Home Op-Ed The Second Amendment Ensures Americans Are Not Subservient to Government

The Second Amendment Ensures Americans Are Not Subservient to Government

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second amendment rkba
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

By Roger Katz

No other Nation on Earth accepts the notion that its citizens have an inherent, independent right to keep and bear arms. But, the founders of our Nation conceived Americans as individuals who have their own personal needs and desires; their own individual hopes and dreams.

The founders perceived each American to be a unique individual soul. They understood that each life is ordained and governed by the divine creator, not by the state. And they crafted a free Republic consistent with that belief.

Government exists to serve the American citizen. The American citizen does not exist to serve Government.

Americans, as individuals, are not an amorphous collective, to be shepherded and controlled with an iron fist. The founders recognized that a constitution for a new nation must be carefully crafted to uphold and respect the sanctity of the individual, lest the nation devolve into tyranny—the yoke of which the founders had fought hard to throw off, and which they certainly had no wish to impose anew on the fledgling Nation they sought to erect.

The principle of the sanctity and inviolability of the individual over that of the societal collective was, for the founders of a free republic, self-evidently true. That salient principle is reflected in and manifested in the Nation’s Bill of Rights. No other Nation on this Earth has a Bill of Rights like ours that makes clear that the government of this nation is subordinate to and subservient to the will of the American people; always and forever.

In the event those who wield power in Government happen to think otherwise, or happen to forget this salient fact, the Second Amendment exists as an ever-present reminder to government officials and legislators.

swalwell for president
(AP Photo/Elise Amendola) and Bigstock

Eric Swalwell incessantly, ferociously attacks the Second Amendment and acts as if he is seemingly oblivious to the import of the Second Amendment. Or perhaps, more likely, he is all too aware of it.

Yet politicians such as New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo and Swalwell  as well as those who work in the mainstream media incessantly, ferociously attack the Second Amendment, act as if they’re oblivious to the intent of the Second Amendment, or perhaps, more likely, they are all too aware of it. That would explain their single-minded obsession with it and heavy-handed efforts to defeat it.

Politicians, pundits, educators, and jurists intend, unabashedly, to upend the very integrity and structural foundation of our nation. They do so by masking their policy objectives in the guise of promoting the public good. But through that very argument—denigrating the Second Amendment to promote and protect the welfare of society—the deviousness and insidiousness of their objectives become readily apparent.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

They seek to reconfigure the nation into a societal collective, a dictatorship of a kind; one that many on the Left euphemistically, slyly, and disingenuously, refer to as democratic socialism. An expression coined merely to mask their vision that is the antithesis of anything the Founders had sought.

In the new America the radical Left in this country conceives, there is no place for an armed citizenry. There is no protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. There is no room for individuals to speak their mind, freely and openly. Even the concept of personal property would rest on shaky ground as that concept is inconsistent with the precepts of socialism.

The Bill of Rights stands as a testament to the founders’ belief in the sanctity and inviolability of the individual over that of the collective. It should come as no surprise, then, as we see the radical Left criticizing the Bill of Rights, attempting to second-guess the framers’ reason for incorporating it into the Constitution, as a critical part of it.

The collectivists are openly critical of the very idea that certain rights–indeed, that any right–is to be, or can rationally be deemed natural, fundamental, and unalienable. For them, all rights are created by and therefore bestowed on the citizenry by government. And what government bestows on a person is solely within the prerogative of government to take away.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

Thus, collectivists relentlessly attack the notion of the right of the people to keep and bear arms. They are adamant in their refusal to accept the idea that the right of the people to keep and bear arms exists– or is even capable of existing–independent of Government authorization.

There is reason why collectivists refuse to countenance the notion of the right of the people to keep and bear arms as fundamental, natural, and immutable, quite apart from their rejection of natural law. To the collectivist, an armed citizenry is an inherent danger to society.

