It was certainly ironic and fitting that a legislator who voted against allowing guns in a certain place should be shot by a gun in exactly that place. Yet that was the fate of Clementa Pinckney, state senator and pastor of the Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina. No matter how good and Christian a man Pastor Pinckney may have been, his vote to prohibit the carrying of firearms in churches was a violation of his oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
Why do people so blithely agree to give up the one civil liberty that guarantees all the others? Without the right to be armed, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, the right to privacy, the right to vote, are in jeopardy. Then slavery comes, and the worst abuses of power. Slavery in this country would have been impossible without ensuring that slaves remained unarmed. The first gun laws in this country were passed to prevent freed slaves from owning guns, right along with laws designed to prevent them from voting. North Korea would be impossible if the citizens there were armed.
I will not yield an inch to any government, to any populace in respect to these rights. It must be Liberty or Death, and every man and woman who loves liberty should rightly stand up and shout “Liberty or Death!”, proclaiming the terrible price that will be paid by those who attempt to restrict these rights. They are NOT negotiable, they are NOT to be the subject of legislation. They are NOT for sale at any price, and those who think they are must be stopped at any cost.
No one, no government, no majority has the right to disenfranchise humans of their natural rights.
The right to the defense of the integrity of one’s person by employing necessary force up to and including deadly force is a basic right of every human just as basic as their right to be free, to speak their mind, to practice their religion, to work, to own property, and all the other basic rights of man. This is why we fought a war to establish the republic.
Personally, I think there are still enough of us left who would be willing to fight again, if necessary. Has it become necessary?
I like your thoughts, Lou.
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