We hear it all the time: guns don’t people, people kill people. It’s true. About a year ago I went to a range to make a point. I took my M4, XD40, and a buttload of ammo, along with a book. I loaded both guns and set them on the aiming bench faced downrange. I paid for an hour of range time and sat back reading my book. The entire time I was there, neither gun fired a shot. They didn’t even flinch or force themselves upon me. Nope, they didn’t fire one bullet, even accidentally. They are inanimate objects. It takes an intentional act to apply the pressure necessary to pull a trigger than ignites the primer and sends a bead of metal hurling towards its target.

There is a big debate in this country about the meaning of the 2nd Amendment. Liberals don’t think that every day Americans are the intended people with the rights to keep and bear arms. They ignore the comma between the militia clause and the people clause. The truth is that if one goes back and looks at what the founding fathers meant when they were debating ratificatoin of the Constitution, it would be obvious that they weren’t just talking about our National Guard and Reserve forces.

In 1788, at Virginia’s ratification convention, George Mason (Virginia’s delegate at the Constitution Convention) said, “I ask, Sir, what is the militia?” when this was brought up. “It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”

Our first president, George Washington, and probably the most respected and revered person of the time discussed the 2nd Amendment as well. “Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people’s teeth and keystone under independence…from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and the pistol are equally dispensable…the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference – they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”

There will always be people who don’t like guns and will refuse to own them. There is nothing wrong with that. Just because they choose not to exercise those rights and choose to live as a potential victim, doesn’t mean I have to.

One of the arguments used by 2nd Amendment opponents is in questioning the necessity of owning certain types of firearms. I’ve been asked what business I have in owning an AK-47 or M4. My response is “none of your business.” The constitution doesn’t say we have the “right to keep and bear arms up to a certain caliber or type.” I am free to own any weapon I choose to purchase for peaceful means (or keeping the peace).

The strawman argument then becomes, “well, we can’t just allow people to go around owning RPGs and building their own nuclear weapons.” Seriously? People honestly think that just anyone can build a nuclear weapon in their garage. As for owning grenades, rocket launchers, and other arms, I have no problem with that as long as they aren’t used with evil intent. If I want to dig trenches on my farm and practice trench clearing operations or grenade placement on my own property, I have that right.

The next absurd arguments are directed with the belief that guns endanger children. I remember stories my grandfather and uncles used to tell me about growing up and having guns of their own. It was a fact of life 100 years ago, even 60 years ago. Children were taught how to shoot them and shoot them safely. American statesman Richard Henry Lee said, “to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”

During the Civil War, men as young as 14 were sent into combat or were needed to defend their private lands. They were taught how to shoot. I have taught my kids how to shoot virtually all of my weapons. My kids each own a .22 long gun rifle and we frequently target shoot. They understand muzzle awareness, breathing techniques, site alignment and trigger squeeze. And, I must brag a little, they are GREAT shots. Even my 8-year old has an uncanny ability to hit targets at 50 meters with precision.

As Americans, we must allow a government subservient to the people to repress the people and prevent them from owning weapons. In 1911, Turkey established tight gun control over their populace. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. In 1929, the Soviet Union established oppressive gun control rules. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. In 1938, Germany followed suit and we all know what happened from 1939 to 1945. Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is quoted as once saying, “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass.”

Let’s hope that we don’t ever give our government so much power that this quote becomes folklore. If you think that guns kill people, you probably think that pencils are responsible for misspelled words.