The Case For a Second Amendment Makeover

The Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre has finally prompted President Obama to take seriously the issue over responsible gun ownership and its relationship to public safety. He has appointed Vice President Joe Bien to lead a task force formed to construct proposals to address gun violence and responsible gun ownership.

The debate over responsible gun control is in overdrive driven by a spate of incidents the most recent of which also has the country debating the quality of mental health care. I think it is time to separate those who believe they have the right to bear arms for the purpose of fighting a potential tyrannical government and those who just want to bear arms. Either way, isn't it time for us to find out if there are seeds of sedition brewing within the population or are these people who hide behind the Second Amendment true seekers of freedom and liberty.

Try this exercise. The next time you come across a person who argues that the country has stolen their freedom and liberty by taxing and regulating commerce ask them are they willing to form a "well-armed militia" and get their money back. If the person says that the government is inherently corrupt, say to them "let's go to the statehouse and capture the governor." If they say that the government has abandoned and violated the constitution and installed an: a) socialist, b) fascist, or c) communist regime then ask them are they ready to convert those "ploughshares into swords" and "take back our country?" If the government has adapted the ten points of the Communist Manifesto then it is not the government we voted for (or is it) and it is not the government described by the Federalist Papers, embodied in the Declaration of Independence and codified by the Constitution. If all that is true then let's gather the subset of the 80 million people who own 300 million weapons and believe in forming a "well-armed militia" and "March on Washington." Sounds ridiculous doesn't it.

If you are like me you are kind of tired of the talk, let's get these freedom fighters moving towards violent action and overthrow the government. Does that seem radical to you? Well it is no more radical than the colonialists that overthrew their oppressive government. Are there not parallels to be drawn between then and now? You read about those parallels every time the topic of gun control is broached.

Why don't we ask these "liberty belles" what will it take for them to turn violent towards their government? And ask yourself if there is a "shot heard round the world" whose side will you be on?

In the 1950s and 1960s there was quasi-state sanctioned violence against some of its citizens. Churches were bombed and people were lynched. Men, women and children were taken away in the night and held for indefinite periods of time without due process. There was wide, wholesale warrantless spying and illegal detention and detainment. The people rose up in violent and non-violent protest and fought until the laws were changed and the practices were abolished. If the government once again began to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to these atrocities then I would be all too willing to take up arms against the government in the fight for my natural rights.

I'm not advocating for war and I am not suggesting that people don't have a right to their assessment. Liberty and freedom are of course worth fighting for and the battle needs to be multifaceted. But if you are going to keep making arguments for stockpiling weapons, and any attempt to control weapons is a violation of your pursuit for happiness, life and liberty then isn't it time we ask the so called gun-toting freedom lovers to put up or shut up?