Right to bear arms
Here we are in the middle of the Fourth of July week. This is sort of the unofficial start of summer in the Flathead. If you were like most of us, this past weekend and coming week will be spent outdoors, camping, hiking, fishing, mountain bike riding, boating, swimming and kayaking.
I spent yesterday, the Fourth, at our lake cabin with family and friends. This included some fishing, eating hamburgers and potato salad, target shooting and just plain relaxing on the shore of “my” lake. Last week I was in Canada fishing. As usual, Canadian fishing was fantastic. But that is another story for another week.
We shot lots of fireworks from our dock. Seems like every lakeshore lot and cabin owner likes to help with the evening entertainment, so we all shoot a lot of fireworks. We don’t want to be outdone by our neighbors. I am always amazed at how the fireworks manufacturers can take common white explosive powder and make such a wide array of beautiful multi-colored aerial displays. Wow!
A very important part of every Fourth of July celebration is the need to remember what this day represents in the birth and history of our nation. We all need to appreciate the tremendous vision the gentlemen had who drafted the Constitution and its amendments. As a hunter and owner of several firearms, I really appreciate the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms. Of all the amendments to the Constitution, the right to bear arms seems to have generated more continuous controversy and media attention than most of the other amendments.
Many folks believe the Second Amendment was designed to protect the interest of hunters or for citizen self-protection from bad guys. Those are certainly worthy reasons for having firearms. But the primary drafter of our Constitution and its amendments was Thomas Jefferson. He is quoted as saying, “the primary purpose of the Second Amendment is to protect citizens from the tyranny of their governments.” Protection from their governments. Wow, that is certainly a different slant as the reason for having the Second Amendment!
In the last 90 years, tens of millions of common unarmed citizens in Europe, Asia and Africa have been murdered by their governments. These unarmed citizens had no way to protect themselves from their evil governments and their armed soldiers. That can’t happen in America with over 100 million armed civilians!
The current liberal mainstream news media has certainly sided with the anti-gun groups that want to reduce citizen rights to own firearms. Every time there is a mass shooting, which is defined as involving four or more people killed or wounded, there is media scream for more gun control. For some reason the shooting of four or five people seems to attract more news coverage than the 100-200 Americans who die every day in America from illegal drug overdoses. The loss of any citizen is indeed a tragedy. Drug deaths are the real current preventable tragedies in America, not gun deaths. FBI statistics show that more homicides are committed with knives than guns. Should we ban knives?
Lucky for us, the vast majority of law-abiding American gun owners, have been blessed with a conservative Supreme Court that has made several recent rulings protecting our constitutional right to bear arms. Their decisions in the Heller case (2008), McDonald case (2010) and the New York State Rifle and Pistol case (2022) have been favorable to gun ownership and possession. Twenty years ago, most states required a state or local government issued permit to open carry or conceal carry a handgun. Now the majority of states, including Montana, allow handgun carry without any permit. It’s our constitutional right.
As mentioned in the opening part of this column, last week our family was fishing in Canada. Since we drove to Canada, I had to store my handgun, which I normally carry when traveling, with a friend. Canada’s constitution does not have a strong right to firearms that allows its citizens or visitors to carry handguns.
So, as we continue to celebrate the birth of our country this week, let’s remember all rights and privileges we Americans have which are not enjoyed by most other citizens of this world. Lucky us. God bless the USA!