Cory Booker 2020 gun control campaign
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

As the collectivist theorizes, a safe and secure society is one under absolute governmental control, under constant supervision and surveillance. So collectivists remonstrate not only against the existence of an armed citizenry, but against the right of unconstrained freedom of speech and freedom of association. They attack the basic idea that the American citizen has an unalienable right to be secure in their person and possessions from unreasonable searches and seizures.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris (Image: AP)

Collectivists place their sole faith and trust in government, not in the citizenry. They presume that individual citizens cannot be trusted. The Founders, however, placed their trust and faith in the individual. For the founders, it is, then, government that should not, and cannot be trusted.

Thus the Founders designed and implemented a Constitution establishing a government of limited power, authority, and reach, incorporating into the Constitution, a Bill of Rights, setting forth an expansive set of fundamental, natural, and immutable rights and liberties to be retained solely by the people, beyond the power of government to diminish or abrogate.

Collectivists in this country, however, have no respect for the singular achievement of our nation’s Founders. They actively pursue an agenda aimed at undoing the constitutional republic, grounded in a Constitution that has served the American people well for over two hundred years. They are absolutely committed to seeing their bizarre vision for this Country come to fruition. We must make sure they don’t succeed.

 

Roger J. Katz has practiced law for the federal government in Washington D.C., for the state government in Arizona, and has been in private practice in Ohio, New York, and Arizona. Roger is a co-founder of Arbalest Group LLC, creator of the Arbalest Quarrel weblog, dedicated to strengthening the Second Amendment, preserving our Bill of Rights, and maintaining a free republic. 

This article was originally published at arbalestquarrel.com and is reprinted here with permission. 

61 COMMENTS

  1. Except the ones who want to be subservient! They’ll be coming to us for help if the socialists ever do take the power. Good luck with that!

    • Lo, they’ll want to hide behind us: the armed defenders. A very well-written piece.

  2. In other news; Kameltoe Hairyass, the knee-pad queen, on the stump said that she/it would disallow more than 5 “private” gun sales/buys per year per person. Would create a national registry and take away FFLs by Executive Order.

    • All of which is Unconstitutional thus making her/it eligible for sanction for subversion and sedition

  3. “No other Nation on Earth accepts the notion that its citizens have an inherent, independent right to keep and bear arms.”

    I wish that more of our nation’s citizens accepted that “notion”. 8~(

  4. The left is so deranged at this point I honestly think theyd be A OK with detonating nukes on our own soil if they felt it would rid them of us gun owners. Online many people postulate the possibility of future civil war here, but I think it’s warranted at this point to mention, there’s a real possibility a future crazed leftist president would try to launch nukes on the conservative states in America.

    • Uh…. then the missiles would go almost straight up, then straight down. They’re not designed to do that.

      • There are many ways to deliver nukes, including towed artillery, nearly every fighter/attack type aircraft in the US inventory, and of course medium and heavy bombers with ALCM’s and other cruise missiles and drones.

    • Almost not worth responding to, however: if you nuke the red states you nuke the farmland and the water. The result is death to virtually all from a combination of fall out, poison water, lack of food and civil war or just the warring of the remaining tribes, plus the takeover by a foreign power. It’s absurd on its face and as self destructive as one could get. Let’s worry about things that are actually happening before doomsday garbage.

    • There are not enough warheads to pummel all of the red counties. The fallout would drift into the blue cities. Swalwell is ignorant, drunk with power, and displaying what The Elite think of Deplorables.

      And besides, most of those warheads would not be fired. Give the grunts a little credit that they won’t fire on their own people. I am a grunt. I would not press the button on constitutional citizens.

  5. The libturds demanding socialism and gun control have absolutely no clue what they are asking for and no understanding of economics or history. Sad..very sad

      • While I don’t want it, I grow increasingly afraid that the only solution will be the eventual removal of the leftists by violent action. The are not just anathema to American values, but actually anathema to national survival. A house divided cannot stand, and this is a seriously divided house.

        One only hopes that if it comes to violence the media and leftist politicians get theirs before the shooting stops.

