Even though it may not seem like it at first, this piece is about the insanity of criminalizing personal security – otherwise known as “common sense” gun control. But, I’m an engineer, so bear with me. I have to do the analysis before I get to my point. You can check my work if you wish.
The world is filled with thugs – big and small. Whether they were created by nature or nurture is immaterial. They’ve been a fact of nature since Adam and Eve’s first born, murdered his little brother. Thinking we can prevent their existence with compassion and participation trophies is dangerously naïve.
Thugs are society’s miscreants whose desires exceed their self-control (i.e. Joe Biden). They may have a variety of motives (power, property, or passion), but their means is always to profit at the expense of others. To take rather than to create.
When they have the resources of a national government to impose their will on others, they have titles like: Ayatollah, Dear Leader, or Attorney General (i.e. Merrick Garland).
When they lack the resources of a nation to satisfy their lusts, we call them thieves, rapists, and murderers.
So, what is the psychological difference between a man who would strongarm a bodega clerk, and a man who would use the government to imprison his political opponents? Nothing. Both lack the empathy needed to place the long-term needs of society, above their own short-term satiation. They’re willing to take what they want today, with little regard for the consequences others will suffer tomorrow. The misery of others is not part of their calculus. Their only consideration, is what risks are associated with their gains.
With the exception of our abundant supply of useful idiots, few question the need for national security. To avoid being turned into servants of any tyrant with an army (i.e. slaves), we maintain an extensive security apparatus: intelligence services, diplomatic missions, and military forces.
But what about the small-time tyrants – those who terrorize the innocent and the vulnerable in our neighborhoods? What do we have for protection against them? The useful idiots will say: That’s what we have the police for.
But that’s not really true is it? 2nd Amendment advocates often use the quote: “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.” But the ineffectiveness of our police in providing personal security isn’t a matter of timing. It’s an issue of philosophy. We value our freedom, and accepted the consequences of limited police powers, over the alternative of a police state. Hence, our police are organized to punish those who violate us, not prevent the violation from happening. Consequently, since most of us don’t live in a protective detail bubble, we must ensure our own personal security. If we fail in our vigilance or defense, the police will gladly punish our offenders, but that is the limit of the power which “we the people” have entrusted them with.
Granted, the threat of punishment has some deterrent value. But one need only spend a Saturday night in South Chicago to see that deterrence is often as impotent as Great Brittain’s navy. In too many cases, the crime/punishment calculus still works to the thug’s advantage – at least in their estimation.
In their naivete, the “common sense” gun control zealots have created a conundrum. For them, “common sense” means prohibition against the most effective weapons, and all other weapons must be inaccessible (i.e. unloaded and locked up). They insist that a proper reading of the 2nd Amendment is that only organized militias are authorized to bear arms – not individuals. So, why is national security important, but not personal security? Why is it okay to have an army to deter global thugs, but not for individuals to bear arms to deter local thugs?
And what about situations in which government thuggery is turned inward – the scenario of national security powers used against a country’s own citizenry? Joe Biden used America’s intelligence services, Department of Justice, and the judicial branch to surveil, arrest, and imprison those opposed to his leadership. He even threatened to mobilize the military against domestic opposition, saying:
If you wanted or if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons.
That wasn’t a statement by your crazy uncle at the Thanksgiving table. It was a Freudian slip – a truth that someone with a smidgeon of self-control wouldn’t express – by a man with command of the world’s greatest military, and a demonstrated willingness to use government powers against its people.
So, my engineering brain says: Do the math. Put two and two together. The first “two”: the leftists want to regulate us into disarmament. The second “two”: their last President expressed his willingness to use the military against us. Add those together and what is the answer? The left wants to disarm us, so that they may impose their will on us.
Joe Biden was not an anomaly on the left. He just wasn’t bright enough to keep what actually motivates every DSA candidate to himself.
Hence, my engineering conclusion is that “common sense” dictates that we keep our weapons accessible, know how to use them, and while we’re at it, rethink that machine gun ban. Maybe that would deter both home invasions, and communists who would turn America into something very un-American.
Author Bio: John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now on strike in Galt’s Gulch – which the locals call Idaho. He is a retired engineer who spent much of his career applying engineering principles to organizational development (yes, really). He has written for The American Spectator, Convention of States Action, and American Free News Network. He can be reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/u