Let's Talk About Guns

Let's start out by saying I love guns. I've had guns most of my adolescent and adult life and have shot guns of all kinds starting with a bb gun when I was a kid, to various hunting rifles and shotguns. I am by no means an expert shot, nor am I an expert on guns as a whole, but am simply a gun lover, and the older I get the more it seems that I appreciate guns for what they are: tools to be used, no different than my circular saw, my chain saw, or my hammer. Each has a specific purpose and use, and so do my guns.

I never owned a handgun prior to moving to Utah (aka "The Wild West"), mostly because getting a handgun in Iowa is, what I thought, a real pain in the butt. It's certainly not impossible, but when I lived there one had to go to the sheriff's office, submit to a 3-day background check and waiting period, and then you might be given a permit to purchase a handgun. Here in Planet Utah, one goes to a gun store (or gun show), purchases their chosen weapon, goes through an instant background check by the FBI, purchases their ammo, and walks out of the store. I actually bought my first handgun, a S&W .40 caliber semi-auto, at a gun show out here and went through the exact scenario that I just described, except that I also purchased a gun cleaning kit. Excited, I went home and told my wife what I had just bought, and suggested that we go do some target shooting, which she promptly agreed to do. Now, it just happens that my beautiful wife used to shoot competitively for Glock, which as we all know is a very fine maker of semi-automatic handguns. Well, after shooting for some time I was hitting the target, but the little orange dot in the middle of the target had absolutely no fear of me. My beautiful wife asked if she could try it to which I agreed (thinking that she of course would do no better). I was wrong... Her first shot went dead-center in the middle of the bullseye. Stunned, I stood there and looked for a second verifying that my eyes were not lying to me, then promptly said "That's it. I'm done." and turned around to go home. My lovely wife just smiled at me and said nothing...

Since my initial purchase (and subsequent humiliation), I've purchased a small .32 caliber for my wife to carry, and a .45 caliber Colt that I like to keep in my car (we both have concealed weapons permits). Unlike my .40, I love my .45 and am actually a pretty darn good shot with it.

Now, to my point. I am a true believer in the right to bear arms, and have done some study on the subject. Interestingly, this is not a subject that is taught in school, and to get to the truth of the 2nd Amendment one needs to do a fair amount of searching for some trustworthy and credible sources. Naturally, the NRA has a fair amount of information on the subject, but there are some better sources if one looks elsewhere. I strongly suggest "That Every Man Be Armed" by Stephen Halbrook, which is an outstanding and well-researched book on the history of self defense and the evolution of our 2nd Amendment.

What is very interesting to me, and I presume to those that have studied this amendment, is that the history of self-defense goest back to debates 2000 years old with Aristotle and Plato, and later with Cicero. There have been those that believe that, even in Roman times and before, the government should be the only people with arms, and that the government should be the ones in charge of defending the people--that is, that the people have no right to defend themselves. The difference between the United States and the rest of the world is that our right to bear arms was explicitly stated in our Constitution. If one looks at the 9th and 10th Amendments, they state that individual rights, not specified in the first few amendments "shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people" and "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution...are reserved to the States respectively", these amendments have largely been forgotten and overcome with the continued (unlawful and unconstitutional) expansion of the federal government. Is there any doubt that had the 2nd Amendment not been explicit in its intent, that nobody in this country could own a gun? I think not.

As to the wording of the amendment: "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." There have been many debates, some of which I have been involved with personally, where it is typical that one person (or side of the debate) has absolutely no clue as to the history of the amendment. They will generally say something to the effect of: "It states clearly of a Militia", saying then that the National Guard typically fulfills the militia requirement. The problem with that argument is that it is completely false of any rational logic, and anyone that has done any serious study on this issue would have to agree completely. There are numerous references throughout the debates on the Constitution where the "militia" was understood to be the "people", typically males between 16 and 60 that could carry a weapon to use for the defense of their homeland. If one does some research they will find that all of the states had "militias" consisting of anyone and everyone that fit the description. Anyone who denies this is either ignorant of the facts, or a liar, or both.

I have friends who abhor guns, and wish that guns did not exist in the world. I respect their opinions, however foolish I believe them to be. Unfortunately, there are thousands like them that have never held a gun, much less fired a gun, and to whom guns are a source of fear. These are the people that promote gun bans for everyone except those people they hire to protect themselves (Rosie O'donnell comes to mind). It's funny--"nobody should have a gun unless they're here to protect me." Not, "everyone should be encouraged to learn about guns so that they can make an intelligent choice about protecting themselves and their families."

I'll continue this rant tomorrow... I realize it's getting a little long. In the mean time, if you have comments please feel free to post.

Ramasart