        • If you read the constitution and the federalist papers, the latter being more specific, it says to tell your legislators when they are not doing their jobs. If this doesn’t work, then you get them out of office thru election. If that doesn’t work then you remove them by force. This written by one of the founding fathers.

  6. Most gun owners and 2 nd Amendment supporters support indivualism and understand that individualism and colectivism are incompatible…..until vaccines…then the socially engineered collectivist dunce cap comes on for many who pretend to support/understand individualism while critical thinking goes out the window.

    • …critical thinking goes out the window.

      And they become anti-vaxers?

      Believing that vaccines work does not make one a collectivist. Believing that subjecting a child to a painful death or severe disability (by not getting vaccinated) is effectively child abuse does not make one a collectivist.

      I firmly believe that you as a “competent” adult have the right to refuse whatever medical treatment you want, preferably the life saving kind.

      • My dad had polio when he was six. He’s 90 now. He spent the rest of his life on crutches or sitting in a wheelchair. He suffers from post polio syndrome now. I have to drive him to an appointment for lab work tomorrow. A doctor’s appointment Wednesday. Ask him if he would like to have had the Salk vaccine when he was five. Even if was government mandated.

        • What the test for polio 84 years ago? That’s right, we didn’t have one. And the definition and diagnostic criteria for polio changed significantly after the polio vaccine was introduced, essentially eliminating the disease, but nice try with the emotional anecdote, a favorite tactic of the gun grabbing collectivists.

        • I had one dose of Salk before Sabin came out.
          My immune system must be crap, for I contracted poliomyelitis from the Sabin vaccine. I also react poorly to one of the components of MMR vaccine.

          By 1970, the US reported more cases of poliomyelitis from vaccine than from natural causes, despite the general vagueness of diagnosis and the medical community’s tendency to not diagnose as polio if the child had been vaccinated. In the 1980s, the CDC finally admitted it in public.

          Despite the Sabin vaccine being more dangerous than the disease it’s aimed at preventing, and despite the availability of a safe alternative (Salk) which predated it by several years, not only has Sabin not been banned, it’s still forced on virtually every child in the USA, simply because the idiots in charge feel an oral dose is easier to administer than an injection (even though the same kids are getting injections of other vaccines).

      • Your key word is believing, because to blindly follow the vaccine program you have to have a lot of faith. Childhood vaccines are not safety tested. And your response is a perfect example of the mindless collectivism that will eventually disarm the public.

    • I have to agree; this vaccine crap gets on my nerves. When you bring this up, it seems like errybody is all the sudden a frikkin immunologist/epidemiologist with a renewed trust in their government.
      The question is not “does inoculation work for most people?” the question is “Are vaccines in their current form safe for children?”. There are other questions as well, most of them pertain to liberty and how medical fear should impact it. If you think that polio is a reason for take away someone’s rights, then you don’t understand the problem. The thing that puzzles me the most are the pro baby murderers who’ll chant “my body, my choice” but the out of the other side of their mouths will foment for forced vaccination of kids not much older than the ones they want permission to kill. LIberty is a thing. You either honor it or you don’t. If you think that vaccines work, get one. If you think that forcing me and mine to comply will protect you, you must not really believe in vaccines.

      • Some of the posters here use the exact collectivist language that is commonly used against the 2nd Amendment while they cheer-lead for mandatory medical procedures/vaccines…. They’re too stupid to see their own socially engineered hypocrisy.

  7. But Americans ARE subservient to government. What universe are you living in where the government dosen’t act like it OWNS you?

    • Exactly. Act as if you’re free and the blue/black/brown/camo coats are coming for you and Paul Revere isn’t warning anyone because his driver’s license was suspended when he was laid off and couldn’t keep up with his child support payments.

    • Salty Bear,

      The author of this article was explaining the righteous role and mindset of government. That is always a worthwhile endeavor.

      And your statement, which is true in practice, further illustrates why it is so important for the author to enlighten the masses.

    • Jefferson said we would likely need a revolution every generation if we were to retain our liberty. We are 222 years passed due according to him. It perhaps shouldn’t be surprising that everything is all f’d up.

