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Disarming thePopulace --      Proceeds Apace

by Brian Knowles

The Right to Bear Arms is a right poorly – if at all -- recognized by the political Left. The current leftist Administration has been pursuing since its inception an agenda to incrementally disarm the populace. A disarmed populace is a helpless populace, one easily controlled by an authoritarian government. Virtually every abuse of guns that occurs in this country is used as leverage to pursue the de-arming agenda. In April, a headline in the Los Angeles Times read, "Counting on Outrage, Clinton to Push Gun Bill" (April 27, 1999). How often in our time have we seen politicians turn grief and outrage into opportunity.

We have learned from both Waco and Ruby Ridge that when the power of the U.S. government is turned against the populace the populace loses -- even when it is well-armed, as were the Branch Davidians. When completely disarmed, it would be no contest, as in the example of the Kosovars vs. Milosovic.

Today, in the United States, Big Government is burgeoning out of control. Not only has the tax bite been growing ever larger to support this rapacious monster, Government itself is becoming ever more pervasive in the life of every citizen. As the populace – especially its minorities -- becomes, little by little, more neurotically dependent upon Big Brother to provide for it, Big Brother tightens his grip on the populace. Washington’s lawmakers, I’m told, are adding some 1000 new laws to the books every week.

When an outrage such as the one that recently happened in Colorado occurs, it is natural to cast about for someone, or something, to blame. In the heat of emotion, guns, themselves inanimate objects, are an easy target. In the rush to judgment, many Americans may be losing sight of larger issues – like the loss of freedom itself.

The Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, ratified December 15, 1791, states, "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."

As J. R. Labbe pointed out in The Houston Chronicle, July 2, 1998, "The Second Amendment reaches beyond the guarantee of an individual’s right to protect hearth and home. It is the guarantee of an individual’s right to protection from a tyrannical government."

The gun control movement is fueled by emotion, not reason. When something like what happened in Colorado happens, just about everyone, and everything, but the culpable party, is blamed. That’s indicative of the fact that we have also lost sight of the whole idea of genuine culpability. Instead we blame culture, movies, Hostess Twinkies, rock stars, gun makers, gun sellers, the National Rifle Association, Charlton Heston and parents – everyone but the person who pulled the trigger on the inanimate gun.

What it amounts to is the politicization of sin, crime and evil in the name of agenda.

What do we need to do about it? Several things suggest themselves.

First, we need to return to the idea of cause & effect. If we would trace effects to their actual, instead of politically correct, causes, we would have a better idea of how to implement appropriate solutions.

Secondly, we need to make common sense common again. Guns don’t kill people, people do. Besides, in the Colorado incident, the biggest potential threat was not the use of guns but of homemade bombs, which the killers learned how to make via the Web. Had their plan been successful, these "trench coat killers" would have murdered with bombs the entire population of Columbine High.

Thirdly, we need to regain a sense of genuine culpability. Those responsible for committing crimes – that is, those whom, of their own free will, chose to commit them – ought to be punished appropriately for what they have done.

Fourthly, we ought to view the forest as a whole rather than zeroing in on a tree here and there. The big danger in disarming the populace, no matter what is the official justification, is the loss of freedom and the threat of totalitarianism. Authoritarian governments love to have docile, passive, controllable populations that can’t fight back. If we lose our fear of big authoritarian government, we shall have lost everything.

A lesser, but still significant, danger is that when the population is disarmed, it’s only the criminals and the Government that are armed. (Criminals will always find ways to get guns and other weapons.) Meantime, we the people are rendered defenseless against both potentially deadly entities. The United States was founded upon the notion, among other things, that government can’t be trusted. That’s why we have so many checks and balances against the abuse of power. In our time however, even those are breaking down. The power of the people is waning, while the power of government is waxing ever larger and more ominous. We are now seeing government agencies used to spike perceived political enemies, including politically active churches and denominations that speak out against the lack of morality and ethics in government.

As the shadow of Big Brother Government looms ever larger across the political landscape, we are losing piecemeal the freedoms for which our forefathers fought and died: speech, religion, privacy, the right to bear arms, and the right not to suffer illegal search and seizure. While swearing to uphold the Constitution, some politicians are behaving as though it did not exist. At the same time, some liberal courts are interpreting it virtually out of practical existence.

If the American populace is not at some point aroused as to what is happening to it, it may end up like the frog in the pot – cooked to a turn.