Conservative Tea Party Republican Against Guns

It is the middle of the day as you drive to the ATM for some cash. The drive back is typical and you find your favorite parking spot waiting for you. For a moment, you delay turning off your car as you listen to your favorite radio station. After exiting and locking the car your heart skips as the words, "give me your wallet and keys" ring out. You turn to see two armed professional thugs.

This is where the story hits a fork in the road.  Some of us hand over our keys and wallet, walk inside, call the police, and hope insurance and our work life accommodates the loss of our hard earned identity and property.  Some of us are not accepting of the role victim.

A wise man once said that discretion is the greater part of valor. Another wise man said that punching a bully in the nose is the best solution. A group of very wise men wrote, "The right to bare arms shall not be infringed." So who is correct?

Civilization is based upon safety and security. You cannot have freedom in an insecure environment, but police do not carry guns to prevent crime or eliminate criminals. Police carry guns to defend themselves when dealing with dangerous situations and people.

Conservatives often point to the intimidating effect of the police state but take comfort that others are intimidated from committing crime. However, when it comes down to individual acts of crime and violence the state is not there to prevent the citizen from harm. The government enforces laws through the threat of force generally based upon incarceration as punishment after the fact.

An omnipresent state with the capability to prevent each act of crime is a cure more deadly than the disease.  Naturally, the right to self preservation is fundamental to a free person. Any society that does not guarantee the individual right to self preservation is one that views citizens as a renewable, expendable slave resource. The only reasonable solution in a free society is self-reliant citizens who are capable of protecting themselves.

In many American locations, including New York and California, citizens' right to self preservation is effectively removed. Aside from police agents, citizens cannot legally carry hand guns whether concealed or in the open. Inexpensive, concealable weapons are disparagingly called "Saturday night specials" and are further restricted. While police agents are in danger more frequently than the general public, we all live in the same dangerous world.

"Governments are instituted...deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed." The state cannot gain powers that the people do not have to give, in theory. Our founding declaration specifies that Americans are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." That government denies the basic right to life via self-defense and preservation to its citizen masters but grant such privilege to its own agents is antithetical to the American idea.

Therefore, to return to our story; when faced with mortal danger, it is our individual conscience, not the decision of government bureaucrats upon which we should and must rely. To be denied the ability to confront criminal force with righteous force in preservation of one's life and property is unjust. If we, as lawful citizens, are denied arms then the state must also be denied arms as they derive their rights from ours.

Post Script

Such elementary notions being violated in American society leads me to a shocking conclusion. From Saudi money backing American and Canadian environmentalists to foreign internet contributions funding the 2008 Obama campaign to the fact that the largest group of converts to Islam in the Western world are US blacks to American public education through the Tides Foundation; the American idea is under direct assault from within. The blindness of our naive liberal media and infiltration of foreign interests are destroying the American idea and consequently destroying the future of human freedom.  Gun rights are key to a free people. That any American opposes the right to self preservation is proof that the liberal idea ultimately results in people selling their souls due to the lack of a moral compass and selfish disregard for everyone around them including their own progeny.