The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent affirmation of the “Right of the People” to bear arms was long overdue. Our U. S. Constitution was written to guarantee that the civil rights we have would not be abridged by any government entity. After the lessons learned from the tyrannical rule of the British and the resultant Revolutionary War, the last thing our forefathers wanted was a government that could remove our rights with the stroke of a pen.

Our Constitution is so important that all our elected officials and all our military and police forces take an oath, before God and country, to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. This is where things go awry. In the D.C. example, the government decided to deny the civil right of self-defense. Maybe these officials had their fingers crossed when they took their oaths of office. This oath does not expire when they leave office; it is an oath for life. How can the people of the United States trust any politician who would violate this basic oath of office?
We may be too far removed from the horrors of World War II, but we need only look at Bosnia, Tibet, Darfur and other spots around the world to see that genocide begins with gun control. If you haven’t noted the United Nations’ efforts at removing all arms from private citizens world wide, it is time to pay attention. The twisted up handgun in front of the U.N. Building should be a clue. The Second Amendment covers our right to defend our country as well as ourselves. Gun control denies the tools we need to do it.

This ruling is being viewed by some as only a ruling on “reasonableness.” Any gun law that denies access and/or use of arms by any honest citizen is unreasonable and violates the Constitution. Ammunition is part of any firearm. Bullet bans, high taxes on arms, waiting periods, processing fees, limitations on the number of arms purchased, magazine restrictions, restrictions based on mechanical actions, all violate the Second Amendment.

All forms of gun registration at any level of government violate the Constitution. (A federal law to protect firearm owners was passed during the Reagan administration forbidding registration).

So-called reasonable laws already deny criminals, those judged mentally incompetent, those dishonorably discharged from the military and most non-citizens from purchasing arms. But a criminal, by definition, is one who does not obey the law. A gun law that denies an honest citizen the right to defend against these criminals just creates more victims.

There is still much work to be done. The 2004 terrorist attack on a school in Beslan, Russia, showed us we must find a better way to defend our school children from all threats. One of our former sheriffs often said, “The wolf does not hunt where the sheep are armed.”

The Second Amendment was worded so as to not exclude modern weapons and ammunition. Just as the First Amendment does not limit the news media to only quill pens, an offset press, and horse and buggy delivery, advances in the development of arms are not limited in the Second Amendment.

There is a lot of good in the world but there is also great evil. Given the least opportunity, any government will erode civil rights to make its people more dependent on it. This is the start of enslavement. They is why we have our Constitution.

Even beyond the face value of restoring our Second Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court showed a renewal of individual rights: “the Right of the people.” This is an important precedent when other individual rights issues come before the Court.

Harold Jerue is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.

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