Second Amendment Exceptionalism
by Drew Beatty
In America around dinner tables, hunting cabins and on blogs like this one, we talk about firearms. If you are anything like me — and you probably are if you’re reading articles on this site — firearms, ammunition, hunting, calibers and cartridges, gun handling tactics and techniques, and target practice are a regular part of life. We hardly think it’s exceptional, but it is very special and unique that we have the option of living as we do.
I was thinking about how exceptional the Second Amendment is in history. Look at the many unstable nations around the world that are run by savages who can out-savage all the other savages and rise to be the top savage. Look at the “civilized” nations — Australia for example — that forbid their citizens the private ownership and/or use of arms, and even go so far as to regulate pocket knives. Look at them, and compare them to the United States. Where would you rather be?
Savage nations run by tyrants historically have not trusted citizens with firearms. The reason for that is simple: individualism and self-determination aren’t important in these countries. Survival of the tyrant and the retention of his power are what’s important. And the main threat to a tyrant is if the people he’s tyrannizing get fed up with it and push back.
The founders of this country surveyed the brutish and murderous history of past civilizations and determined that, in order for a civilization to survive, that is based on the liberty and self-determination of the individual, the people must — MUST — have security in the one true, fundamental thing that they possess: their lives. From that extends everything else they have now or ever will have: their families, their personal property, their liberty, their future and their future safety, and the security and prosperity of their progeny. And to have this fundamental security, they must have the ability to protect themselves from those who would impose their will upon them, including their own government. They must be, as free individuals, armed.
The Second Amendment to the US Constitution says:
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.
Of course, not all US citizens think as we do. They see the Second Amendment as an anachronism of colonial times that has been long rendered useless. They portray advocates of armed self-defense as extremists, or worse. Some even call for abolishing the Second Amendment altogether. Because of attacks on the right to keep and bear arms, fraternal organizations have been created. Also, because of the potential for grave legal consequences in even a justified use of deadly force, protective organizations like Second Call Defense have been formed to give firearms owners, who lawfully exercise their Second Amendment right to self-defense, important protections to safeguard their future and the future of their family.
The Second Amendment is truly exceptional. We must protect it and defend it against those who would presume to know better and restrict it or take it away. We must communicate the value of it to the uninformed. We should study its origins. Most of all, exercise it, and protect yourself for doing so with the legal protection offered by Second Call Defense. Without the Second Amendment, this nation would dissolve into just another of the many tyrannies that came before it. The countries the Founders studied when researching what not to do when creating a nation.
Drew Beatty is a 50 year old husband and father, and a lifetime resident of the great state of Colorado. He is a long-time firearms enthusiast as well as a strong advocate for The Second Amendment.
