Gun Control and the Second Amendment

By Shane Van Cleve

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Gun control... although it hasn't been the most recent issue being dealt with, it has come up several times this year. Our country was founded on principles in which the founders believed in. They studied the history of other countries and what worked and what didn't. They especially studied the country of Switzerland, which we will talk about in a minute. Gun control is clearly stated in the Constitution of the United States as wrong.

But as soon as a shooting occurs what happens? Everyone wants gun control! People think that if we just had gun control, all our problems would go out the door. This isn't the case. In fact our problems may get worse. The evidence shows that places that have gun control much more crime than places without gun control.

Let's take a look at Switzerland. Every citizen of Switzerland is required to own a readied gun. They are required to be ready at any time to be able to fight for their country. Because of this, the crime rate in Switzerland is drastically lower than many of the surrounding countries. On top of that you may notice that Switzerland has not been in any war for over a century. It avoided both World War 1 and World War 2. At one point during World War 2, Hitler had completely surrounded Switzerland but not once did he try to invade. He knew that they were not easy targets. Why? Because the whole population was armed and ready.

The founders studied Switzerland. In their writings you will find that they talk about Switzerland quite often. I believe the Second Amendment was highly influenced by the founder's study of the Swiss.

Yes, someone can kill a lot of people with a gun. But what about a car? How many people can you kill with a car? Since cars kill millions of people every year should we outlaw them?

If we outlaw guns, then the murderer is still going to get around it. Maybe he will drive his car through the market place, or maybe make a homemade bomb. Perhaps he will get a gun illegally. Then we "law-abiders" are going to be helpless. You see, laws don't necessarily make things better. In fact they can make things drastically worse.

Here are some quotes from the founding father's about gun control:

"Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defence? Where is the difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defence be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?" ~Patrick Henry

"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." ~James Madison

"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed."

~Alexander Hamilton

"That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United states who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms... " ~ Samuel Adams

Our founding fathers believe that the country should be armed especially in case of invasion. Also they thought guns were more secure in the hands of the people than in the hands of the government. Let's look at a quote from Hitler:

"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so." ~ Adolph Hitler

See, even Hitler knew what gun control could do. It transfers the power from the people to the government. Then the government has the advantage. They have the power. They could do anything they wanted with us.

Let us not make the mistake of enforcing gun control. Let us fight for our rights. And Let Freedom Ring!