The news has been filled with reports on the pros and cons of the Supreme Court decision regarding District of Columbia v. Heller which effectively lifted the handgun ban in place in our nation's capitol for over 30 years. The gun control advocates and their political allies have predicted dire consequences of allowing honest citizens to own handguns for self defense. It would appear from their arguments that everyone would be safer if only criminals or government officials were in procession of firearms. In many cases I realize that the two previous classes of people are the identical, except for the scope of their crimes.
Countless times in history when a government would disarm a group of people it was purely for the purpose of eliminating their ability to resist. Be it to resist their forced removal from their homes, i.e., the Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears; or be it to maintain control of former slaves, i.e., The U.S. Supreme Court's Dred Scott Decision. Possibly to simply control the political agenda of a country or part of it, i.e., the Jim Crow laws in place in the South from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In fact, Secretary of State Rice remembers well the dangers of firearms registration, her father, Reverend Rice, armed himself and kept guard over their house, if gun registration had been mandatory, her father's weapons would have been confiscated, leaving them defenseless against Ku Klux Klan nightriders.
And in "open minded" California, the state legislature passed very restrictive gun control laws in response to the Black Panther Party for Self Defense legally carrying theirmeans of self defense openly (the Mulford Act signed by Gov. Ronald Reagan). “We really must force these people to rely on the same police who abuse them for "protection".” In fact statistics show that 74.1 million civilians were killed by their own governments in the 20th century alone.
Here are some reality checks from our first president, George Washington:
“Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”
“The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good.”
“When firearms go, all goes. We need them every hour.”
