There are never as many high-profile protests in Baton Rouge as there are in other major U.S. cities. Even during the height of the Occupy movement, the Baton Rouge attempt was never more than the butt of many jokes.
People here just don’t seem to get angry enough to go out and protest. That is, until you threaten their gun rights. On Sunday, that’s just what happened.
The gun advocacy groups Gun Rights Across America and Guns Across America 2 held a pro-gun rally on the steps of the state Capitol in downtown Baton Rouge.
While the crowd appeared to not have been more than 60 people, they did seem, however, to be fully committed to the cause of promoting gun rights, which I applaud.
The right to keep and bear arms should not be restricted or made more difficult to exercise by either the federal government or by any state. The text of the Second Amendment clearly states those rights “shall not be infringed.”
Opponents of gun rights rant and rave about the murder rate in this country, but it is shown time and again that when law-abiding citizens are well-armed, innocent lives are saved.
In no circumstance does a criminal walk up to a convenience store, see a “no guns allowed” sign, and change his mind about robbing it. The only thing that would prevent it is either the immediate proximity of a police officer, or a well-armed store clerk.
There are also those who argue that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to protect the rights of hunters. Nowhere in the text of the Second Amendment does it once mention “hunting.”
The true purpose of the Second Amendment is to protect people from tyrannical governments.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Should the time ever come that the natural rights and God-given liberties protected by the Bill of Rights come under assault by a state or the federal government, the people have the right to form “well regulated militias” and take arms against said government.
Which brings me to my final point about semi-automatic rifles, or as the media has inaccurately dubbed them, “assault rifles.”
Demonized because of a handful of mass shootings, semi-automatic rifles are small to medium caliber firearms that can fire one bullet per trigger pull. They most certainly are not machine guns, which are only attainable by citizens after receiving a Class 3 permit from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
There have been many calls by Democratic lawmakers, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, in the wake of the mass shootings of the past two years to further restrict the sale and ownership of these rifles.
What these rifles do is give private citizens comparable capability with current military and other federal hardware. They are what make the Second Amendment effective.
Some, however, claim that the Founders could have never foreseen these weapons, and that by “arms,” they meant muskets.
I hate to break it to you, but one of the first semi-automatic weapons, the puckle gun, was invented in 1718, a full 71 years before the Bill of Rights was written in 1789.
If the Department of Homeland Security gets to purchase 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition, I should be able to go out and buy a semi-automatic rifle.
The next time you see a Patriot or pro-gun rally, don’t summarily dismiss it as a bunch of “gun nuts.” These are the people fighting for your right to defend your other rights.
Ryan McGehee is a 21-year-old political science, history and international studies senior from Zachary.
Shut Up, Meg: Yes. Discussion of rights, not abundance of guns, is the answer!