By William Haupt III | The Center Square contributor
Gov. Bill Lee, flanked by House Majority Leader
William Lamberth, signs legislation into law Thursday, April 8, 2021, allowing
for carrying a handgun without a permit in Tennessee. - Twitter / Gov. Bill Lee
“Where you have the most armed citizens in America, you
have the lowest violent crime rate. Where you have the worst gun control, you
have the highest crime rate.”
– Ted Nugent
The carrying of concealed firearms in America dates back
to the first English settlements. In 1622, “300 short pistols” were delivered
to Jamestown Colony. The carrying of concealed firearms was accepted practice
in the colonies. Most all 18th century civilians carried weapons on their
person. Both men and women utilized creatively styled “pouches” for concealing
the "pistols" they carried.
The frontiersmen began the tradition of “holstering”
weapons for easy access. The colorful fables of outlaws, bandits, and frontier
gunmen fill the archives of the American west. Ranchers, tradesmen, farmers and
laborers had a necessity to have access to their guns. They were tools for
them. Shop keepers, merchants and professional businessmen concealed their
pistols or relied on long rifles.
It was not until the late 18th century that states started limiting the carrying of pistols. In the West towns of Tombstone, Arizona, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Cody, Wyoming, and cattle towns, such as Dodge City, Abilene, and Deadwood, there were ordinances to “check” all handguns in at the local sheriff’s office if they wanted to enter the town.
“Never run a bluff with a six-gun.” – Bat Masterson (Getty Image)
By 1865 after the U.S. Civil War, laws were passed to
keep former slaves from acquiring firearms. It was not until Prohibition,
between 1920 and 1934, we witnessed a vast increase in federal and state gun
control laws. Since the mid-1900s, very few states permitted open carry without
a permit.
In 1903, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled in favor of the
state in State v. Rosenthal, that a Rutland ordinance requiring people to
obtain permission to carry weapons “violated the Constitution and the state
laws." Thusly, Vermont became the first permit-less carry state in this
nation. A century later, Alaska became the second state to legalize what it
called “Vermont carry.” And in April 2010 when Arizona passed a law called “constitutional
carry,” it became the catchphrase for all state gun laws.
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in District of
Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment confers the right for all citizens
to own guns. But Heller didn’t address whether that right stops at your front
door. So “carrying firearms in public” became the focus of debate for gun
control advocates at the state level. This has been both a blessing and a curse
for those hoping to dismantle the Second Amendment.
When President Barrack Obama paid little attention to the
Heller decision and continued to try and pass strict gun control laws, the
states reacted. Since the Court ruled in favor of states controlling the
carrying of handguns, states seeking protection from federal overreach started
reviewing and rewriting their handgun laws. And today, “constitutional carry”
is a rallying cry for gun owners around the U.S.
“My gun control policy is, if there's a gun around, I
want to be in control of it.”
– Clint Eastwood
The left has led the charge to destroy the Second
Amendment since FDR was in office. The further they move toward socialism, the
more obsessed they have become with gun control. Since the 2012 Sandy Hook
massacre in Connecticut, they have gone ballistic. A total of 13
Democratic-controlled states have passed restrictive gun laws for gun owners
while 14 Republican-controlled states have passed permit-less carry, or
“constitutional carry” laws, allowing every citizen to carry a hand gun.
A new study from Penn Medicine revealed that gun-related
homicide rates in states with strict gun laws have increased since citizens in
those states are likely to obtain illegal guns. They found that stricter gun
laws might decrease firearm fatalities, but there is no evidence they affect
the rate of homicides. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence ranked Illinois
No. 8 in America for the most strict gun control laws. Yet Chicago crime
statistics show shootings and murders up 50% in 2020.
According to a recent Pew Research Center poll,
protection tops the list of reasons for owning a firearm. Furthermore, 74% of
gun owners believe that owning a firearm is tied to their sense of personal
freedom. So why then do progressives continue to assault our Second amendment
rights, when the primary reason for owning a firearm is for self-defense? When
data has proven stricter gun laws on law-abiding citizens does not cut crime;
why is the left so obsessed with gun control?
Vladimir Lenin once said, his vision of the ideal
socialist utopia was a society where only the government owned guns. Since the
left’s ideal society is one controlled by the government, like Lenin did, they
must take away America’s guns to do this.
“Licensing and registration is the perfect way to disarm
the bourgeoisie.”
– Vladimir Lenin
Barack Obama’s aggressive push to federalize America and
his refusal to acknowledge the Heller ruling led to a 10th Amendment
Renaissance in the states. Democrats lost 13 governorships and 816 state
legislative seats as the states fought Obama with a vengeance. State
legislatures acted quickly to pass laws protecting fee speech rights and gun
ownership. The term constitutional carry entered state vocabularies as they
passed laws to allow citizens to carry guns without a permit.
The NRA and other gun rights groups argue that the Second
Amendment intended to give all citizens a right to own firearms, and to “carry”
them. When Obama ignored the Heller decision, these groups appealed to state
legislatures to enforce it for them. Since 2008, state handgun laws have
changed dramatically. And today, almost every state has enacted legislation to
permit carrying of concealed firearms. Many, however, require carriers to
obtain a license, along with proof of firearms training.
Barack Obama said, “Elections have consequences.” After
the last election, the constitutional carry movement gained momentum. Today, 31
states have passed open carry legislation and many have bills in their
legislatures. Tennessee became the 31st state this month. Last year, anti-gun
freaks convinced three GOP lawmakers to kill this exact same bill in committee.
"Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving
by making it tougher for the sober people to drive cars."
– Rand Lennox
In the presidential election of 2016, the media and
pollsters crowned Hillary Clinton queen before the polls opened Election Day.
Although there had been a “red wave” in states across our nation since the
election of Barack Obama, they naively believed their own fabled headlines.
They were dumbfounded when Donald Trump was elected. America has proven when
people get fed up with federalism, they will fight back in their states to
protect their liberties until the next general election.
The progressive socialists’ attempts to dilute the Second
Amendment will cost them dearly. Americans know, “to stop a bad guy with a gun,
it takes a good guy with a gun.” Nothing is more important to any American than
the First and the Second Amendments. Since you cannot protect the first without
the second, they will protect the Second Amendment first.
“Americans have the will to resist because you have
weapons. If you don't have a gun, freedom of speech has no power.”
– Yoshimi Ishikawa
