By Lucas Steiner
Contributing Writer
The Second Amendment is the one of the greatest accomplishments in American history.
Ben Franklin said it best when he said: “People who would trade liberty for safety deserve neither and will lose both.”
Yet the attacks on our constitutional right to bear arms, the AR-15, and the National Rifle Association are as hostile as ever from liberals and the “March for Our Lives” group.
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.
A “militia” refers to the people; not the government. The right of the people (meaning us) to own firearms, shall not be infringed, which means, there shall be no restrictions on the people being allowed to own firearms.
How could the founding fathers be any clearer?
The Second Amendment is about resistance to government tyranny, what the founding fathers fled hundreds of years ago.
Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire said it best: “The reason my grandparents didn’t fear Government tyranny is why they are now ashes.” Shapiro is Jewish; his grandparents were killed in the holocaust.
The common argument used by liberals is that “nobody needs an AR-15, it’s a fully automatic military grade assault weapon, it’s not for home/self-defense, and it’s not for hunting.”
This is incorrect. The AR-15 is one of the most popular hunting rifles and extremely good for home/self-defense, due to the knock down power, minimal recoil, and many options available to customize the weapon to your liking.
Also, the AR-15 is not military grade, it’s a civilian grade weapon, and not an “assault” weapon.
It’s a lesser variant of the M4 and M16 rifles, which is what the Military uses.
Liberals often say that “if we take these guns off the street, gun crime will disappear.” If that was the case, why are illegal drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, killing more people than ever before?
Why do more than 90% of mass shootings occur in “gun free” zones? This is the failed logic I still don’t understand.
Now, you are probably thinking: what about Australia and Britain? They banned guns and look at their results.
In Australia, leftists say gun violence is decreasing, even though it already had been decreasing before the gun ban, at an identical rate. England banned guns and they supposedly have no gun crime. Wrong. Gun crime spiked after the ban, and didn’t start to fall until the early 2000’s.
In 2016 there were hundreds of acid attacks alone in England. My point is, criminals people will still find other ways to hurt people.
The NRA are supposedly child murderers, and are more focused on protecting guns not kids, and have clearly bought the politicians. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma), has even tweeted: “How many more people must die at churches or concerts or schools before we stop letting the @NRA control this country’s gun policies?”
Here are some facts about the NRA’s lobbying statistics. 53 Democrats in the House of Representatives took money from the NRA this year, including these representatives from Pennsylvania: Jason Altmire, Chris Carney, Tim Holden, Paul Kanjorski.
The NRA spent only about $3 million per year on lobbying as of 2015. Their budget in 2013 was $350 million, most of which was spent on events, newsletters and firearm safety training. So, the idea that the NRA bought off politicians (only Republicans) is completely wrong.
Let’s break down the argument that the NRA kills kids. Using a three-way scoreboard, we will compare three teams. Team 1: Three anti-gun mass murderers- Adolf Hitler killed 11 million, Mao Zedong killed 49 million and Joseph Stalin contributed 20 million kills. That is a total of 80 million kills for Team 1’s “pro-gun control dictators.”
Team 2: Planned Parenthood, has aborted approximately 300,000 babies just in the past year. Over the course of its existence, that makes a kill count of over seven million. These are low end estimates. Finally, Team 3: The NRA. An NRA member has NEVER been linked to a mass shooting except for last year when an NRA member killed a church shooter in Texas.
Now, let’s recap the scoreboard for which team is responsible for killing the most people:
First Place- Team anti-gun dictator’s: 80 Million people
Second Place- Planned Parenthood: 7 million people
Third Place- The NRA: -1 person
So, when David Hogg calls out the NRA for killing kids and buying off politicians, he is wrong.
He should have done better research on tyrannus dictators like Hitler.
He certainly got the salute down at the most recent March for Our Lives event.
Remember this David: “The First Step to conquering a nation is to disarm its citizens.” Do you know who said that? Adolf Hitler. I rest my case.
Email Lucas at:
lsteiner@live.esu.edu