Fourth Amendment); let's not do it again. Gun control does not work. All it does is get rid of the guns owned by people who obey the law. People who don't obey the law... don't obey the law. They're not going to surrender their guns.
If you have a family, and someone breaks into your house with a gun... would you be in favor of gun control? If so, what are you going to defend yourself with? A piece of paper that says he can't own a gun?
The government is given the right to punish criminals. But what do we do when the ones in charge are criminals? Put them on the honor system and have them punish themselves?
Gun control isn't about guns; it's about control. I don’t know why anyone wants to take away our guns. It really does not matter. I'm not an anarchist; I love my country, and I love our Constitution. Let's just be sure to remember the fifth of November. Remember the lesson that we need to re-learn: A well-regulated Militia is necessary for the security of a free State. The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Yeah, I never really bought in to the idea that gun control laws would decrease crimes. Like you said, criminals, by definition, don't follow the law.
I do think classes on using and caring for firearms should be mandatory before being able to purchase one, though. But that's about as controlling as I'm willing to go.
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You rule. Great post. I agree with every word, so that might be one of the reasons I think it's so great, but even if I completely disagreed, it was an easy read (but not in a bad way). Good job :)
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Procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. So procrastinate now, don't put it off. [Ellen Degeneres]
Haha well thanks. I don't even know if I, myself agree with every word of this. Yes I wrote it, but that was over two years ago.
I get this argument in theory, that yes, gun control is bad, but in theory, communism is good. In theory anarchy is good. It's what works in practice that counts.
Not that I'm suggesting gun control works in practice, because it obviously doesn't, but know that I posted this when I was a conservative, and like any conservative I tend to see, I was willing to write things that might be "true" but have twisted facts, and just make my argument look more sound than it actually is.
Like those random statistics? There's probably a lot more behind the fact that Australia's crime has gone up. If I eat ice cream and get a cold in the same day, I could conclude it was from the ice cream... or I could conclude (more accurately, probably) that it was from the girl I hooked up with who also had a cold. But if I go with Option A, I can run a campaign about how ice cream causes people to get sick.
Another example, the Bill Clinton comment. I didn't cite any sources, evidence, or even give an explanation as to what I meant. Now, I really do believe in things like the Waco Massacre, but still, I shouldn't be able to just spout off with no explanation. Like people who would, for example, just post a link to this page and then later refer to "all the things Bill Clinton did while in office" as if they are already proven fact. There are way too many things listed to even begin to rebut them, so you've already lost the argument, when in reality, you are fighting a large, invisible, imaginary army that your opponent believes exist.
Whenever I see regurgitated-Republican-media posts on ProgressiveU, it follows the same sort of logic. I think everyone should be conservative at least once in their life; it's a learning experience.
Lol, I can't really say that I'm a conservative, but most of my views lean that way, especially when it comes to gun control.
Yes, gun control is great in theory, but I like to go shooting, even if I didn't need it to defend myself, so even if I didn't need my guns to protect myself, I'd still be upset if they took them away.
Although then I might take up archery or something. haha. I need the target practice ;-)
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I'm sorry, I had a lot to say, but right now, Maury is on, and there was a lie-detector-test where the cheater was actually telling the TRUTH-- so I'm pretty distracted. hehe.
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Procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. So procrastinate now, don't put it off. [Ellen Degeneres]