As referenced in my previous post, guns and the gun control laws surrounding them are as misunderstood as Ozzy Osborne. They mean no harm, even though they both look awfully scary.
Guns are tools just like anything else and it is important to keep this in mind when talking about them. Trouble begins when guns are put on a pedestal and the functions they are meant to serve are ignored. Firearms are intended for self-defense and hunting, yet the Left would have us believe a gun can possess the bearer and cause them to do crazy things.
Since its earliest days, the United States citizenry fully understood the importance of firearms. Instead of fighting the British with traditional military muskets, farmers used rifles. Rifles were for hunting squirrels, after all, and in the eyes of the settlers, the British were just as unwelcome – especially when a whole platoon of them took up in the attic. State constitutions had bills of rights guaranteeing firearms would not be confiscated by the government and people had the freedom and right to carry them. Before too long, the federal Constitution would have the Second Amendment, setting the stage for the next 200 years and the political battles fought over firearms.
So, if it was understood that people could freely bear arms, then why are we having this conversation today? Firearms developed along with society. The capabilities developed with each armed conflict in our nation’s history. The War of Northern Aggression saw the advent of the Gatling gun, the precursor to the modern day machine gun. Fast forward to 2013 – I have more firepower in my house than Washington’s infantry used at the Battle of Yorktown.
There is no doubt guns have evolved and government policy has evolved with them. In the 1920s, the government established rigorous anti-gun policies in larger cities such as New York and Chicago. Then in 1972, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was established, making the regulation of firearms a full-on bureaucratic war.
This would prove to be problematic for gun owners in America.
This post is second in a series which will illustrate how asinine American gun control laws are, and to illustrate the unique gun culture in America.
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