OPINION: Liberty begins and ends with 2nd Amendment

In his instructive Oct. 20 letter to the editor, Mike Donohue shows that he is someone who understands the Second Amendment, and why our country’s fathers wrote it into the U.S. Constitution.

It reads, “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.” It means the U.S. government shall not in any way infringe upon the right of any U.S. citizen to keep and bear arms and to use them in defense of life and property. Without it, the other rights are only tissue paper, and will fall like dominoes.

Amid the continuing debacle of politicians wanting more and more “gun control” legislation, it may be illuminating to consider the attitude of the Obama administration toward the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which seems to have suddenly gained traction now that Mr. Obama allows Vladimir Putin unfettered attacks on the Syrian protesters.

Both Barack Obama and Secretary John Kerry attach some moral equivalence to the two sides, when it’s clear that the Palestinians are the aggressors and the Israelis are only defending themselves. Bringing this so-called “moral equivalence” to the issue of gun control, it would follow that this administration considers an otherwise law-abiding citizen who uses a gun in self-defense the moral equivalent of the thief or terrorist who attacked the citizen.

It’s the attitude “Politicians know best, and the people are too stupid to understand the intricacies of gun use.” Once this is established as the “PC” attitude toward the use of guns, we will lose all sense of right and wrong, and all gun ownership will be criminalized, even when the gun is used in self-defense.

It’s clear this administration has no respect for the rule of law, and in this writer’s opinion, the next year will be a spectacle of just how much evil this president can inflict on our liberty before he departs, and that’s only assuming he doesn’t issue an executive order declaring himself permanent president.    

Did this attitude start with Barack Obama? No way. We have a long line of administrations under which Washington has continued to exert more and more control, and Barack Obama is only the official poster child. We need more than just an outsider president. We need an awakening of the populace to take back the United States. We need to resist any and all attempts at gun control.

I have mailed and emailed my thoughts on this matter to Barack Obama, as well as to Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester. They may take my gun from my cold dead hands, but I’ll never surrender it while I live and breathe. As for the so-called mentally disturbed people who it’s argued should never be allowed to own a gun, what these people are doing is a commentary on a government that’s interested only in legalizing criminality and criminalizing decency, and as long as I can defend myself against the so-call “crazies,” they can have all the guns they want.

Mr. Obama and Mr. Tester and Mr. Daines, we have something called the U.S. Constitution, and it says you don’t tell me how to think or act, and more to the point, it says that if and when you try to do that, as you are most certainly trying to do to exploit me and every- one else, I don’t have to comply, and my refusal to comply is lawfully protected by the U.S. Constitution.

I understand the difference between legality and lawfulness. You’re counting on Americans not to know the difference, and there are too many of us who don’t, and you’re only too happy to exploit them for your own political gain. You’re all nothing but crooks.

Knutson is a resident of Dayton.