By Mark Benedict, Political Pundant / The American Rant Contributor
The NRA is routinely blamed after any incident where a criminal or mentally unstable person has used a firearm in an act of violence. These individuals who commit these violent acts are never NRA members. They have nothing to do with the NRA. NRA members are educated, trained, law-abiding citizens who use their firearms responsibly. They are not the thug, the robber, the drugged-out gang-banger on the corner. No, instead they are your neighbors, your co-workers, your family members, your friends. Your doctor or dentist may be a NRA member. People you conduct business with, whether a store owner, lawyer, service repair person or car mechanic could be NRA members. Military, ex-military, law enforcement or ex law enforcement professionals, fireman, all walks of life are card-carrying NRA members.
The NRA works to protect and defend our right to protect and defend ourselves, our property and our loved ones. They promotes firearm safety, and firearm training, and despite the strong support they have throughout the country, the media and liberal elitists attempt to tell us otherwise and work hard to blame the NRA for the violent acts perpetuated by criminals and mentally unfit individuals. An incessant knee jerk reaction instigated by people with an agenda. When you strip American’s of their ability to defend themselves from criminals, they strip us from our right to defend ourselves from the government. Throughout history, that spells danger.
Shifting blame and responsibility from individuals to an American institution with a history of well educated, well trained, law-abiding citizens is nonsensical. Attempting to disarm Americans of their firearms is illegal, and threatens to strip us from our to right to protect our families, our property, and our lives.
Those who oppose freedom and individual rights and plot to impose their made-up mob-rule agendas and turn them into new laws and regulations are going to have a hard time superseding what American’s believe is their God-given right to protect and defend.
We only need to look at the real statistics of legal gun ownership, to see the countless good that carrying and using firearms responsibly have accomplished. From stopping would-be criminals to saving lives, guns have protected Americans since it’s very beginnings. Had citizens been armed in other countries, they would have had the ability to protect themselves from governments with utopian promises of socialist or communist 'ideals', as flourishing countries were overrun with totalitarian leaders who subsequently pilfered, murdered, tortured, and starved their people. Tens of Millions. After years of suppression, some nations have broken free – just look at Germany, Russia or Poland for example. But others are not so fortunate. One need only look to Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea or China today to see that when we disarm citizens and hand over complete control to a government we hand over real freedom, freedom of the individual, and risk our way of life.
As long as we’re taking soundbites from the media instead of examining the real facts of gun-ownership, we’re going to have to battle an uniformed, false narrative. What’s more dangerous than a madman with a gun? Countrymen without guns.
Simply put— stripping citizens of their guns is a recipe for disaster. The US already has sound gun regulations that work. Registered NRA members have control of their guns. Shifting that control to a government can get out of control, fast. Historically, worldwide, it fails. Gun control doesn’t end well in countries that attempt to impose it. Even domestically, the highest crime rates, the highest violent hotspots are those cities with the tightest government gun control. The statistics are available and plain to see (check out Chicago and DC for starters).
Take Chicago. Please. Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws on the books, and has the highest murder rate. Conversely, states that abide by our Second Amendment right to bear arms, have lower crime and murder rates. It’s safe to say that nobody likes crime, but the solution isn’t to disarm law-abiding citizens who need to and have the right to protect themselves, but to pass laws that make it tougher for criminals to acquire guns, and enforce stricter consequences when they do.
Why exactly do celebrities and liberal politicians want to ban guns? When we hear them shouting from their soap-boxes working for the ‘greater-good’— look around, they’re surrounded by armed security. This hypocrisy isn’t just disgusting, it’s dangerous. And it tells us that there is an elite that plays by different rules. What they’re really saying is they have the right to protect and defend themselves, their families and their property, but we the people, don’t.
When anti-gun people propose to confiscate our guns, they would need guns to accomplish the task (play that scenario out in your head). When anti-gun people start taking our firearms away one-by-one, it’s only a matter of time until they take them all. An AR-15 rifle is scarcely different than any other rifle, but the initials in its name along with Hollywood bang-up movies mislead us into thinking it’s something it’s not. Its sleek ergonomics makes it look different, its cool name sounds different, but in reality, it operates exactly the same as, well, a riffle. Nor more deadly than most any other firearm.
Cars, trucks, bombs, box cutters, baseball bats, lead pipes, and pressure cookers have all been used to inflict carnage on society. No one's looking to ban these. Why not? If confiscating our guns is ‘the right thing to do’, then why not ban all items that can be used as weapons? Because the agenda isn't to stop crime, it's to government absolute control.
I was brought up with firearms. When I was a boy, getting a .22 rifle for Christmas was commonplace. Schools had gun clubs, target shooting clubs and gun safety training programs, high school students had rifles in the rifle rack in the back of their pick-up trucks. Department stores like Sears, Montgomery Ward and J.C. Penny’s sold guns. No one was running around shooting people, but statistics tell us, that when a criminal knows a person, a house, a truck is armed—they steer clear. That’s called crime control.
In recent times, it’s become increasing difficult to purchase a firearm. More forms, background checks, multiple visits to the local police station and courthouses for fingerprinting and interviews, training classes and higher fees, for starters. No matter the hoops, American’s will do what it takes to legally own firearms, and we’re not going to give up our God-given right to defend ourselves and our loved ones. Not without a fight.
To those who think they have more rights than everyone else, who believe they know what’s best for everyone else, who want to make decisions for everyone else and tell us what to believe and how to think' to those who base their decisions on naïve emotions instead of sound reasoning and facts—before you drone on about the evils of the NRA and march from door to door collecting our firearms, take a closer look at the countries who once shared your magical thinking (North Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Africa...), or just take a drive down to Chicago or Baltimore or most any highly-regulated, liberal-run state and check out the statistics. It won't be pretty. Bottom line— guns save lives.
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