In case anyone has forgotten or was not aware, the actual wording of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is as follows;

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.

To those who would try and interpret this as meaning that the founding fathers were referring to a standing military to be used against foreign enemies, I would further refer you to a quote from Noah Webster, one of the Federalists and Early American Patriots wherein he stated;

Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States

America was founded by people who were willing to arm themselves and who were prepared to fight and die to defend their Nation. These, however, were no more people who wanted to leave their homes to fight and die in battle, than they were they people who wanted to spend time away from their homes in the Capital making laws and coming up with new and exciting ways to tell their fellow man what to do.

They wanted to be left alone to live their lives as they saw fit, but they were prepared to do what they must in the hope that some day, they or their children would be able to enjoy the freedom that they were willing to die for.

You have only to read the Bill of Rights to understand all that you need to know about the Founding Fathers. The Bill of Rights is just that. Not commandments of what you must do, but rather rights to which are entitled and which cannot be taken away. Not from you, and not from anybody else.

Unfortunately, as inspiring as both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution may be, The Founding Fathers knew that neither by its own power was ever going to ensure freedom to anyone unless it was also backed by the willingness and ability to defend this Nation by strength of arms.

To this day, this is a Nation of individuals who time and time again, when called to defend their Country, have taken up arms against her enemies, both domestically and abroad, and who fully support the right to bear arms in their own homes and communities, and do so with honor and pride.

This is a central tenet in the reality of America and it will never change unless America has long become something other than what the Founding Fathers ever meant it to be.

And then along comes April 16^th, 2007 and we sadly find ourselves once more in a victim-fueled debate over gun control.

Let me digress for a moment and put a slightly different spin on this discussion.

April 17^th, 2007, there was a news story out of Tokyo stating that “Japan city Nagasaki Mayor Dies after being shot.” The gist of the article was that the 61 year old Mayor of Nagasaki Japan was shot in the back at least two times in front of his campaign office and later died. All this despite the fact that Japan has very strict gun control laws such that only the gangsters have firearms.

The simple reality is that while you should do all that you can to stop criminals or people who are mentally dangerous from getting guns and using them, to deny guns to honest law abiding citizens certainly did nothing to help keep the Mayor of Nagasaki alive.

The other simple reality is that if the people lose the right to bear arms, we are all just waiting to be victims with only our Government to save us (or make further victims out of us.)

If, however, you truly understand the meaning of America, then you understand that the Government is “We the People”, and as it clearly states in the Constitution, the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people, and reserves all powers not granted to the Federal government to the citizenry or States.

It is not, nor was it ever envisioned to be, the job of the Government to protect us, but rather, a well-armed Citizenry that is respectful of the rule of law is the best defense that any of us has against those who would perpetrate massacres upon the innocent people of America.