The Leftist party (also known as the Democrats), composed of members such as Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, Rahm Emanuel, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have done their best to zero in on the American dream. That dream, the one the Founding Fathers envisioned for the greatest country on earth, has been tarnished with ballooning healthcare costs, skyrocketing taxes and increased terror threats from both within and abroad.
Something needs to be done to ensure that America’s future is safe. And we, as Americans, can ensure that future with only one right—the right to bear arms.
The Second Amendment, a right sewn into the fabric of our nation, is the key to our future. The right to bear arms is arguably the most important amendment in the Bill of Rights for the sole reason that if the Second Amendment is lost, America will be lost as well. The capacity to protect ourselves from an overreaching government or to defend ourselves from criminals would be a thing of the past. As Benjamin Franklin wrote in the Federalist Papers No. 28:
If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual state.
But the Left, despite its lip-service to the Second Amendment, cannot hide the obvious fact that it opposes gun ownership. As such, liberals will do anything to get their gun control measures passed, whether in veiled language such as a ban on “assault weapons,” ghost guns, high capacity magazines; or by outright admitting their opposition of civilian gun ownership. Their true goal, whether they will admit it or not, is for a blanket gun ban from private citizens, as a part of their vision of a central government.
So how do we, as Americans who believe in our founding documents, combat the Left’s obsession with taking away our unalienable right to personal defense?
We could vote them out of office. But we all know the next double-talking, two-faced politician who replaces them will probably continue the push for harsher gun laws, attempting to restrict us from bearing our arms. We could stage sit-ins or stage protests, but the Flyover Nation (Thanks, Dana Loesch) are not Moms Demand Action.
TVs, tablets, and video games are raising too many of our kids today. What does our future hold for them? Everywhere you look there is a safe zone for whiny, thin-skinned adult babies who cower with the mere mention of a “trigger-word” or a “micro-aggression.” Dare I insert the word “Trump” without sending a group of people into a complete meltdown?
We must make sure that the next generation is raised to be resilient and able to maintain the future of our country. In other words, the answer lies with our children and grandchildren. We need to turn to the youth of our nation and instill in them the importance of the Second Amendment as well as a healthy love of firearms. That is best taught on a gun range, with children pulling the triggers in a controlled environment, where parents or instructors can teach them basic gun safety and how to properly handle firearms.
Founding Father and signer of the Declaration of Independence Richard Henry Lee famously said, “Whereas, 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.”
Are these prophetic words? I’ll go with brilliant foresight from a man who understood that every generation must pass on the importance of firearms knowledge in order to preserve our country’s future and liberty. Make the future’s safe zone behind a gun.
For those out there who say “This man is crazy! What if a child gets hold of their parent’s gun? What if they go to a friend’s house and that parent isn’t as responsible and my child finds a gun?” Don’t get me wrong. Accidents can happen. Accidents will happen. It is inevitable. But in a new released “Injury Facts” report by the National Safety Council, the group put accidental gun deaths in 2015 at 489. That is the lowest number it has been since 1903. John Nolte writes for The Daily Wire:
Overall, in 2015, there were 146,571 accidental deaths in America (cars, prescription drugs, falls), meaning the 489 firearms deaths ranks somewhere close to a statistical zero. Based on the number of background checks, a whopping 52,600 guns were purchased every day during Obama’s 8-year presidency. A total of 141.1 million background checks were done and 46 million new firearms were produced. And yet, despite the fact that more than 100 million Americans own somewhere around 300 million guns, despite all the hysteria we constantly hear from the national media and other gun-grabbers about the how dangerous it is to have a gun in your home, from the looks of it, you would be much safer if you kept the gun and removed the bathtub.
So how do you talk to your children about firearms and the American gun culture? I would never leave that to the media, Hollywood, or politicians. Just listen to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) who wrote in a tweet on March 14, “When someone gets shot by a gun with a silencer, it’s quiet. Witness might not hear. Police will be less likely to track down the shooter.” She was mercilessly ridiculed for her lack of knowledge when it came to guns and silencers. And it was well-deserved. Politicians who know little to nothing about the Second Amendment should not be so arrogant as to try to rule on it.
Additionally, people like Matt Damon and Liam Neeson, both big A-list action stars, have called for strict gun control, while using those firearms on screen to kill scores of people to make millions. A further example would be Billboard Magazine, which on its front cover listed 90 celebrities like Katy Perry, Jennifer Lopez, Barbra Streisand, Yoko Ono, Selena Gomez, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, and many more calling for stricter gun laws.
This is beyond hypocritical. Many of them all walk around with armed security and live in secure, gated communities.
The point is, unless you are a responsible gun owner, please don’t lecture the American people on gun control.
