The Second Amendment is a very personal and emotional issue for many Americans. It’s an explicit Constitutional right, and one that gives us the power to defend ourselves in the event that the other Amendments are violated. It gives us the ability to defend ourselves and our families. Removing weapons from the hands of the people is essentially removing our last line of defense, and we don’t respond well to that notion.
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Colorado has been a testing ground for gun-grabbers across the United States, much the way the Right to Work was tested under Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin. They capitalized on a moment to push an agenda. It is disgusting that this particular moment was James Holmes’ rampage in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater that left 12 dead and 58 injured July of last year.
Instead of treating James Holmes like the sick man that he is and having a conversation about mental health care in our country, gun-control advocates clamped down on the instrument of destruction, not the destroyer. They used the momentum from the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December to push even harder. Again, they attack the inanimate object that was used to kill instead of addressing the killer.
Tragedies such as these are rarely treated as isolated incidents – both sides look for political motive, hoping to score enough points to further whatever agenda they may have. It’s a depressing and unavoidable fact in our hyper-polarized, information-saturated culture. The response, however, should not be to legislate the problem away. There cannot be any laws written that will bring back the 20 children murdered by Adam Lanza in Newtown. No bill brought to the floor will restore the lives taken in Aurora. Disarming those who abide by the law is not an effective way to deal with those who choose to kill. The innocent are then unprotected. What happens then?
In Colorado, legislation was passed in response to an emotional outcry over the deaths of children. It was the wrong decision, one that limited the 2nd Amendment rights of it’s citizens. A recall effort was organized to challenge two of the legislators that were responsible. Signature were gathered, and the 5-day election ends in Colorado Springs and Pueblo today. Senator John Morse and Senator Angela Giron are scrambling to hold on to their seats. The Daily Caller sums up the nuts and bolts:
The recalls of Democratic state senators John Morse and Angela Giron stem from their support for the state’s new gun control laws, one that limits the size of ammunition magazines and one requiring background checks for all gun transfers.
Revealing Politics, a Colorado based transparency organization, has been working tirelessly on the recall effort, and has a team based in Colorado Springs this week to livestream the entrances to the polling locations and interview voters.
“This is one of the most important symbolic elections in the entire nation. With the passage of same day voter registration laws in Colorado, the stakes couldn’t be higher,” says Executive Director Kelly Maher. “Shining a light on the process, though controversial, is critical to our democratic process.”
The outcome of today’s election is a test. Gun-grabbers want to see how far they can push the envelope. It’s simple manipulation – playing on the fear instilled in the public by obsessive media coverage to disarm law-abiding citizens.
The question will always be, ‘to what end?’ Will we be safer if only the government is armed? Those who appreciate freedom tend to disagree, and America should be nothing if not the land of the free. We fought this little thing called the Revolutionary War to not be England, and we’ll fight like hell to stay that way.