Sunday, June 28, 2015

Gun Control

A person's right to keep and bear arms for defense is rooted in English custom and in the common law.  The early English colonists brought to America their English habits and customs, one of which was the right to keep and bear arms.  Even within 25 years of the founding of Jamestown, the colonists were expected to bring their weapons to church and travel, and to be armed at all times.  The belief that the people should have the right to keep and bear arms was viced by many of our Founders.  Thomas Jefferson said, No free man shall be debarred the use of arms.  Richard Henry Lee said: To preserve the liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms. and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.  Alexander Hamilton: That army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens...who stand ready to defend their rights and those of their fellow-citizens.

The second Amendment protects the constitutional and legal right of individual citizens to own firearms.  Federal, state, or local legislation may require gun permits and the registration of firearms, but such laws may not infringe upon the right of citizens to keep and bear firearms.  However, many attempts have been made over the years to impose regulations on the ownership of weapons.  Many people, insisting that more "gun control" will decrease the incidence of violent crime, seek to ban handguns or, in some cases, all firearms.  However, when such laws impede the right of citizens to "life, liberty, and property" or violate their right to keep and bear arms, public safety is imperiled.  In 1992 when there were riots on Los Angeles, many law-abiding citizens wanted to buy a weapon to protect themselves and their property; however,when they went to purchase a gun they were forced to wait until all the regulations on their purchase could be fulfilled.

The answer to crime is not "gun control" but "people control".  If more criminals today were to receive sure and swift justice appropriate to the nature of their crimes, then crime would decrease because people would regain a healthy fear of punishment and respect for the authority of government.  Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil".  People will learn to control themselves and to respect law and order when they learn to respect the person and property of others.  And they will learn this respect only if the government show the same respect through its laws and its courts by rightly judging and punishing offenders.  No amount of gun legislation can curb the evil in men's hearts.  Jeremiah said that, "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked."  Men who are intent on doing evil will find a way to commit a crime.  Gun control only deprives law-abiding citizens of firearms for self-defense.

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