Ben Thompson
Firearms everywhere
By Ben Thompson
President George Washington declared that our right to keep and bear arms is second in importance only to the Constitution itself.
"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference — they [firearms] deserve a place of honor with all that is good." —George Washington.
Why were our Founding Fathers so adamant about our 2nd Amendment rights? What did their real life experiences and their knowledge of history teach them in this regard?
"The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." —Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 (C.J.Boyd, Ed., 1950).
History and first hand experiences taught our Founders and colonists about how real government tyranny can be.
Their ancestors left England because of religious persecution. English kings made the Church of England the state religion and anyone who disagreed openly was punished.
In 1612 Edward Wightman was the last English citizen to be burned at the stake for his religious convictions. So gruesome was the torture and widespread the negative reaction to this event that English kings and clergymen no longer dared punish dissenters publicly.
Later, when King George tried to thrust his will upon the American colonies, through general tyranny and taxation, and enforced it by military action, patriotic Americans reluctantly, but firmly, rebelled.
If Americans had not owned their own personal firearms such a rebellion would have been impossible.
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms..." —Richard Henry Lee, 1788, Member of the First U.S. Senate.
In order to protect our nation's 1st Amendment rights it was necessary to establish the 2nd Amendment.
The same principle holds true today, especially in an age of terrorism, when the government is seriously abridging some of our basic rights, in the name of protecting us.
We have the right to protect ourselves. No circumstances, no matter how serious, give government the right to curtail our right to keep and bear arms. "That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms..."
The government has the basic responsibility, not only to protect us from physical harm, but to protect each and every one of our God-given rights.
Law abiding Americans have the inalienable right to be armed at all times and in all places. Modern elitists, through unduly influencing those in power, do not have the right to limit or destroy this basic right of self-protection.
Ultimately, however, it is the responsibility of We the People to maintain our basic rights by wise use of the ballot.
© Ben Thompson
President George Washington declared that our right to keep and bear arms is second in importance only to the Constitution itself.
"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference — they [firearms] deserve a place of honor with all that is good." —George Washington.
Why were our Founding Fathers so adamant about our 2nd Amendment rights? What did their real life experiences and their knowledge of history teach them in this regard?
"The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." —Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 (C.J.Boyd, Ed., 1950).
History and first hand experiences taught our Founders and colonists about how real government tyranny can be.
Their ancestors left England because of religious persecution. English kings made the Church of England the state religion and anyone who disagreed openly was punished.
In 1612 Edward Wightman was the last English citizen to be burned at the stake for his religious convictions. So gruesome was the torture and widespread the negative reaction to this event that English kings and clergymen no longer dared punish dissenters publicly.
Later, when King George tried to thrust his will upon the American colonies, through general tyranny and taxation, and enforced it by military action, patriotic Americans reluctantly, but firmly, rebelled.
If Americans had not owned their own personal firearms such a rebellion would have been impossible.
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms..." —Richard Henry Lee, 1788, Member of the First U.S. Senate.
In order to protect our nation's 1st Amendment rights it was necessary to establish the 2nd Amendment.
The same principle holds true today, especially in an age of terrorism, when the government is seriously abridging some of our basic rights, in the name of protecting us.
We have the right to protect ourselves. No circumstances, no matter how serious, give government the right to curtail our right to keep and bear arms. "That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms..."
The government has the basic responsibility, not only to protect us from physical harm, but to protect each and every one of our God-given rights.
Law abiding Americans have the inalienable right to be armed at all times and in all places. Modern elitists, through unduly influencing those in power, do not have the right to limit or destroy this basic right of self-protection.
Ultimately, however, it is the responsibility of We the People to maintain our basic rights by wise use of the ballot.
© Ben Thompson
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