      • Exactly.

        Each generation can choose to invalidate government actions against them by fighting back or they can validate them by doing practically nothing. That’s what its all about. Tyranny will keep pressing. A free people must press back.

  8. In a way we were lucky. Our founders had recent firsthand experience with authoritarian government. That, plus their knowledge of history and understanding of our species, enabled them to know that the nature of government is to take ever more power from the individual. They also had seen how government became more corrupt as it took more power.

    But our founders could have gone another way. They could have become what US democrats are now: a group that considered themselves elite (i.e., superior in wisdom, intelligence, and integrity) and should therefore control the people. Most governments of other countries, and some US state and local governments, operate with that idea – despite much evidence to the contrary.

    We were lucky that a majority of our founders didn’t trust themselves – let alone future government leaders.

    • Thus the obligation falls to us to maintain the integrity of their intent . The fight never ends .

  9. Very well written article. The question is; are we willing to risk our families, homes, businesses/employment to maintain the freedoms that our founding fathers fought far? The very things they risked. I hope so.

    • I hope so too, hate that it’s come to this, and doubt we will until things are much, much worse. I hope it never comes to pass on one hand, and fear we will wait too long to be effective on the other.

  10. Thank you Mr. Katz for a very well worded and poignant article. I’m afraid none of us knows what tripwires will have to be crossed, or when the moment is. I only hope that when the moment comes we will recognize it and act.

  11. Good article, says a lot of things I wish more people would hear (and understand). When I try and explain it to some folks i get the “your paranoid” label or something to that effect, they don’t understand that this stuff will in fact affect them later. “I tried to tell you” won’t do much good then. Now I tell them to google Venezuela, if they have time between texting, snapchat, facebook etc blah etc. It’s as if these platforms are designed to keep people distracted or something 🤔

    • I’m not sure if social media was originally designed to keep us distracted, but our enemies see that we are a country of sheeple and they are using a soft coup to take over our government… While we are distracted with social media and electronic gadgets…
      The social media landscape has been taken over already and IS actively working against us, now.

  12. If your an American and your a politician and you do not support the U.S. Constitution in its entirety then you are a Traitor to this Country.

    • +1, and might I add not just politicians but anyone who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution. No one should think themselves above the law and ALL who break their oath should be held accountable and punished accordingly. Prez, Gov, Judge, Cop…..ALL

        • Exactly, ALL. Why the handcuffs aren’t immediately slapped on the wrists of those who propose unconstitutional bills, and those who obey orders to enforce unconstitutional laws is beyond me. I guess the history books they had in high school weren’t the same as mine.

          • History? The only history taught now is the “revised” version. You know, the one where America was and is the great oppressor and aggressor, and was never that great. Oh, and the old white men who drafted that piece of paper were just rich racists! You mean that history?

            • Ah yes the “revised” version, The one written using the new “Microsoft Feeewings” Word Processor. I forgot that’s what they switched over to, I never downloaded the new update cause i like the old one better. I hope they can forgive me.

  13. Just be sure to get out and vote. Vote in all elections; local and national.

    We shouldn’t be deploying the cartridge box until we first fully utilize the ballot box.

    In Pennsylvania, we have a Leftist Supreme Court because few came out to vote (from either side). If half of the 2nd Amendment supporters in Pennsylvania had voted, Republicans would have won in a landslide.

  14. I hate to break it to you but this country is already lost… OPEN YOUR EYES….
    The government has already been infiltrated and we are living under soft occupation…
    Can we retake the country from these “people”?….. Time will tell…. I’m waiting….

  15. Paragraph #3 has been turned upside down. For what? Easy free stuff mostly and is getting worse by the day. Then we have the someone (government) will protect/save me, if SHTF.
    Yes, well written article. Thank you.

  16. @ Huntmaster.

    “From my own personal experience, those guys take their oath a little more seriously than the politicians.”

    Most do. Some don’t. From my personal experience. I put one of the latter in Leavenworth around 1980 for sabotage and attempted murder of our CO.

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