We Are Not Australia: Gun Control

I’ve heard lots of arguments for controlling guns and for doing away with them altogether. It’s the same old stuff and they seem to quote each other. They also find a study they like, that fits in with whichever side of the argument you are on, and they quote that study. One such argument is all about Australia. Let’s look a little at Australia. They became a nation sometime in 1901. But actually, laws still went through Britain. Most Australian’s did not know this at the time but it was this way. Links between Australia and Britain were finally broken, not by a referendum but by legislation passed by the state, commonwealth and British parliaments on March 3, 1986. How is that important you ask? It’s extremely important! What struggle did the Aussies have to become a free and sovereign country? They had to fight with politicians. Australia’s Constitution was approved by The Queen in 1900 because Australia was a Commonwealth of the crown. Can you imagine the Continental Congress sending our Constitution to British Parliament to be approved? The Declaration Of Independence states that the British way of doing things was not acceptable. This declaration was telling them there was a new Sherriff in town. And his name is “Republic”. They had about 23 grievances that they tried to resolve in many ways. Finally they broke it all off and told them they were leaving the crown. The end of the last line is what makes this declaration and the Constitution so important: “…we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” These 56 Declaration signers were serious about being independent. Australia was still being ruled by Britain and really didn’t even know it! Now this is nothing against the Australian people. They have been our friend and ally for many years. I’m not up on my Australian history but it doesn’t look like much of a struggle to become free. In fact, they maintained ties with England until 1986! For 6 long years the United States took up arms to fight for their freedom. They did not want ties to England, they wanted their freedom and they gave their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Even after the British ended hostilities with the U.S. it took 4 years to debate, draft, and ratify our Constitution. I mean no disrespect to Australia, but there is a difference between how our countries came to be. The U.S. fought with guns. Guns made the difference and the founders knew this. I don’t care what anyone says about the intent of the 2nd amendment. The only reason we are a country today is because of the possession of guns. The British would still be running our lives if it were not for guns. People scoff at the idea of the founders feeling the importance of private gun ownership. I don’t know any other way of saying this but, are you stupid? The only reason we have freedom from tyranny is because ordinary citizens took up arms. There was no army, but ordinary citizens with their own private guns. Eventually there was an organized army, but without those privately owned guns, none of this would have happened. I know, there will be someone who disputes that statement. They would be dead wrong. And it’s OK. They can believe that way, but I know it to be true. Australian turned in about 640,000 guns in the buy-back by the government at full market value. How do you do that with 300 million guns in the U.S.? http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-28/australia-has-more-guns-than-before-port-arthur-massacre/7366360 Even Australians are dubious about how their law has helped the country. Law makers there want more gun control. That will ever be the problem. Lawmakers will always want more, and more, and more. There has been no mass shootings since 1996. That is good. I’m afraid of what will happen when there is another. I hope there is not, but I think there will be. It is foolish to believe that Americans who have been taught that independence of their ancestors was by force of gun would willingly give up their privately owned guns. The last time somebody tried mass gun confiscation here was on April 19, 1775, at Lexington and Concord. That didn’t end well for the government. Until we understand our history and how that history shaped and shapes our society we will argue over this point. There are those that will try to change that history and give it their own “agenda spin”. It really doesn’t change the truth. Although, as Joseph Goebbels was fond of saying, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” We are not Australia. We gave dearly for the rights we have and no amount of spin will change that. We believe guns have made us different because we can’t be controlled. There are others that don’t believe that and think we SHOULD be controlled. They are those who think they know best for one reason or another. Guns change everything. I do not advocate violence. Nor do I advocate being controlled, dictated to, or general liberties that can be lost without the threat of violence. I wish we could have and keep our liberties without violence. But men, being what they are, will not allow that. Here are a few quotes that our founders gave about guns. Some will dispute these too! "A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined..." - George Washington, First Annual Address, to both House of Congress, January 8, 1790 "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776 "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787 "What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787 "The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to to John Cartwright, 5 June 1824 "On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 12 June 1823 "I enclose you a list of the killed, wounded, and captives of the enemy from the commencement of hostilities at Lexington in April, 1775, until November, 1777, since which there has been no event of any consequence ... I think that upon the whole it has been about one half the number lost by them, in some instances more, but in others less. This difference is ascribed to our superiority in taking aim when we fire; every soldier in our army having been intimate with his gun from his infancy." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Giovanni Fabbroni, June 8, 1778 “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 "To disarm the people...[i]s the most effectual way to enslave them." - George Mason, referencing advice given to the British Parliament by Pennsylvania governor Sir William Keith, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adooption of the Federal Constitution, June 14, 1788 "I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers." - George Mason, Address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 4, 1788 "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops." - Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787 "Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of." - James Madison, Federalist No. 46, January 29, 1788 "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country." - James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434, June 8, 1789 "...the ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone..." - James Madison, Federalist No. 46, January 29, 1788 "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." - William Pitt (the Younger), Speech in the House of Commons, November 18, 1783 Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn