There are a number of laws that gun owners should oppose. The notion of further banning guns would be laughable if it was not so un-Constitutional. Certainly, with a lobotomized anti-gunner like Pelosi back in power, we can expect a renewal attempt of the Clinton gun restrictions that did nothing to deter crime and everything to slow the firearm economy. Additionally, further restrictions are only in the nature of the left to bring about.
The left sees firearms as unnecessary to personal defense. In fact, it would be awfully strange and indeed difficult for the liberals in control of Congress to ignore their natural calling to ending freedom.
But there is more to defending the Second Amendment than opposing the steady watershed of liberalism eroding freedom. There are laws and ideas that should be brought about on a national level and need the support of all self-defending Americans in order to be pushed through. It may seem unrealistic to expect to get laws pushed through a liberal Congress but piping down is not the way to support freedom. Keeping quiet is not the American way. The founders desired Americans to stand behind what they know to be right. Here are a few examples of things for which American conservatives should push.
Castle Doctrine law has been enacted in many states as a law protecting people who use force to keep themselves from being victims of crime. Though the exact definition of Castle Doctrine varies from state to state, the general premise of the law covers the right to stand your ground. That is to say, wherever you are legally allowed to be, you have the right to defend yourself and are not required to flee. This law is crucial to self-preservation and though that phrase appears in many documents important to this country, prosecutors in our courts have redefined self-preservation to be a good set of running shoes. Support Castle Doctrine laws in your state and advocate for national laws furthering the rights of people before becoming victims.
Concealed carry is the best way to keep citizens safe. The Supreme Court found in Castle Rock V. Jessica Gonzales that there is no right to have police protection. What this means is that you as a private citizen are responsible for your own protection and the protection of your family. Ultimately, the police though not responsible will try to help protect you if they can but the average police presence in an area at a given time is normally nil. There are not enough police officers to be bodyguards for us all. The majority of criminals will not have the gall to try to mug or rape someone who might be armed. Personal protection must be able to outmatch the attacker and no other weapon than a gun is more effective while still being controllable and useable by sizes of people. Currently, only two states out and out do not have any concealed carry allowed (Michigan and Illinois) but many states make it a veritable crapshoot trying to get a license. Certainly, licenses should not be mailed out arbitrarily but states like the obviously leftist California and New York keep all but the select few from managing to get through the process. Support concealed carry and keep criminals from having any safe haven in which crime can be committed without any fear.
Project Exile is the name of an experimental project that cleaned up Richmond, Virginia’s crime rate turning that city around in under two years. Essentially, the law mandates harsh punishment for criminal violations with firearms. For instance, if a criminal is found with a gun, the crimes are taken into federal court and a minimum of five years is dished out for the gun crime alone. Largely, criminals understand the gravity of converting their crimes from local or state to federal. Many lawbreakers in Richmond are no longer willing to carry a gun much less use it. The murder rate since the enacting of Project Exile has been cut by far more than half. There is no better way to stifle the black market that supplies guns to criminals who are not legally allowed to buy them than to provide the harshest of no-tolerance punishment for breaking those laws. Along with Project Exile, citizens should support laws that create hefty minimum sentences for illegally trafficking a gun or guns. Our control over the legal commerce of guns is quite enough already, it is about time we start getting serious about enforcing against those who engage in illegal weapons commerce.
Mandatory gun ownership laws may seem radical to some but in terms of crime deterrent nothing has been more effective. The most notable town with a mandate that each household own a gun is Kennesaw, Georgia. According to FBI statistics, the town has seen an 89% decrease in the amount of crime since the passing of the law. The simple fact is that a burglar will not break into a house where a shotgun is ready to be charged. After all, why should a criminal try to make a dishonest buck in Kennesaw where he can get gunned down when he could simply head on over to Chattanooga and have a much better chance of living and escaping the authorities? Additionally, it should be noted that the founding fathers never imagined a time when there would be residences without guns. Guns were a necessity of existence for nearly ever household simply by the nature of life when the Second Amendment was penned. Nowadays, a gun-owning household is few and far between, though the threat of crime is only moderately diminished. Since the courts have found over and over (Castle Rock V. Gonzales, South V. Maryland, Bowers V. DeVito) that there is no responsibility of the police to provide your protection by the Fourteenth Amendment and the Second Amendment provides you the right to have weapons, it is only your responsibility to keep your home safe. The mandating of gun-ownership on a town by town basis is perhaps the best way for a city of people to cry out and stand against criminals.
Finally, one must realize that the laws of America supersede the laws of other nations and the United Nations. In recent years, judicial cases have been decided on foreign law. We must not allow such pollution of our courts to continue or to spread to other branches of government. Should the Congress and the President at any given time, whoever they may be, decide so, treaties from the United Nations can be signed into law. What should be frightening to all Americans is that the Congress has the power to overthrow all our history and our rights and our laws, simply by ignoring the people (which they already do) and by voting a super-majority. Our Constitution was set up by our wise ancestors that any law can be created changed or destroyed (even laws in the Constitution) if it is so deemed by the people as wrong. Yet when has the government done the will of the people?
Indeed, last year the United Nations held an anti-gun summit in New York City where ‘ideals’ such as the destruction of our vulnerable Second Amendment were discussed and schemed. Just a few short weeks ago (December 5th, 2006) Senators from this very nation wrote Secretary of State Rice a letter pushing to have America take part in a global arms enforcement treaty. The treaty is meant to keep “lax” laws from “undermining” the laws of other less free nations. Ultimately, this is would amount to the creation of world rule over your Second Amendment rights. According to the United Nations, you have no right to self defense and it is “immoral” for you to own a gun. Look at Darfur. See the carnage in Bosnia. See how well the United Nations managed to protect innocent people in Rwanda. See the turmoil in Somalia. The UN regards the American Second Amendment right to firearms to be a threat to the world. They mean to strip our Constitution of laws that WE, not they, WE wrote for OURSELVES.
So I conclude with an argument that all Americans support laws that will regard the signing of treaties may not overrule previous laws and/or rights as set out in our Constitution and Bill of Rights as well as all the other wealth of laws we maintain. Part of the foundation of our freedom is the sovereignty of our nation. Isolation in a legislative sense is the best course of action. Let the world have its United Nations tell them what sort of socialist to be. Let America continue to be shining beacon of freedom in the world.
Source pages to find information about these topics:
http://www.nraila.org/media/PDFs/un_small_arms1205.pdf
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,162325,00.html
http://www.allsafedefense.com/news/CopsDontProtect.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennesaw,_Georgia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Doctrine
