In 1787, 13 states sent delegates their respective state to Philadelphia to draft a blueprint for this new country we call America. This blueprint became known as The Constitution of the United States. The reason for this document was conceived by the delegates from each state who had been subjected to government control from England. The goal was to have checks and balances within the government to make sure none of the three branches obtained too much power.
The Constitution was an amazing document. The problem with this document is that it did not extend any individual rights. The Constitution had plenty of guidance as to what the Government could do but had nothing to control what it could not do. The states wanted some rights. They would not ratify the Constitution for four more years because of this. Since the new nation had just been freed from a repressive monarchy a majority refused to support the Constitution without a Bill of Rights. These rights would be a guarantee that the new government would not trample on our newly won freedoms of speech, the press, religion and other natural rights we have.
Thomas Jefferson argued:
“A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.”
In the end the American Bill of Rights was adopted and became the first ten amendments to our Constitution. One of these ten amendments that was ratified in 1791 has garnered substantial contentious publicity over the last decade. The second Amendment. So why did our Founding Fathers feel so strongly that gun ownership should be included as a natural right.
The Second Amendment reads;
“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.”
As former Englishmen the founding fathers enjoyed a basic right to bear arms. English law even required men to practice with their arms should they be needed to defend the nation. When the revolutionary war broke out against the distant government in England, having armed citizens in the colonies was credited with their success in winning the war. The argument today is that we do not have well defined militia like they did in those days. However, in 2008 the Supreme Court interpreted the amendment in favor of an individual’s right to own guns.
Regardless of why the founding fathers made sure we have the ability own guns, the reasons we should have them now is just as important. We have not just the right but the responsibility to protect our families from outside aggression. Some say, that is the responsibility of the police, sheriff and other law enforcement agencies. You don’t have to be a genius at math to realize there are not nearly enough law enforcement officers to afford protection to everyone, all the time.
Having the right to own arms is also a responsibility. It is a responsibility to be a protector and not an aggressor. The battle over the right to bear arms or the laws pertaining to the Second amendment will not end time soon. We as responsibly armed citizens need to live in a way that those who want to trample on those freedoms we hold dear, don’t have the ammunition, pun intended, to strip those rights.
When going through training created by USCCA, I was encouraged that they want to help citizens become well trained, responsibly armed American Citizens. They focus not only on how to handle firearms safely, but also on how to stay out of situations that may lead to using deadly force. Then they also offer help should you find yourself having to defend yourself legally as a result of defending yourself physically.
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