The other day I was looking at posts on face book when one caught my eye. A woman who owns a restaurant in a Northwestern state put up a sign in her business window with a picture of an AR-15 explaining that anyone who owned one of these rifles was not welcome in her restaurant. Now that is OK with me. I can take my business elsewhere if I ever need to eat in her area.
However, how does she know which of her customers own these rifles? I'm sure that AR-15 owners don't usually take their rifle to breakfast, lunch, or dinner, at restaurants. I also wonder if she realizes how many concealed handgun licensees carry concealed in public, but there was no mention of restrictions concerning concealed handguns.
She says she is not opposed to hunting rifles, but does she understand that many hunting rifles are semi-automatic rifles just like the AR-15. As a matter of fact my son and I hunt coyotes in Nevada with AR-15s. All semi-automatic rifles work on the same basic principle. Why did she single out the AR-15? Is it because it is black and looks like an M16 and she can't tell the difference?
If she had taken the same history and government classes in grade school and high school that I was required to take, she would have known that the Second Amendment isn't about hunting, It is about a new kind of government where the public trust is held by the people themselves, who are responsible for their own security and the security of the nation.
Sometimes it surprises me how many people simply seem to be ignorant of this country's history and the reasons behind the passage of the Second Amendment. What part of "shall not be infringed," does this lady and others like her not understand?
Maybe a couple of quotes by Thomas Jefferson on the subject would be of value in understanding our Founding Fathers thinking. "Let your gun be the constant companion of your walks," and "Those who hammer their guns into plows, will plow for those who do not."
Patrick Henry stated, "The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun." - Patrick Henry, 3 Elliott, debates at 386
Recently, my sister sent me an e-mail titled, "Firearms Refresher Course," which she received as an email from a friend of hers. I got to thinking that much of the material presented in that e-mail would make wonderful chapters for a book on Second Amendment rights. For example the idea that "An armed individual is a citizen, while an unarmed individual is a subject". That is a topic that could easily be a chapter in itself.
How about "A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone" or if you prefer, "911: Government Sponsored Dial a Prayer." How many pages could be devoted to that topic.
Another chapter could be, "Gun Control is not about guns; It is about control." John R Lott, Jr. wrote a very informative chapter on this topic in his research, "More Guns Less Crime," at the University of Chicago.
"If you don't know your rights, you don't have any," would also be an excellent discussion for such a book.
"Those who would trade liberty for security have neither," is a message that started with our Founding Fathers and is still applicable today.
"The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others." A chapter on this topic may seem to some to be slipping toward anarchy, but I don't think so. Our Founding Fathers were justly fearful of what men in high positions might try to do unless the public trust resided in the hands of the people themselves.
"Guns have only two enemies, rust and politicians." Anyone disagree?
"64,999,987 firearm owners killed no one yesterday." It is a myth that law abiding gun owners have any desire to harm anyone else.
"Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety." Think about this one, and I think you will agree.
How about a chapter on,"Assault is a behavior, not a device."
What do you think? What chapters would you like to see in a book defining Second Amendment rights?
Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He was a member of the faculty of Texas A&M University for 25 years. There he taught orienteering, marksmanship, self-defense, fencing, scuba diving and boxing. He was among the first DPS-certified Texas Concealed Handgun Instructors. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.