So how do we train our kids to drown out the voices of uneducated liberals to properly utilize America’s gun culture? Maybe we should bring gun safety courses back into schools. They have sex-ed as well as drug education. So why not gun education? In a piece published in LIFE magazine in 1956 titled “Drawing a Bead on Safety,” a school in Indiana decided that teaching gun safety was crucial to the education of the American child. What prompted the school to promote gun safety is something we have seen time and time again. This is an excerpt from the original 1956 article:
In 1954 more than 550 U.S. children under 15 were killed in accidents involving the careless handling of firearms, five of them in lake County, Indiana. [In 2010, 606 people were killed by “accidental discharge of firearms,” according to the CDC. — Ed.] This situation shocked Indiana Conservation Officer Rod Rankin, who decided to offer a course in gun safety to any interested child in the county. In the past year 2,500 children from 6 years on, with the approval of their parents, have taken him up on it.”
There are many fantastic tools and organizations as well. The NRA’s Eddie Eagle program or the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Project Child Safe are two superb groups as well as the most well-known.
I personally grew up in Los Angeles, where the thought of owning a firearm nearly gets you a one-way ticket behind bars (I am joking for those that don’t have a sense of humor). The way I understood America’s gun culture growing up was this: the cops have guns, the military have guns, and the bad guys have guns. It was that simple. It was the bad guys attacked the unarmed good guys and the unarmed good guys would call the armed good guys who would miraculously save everyone from the armed bad guys. I never thought, “Well, why don’t the unarmed good guys arm themselves?” Thankfully, I had a friend who opened my eyes later in life to America’s real gun culture. With the tutelage and utmost patience from him as well as my many friends I made at a local gun range, I began learning about what the Second Amendment meant and how it affected my everyday life.
All of this led me to write a book called Safety On: An Introduction to the World of Firearms for Children, with the help and guidance from a close friend in the LAPD, Officer Dave. My wife and I had two children and I was terrified that I grew up knowing nothing about the mechanics of guns, or how to properly shoot, and most importantly, how the individual right to bear arms truly shapes our country every day. I did not want my children to grow up how I did.
On top of that, I am Jewish. I lost over 30 relatives in the Holocaust. To grow up not realizing that I, as an American, can carry a gun on me wherever I go to defend myself against anyone who might try and bring harm upon me or my family shook me to the core, but also gave me a new-found hope in life. Imagine if the Jews of Europe refused to register their firearms once Hitler came to power. Their guns never would have been confiscated and one can make a very strong argument that the fate of the Jewish people could have ended quite differently.
I carry because it empowers me. It makes me unafraid to go out with my family and friends. I walk around my house with my firearms on my side for my kids to see. When I leave the home, while I do carry concealed, my kids know and understand why I carry. They know that there are evil people in this world and daddy is there to protect them. Just this knowledge alone helps me strengthen my resolve that one day, after years of training and education, that when my kids are married and have children of their own, they will also carry firearms with them because they understand what the Second Amendment means to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They will know that God has granted us the ability to defend those we love from all enemies, whether foreign or domestic.
I would like to touch on one more thing that I mentioned before, and that is about the Holocaust and how the Second Amendment could truly come into play. I don’t believe that a Holocaust, or anything of the sort, will happen in America. There are too many good and loving Americans in the country who would never allow that to happen. But I do believe that the left-wing faction that plagues the nation would be willing to throw conservatives and those that don’t think like them somewhere dark, damp, and cold.
That is why the Second Amendment is the most crucial tool we have today. It prevents the uber-left wing leaders like George Soros and his henchman, like two-time presidential loser Hillary Clinton, from truly taking over the country. But who knows what will happen in 20 years from now? Will there be a government run by another radical Leftist like President Barack Obama? Will we see someone more to the Left like Bernie Sanders become the Commander-in-Chief? Or will Hillary run for a 3rd time? It is possible and a very scary thought.
President Ronald Reagan famously said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
This is the reason we need to train our kids how to properly use firearms and about the importance of the Second Amendment. They are the future defenders of the country’s legacy and the Constitution. We cannot allow another charismatic pseudo-dictator, who belittled our country every chance he had, to take the reins.
Teach your kids proper gun safety. Teach them the four cardinal rules of firearms. Teach them to shoot properly. Teach them the mechanics of firearms. Teach them the importance of the Second Amendment. Teach them about the Constitution. Teach them that they have a responsibility from God to defend themselves and their loved ones. And above all else, teach them that they hail from the greatest nation on God’s green earth and not to take their right to bear arms for granted.
Doing all this will teach the future generations of our great country what it means to be an American.
That is why we need to teach our kids about firearms and America’s gun culture.