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Gun Ownership

The Second Amendment is clear that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.  I share the beliefs of our founders that in a free society each citizen has the right to defend themselves and their families.  I am opposed to any governmental restrictions or regulations on the ownership of firearms.

There are many fallacious beliefs about gun ownership, such as "it's a collective right", or "it's meant to protect the sporting use of guns."  Given the environment in which the Second Amendment was drafted, both of these arguments are absurd.  In the 18th century at the birth of our country, we had just completed a bloody battle for our freedom against the British Empire.  The battle was won not by colonial armies, but by armed citizens.  The founders knew well that the only way to prevent government from descending into tyranny was to make sure that an armed citizenry existed.

Throughout modern history, such as Germany in the 1930s, the first action taken by to-be dictators was to disarm the citizenry by introducing restrictions on gun ownership.  To keep our government in check, we must protect our right to gun ownership by opposing all governmental restrictions (including licensing and taxation, among other things) on the right to keep and bear arms.