Every year I reflect on gun ownership and, more specifically, carrying a concealed handgun. The Second Amendment acknowledges, but does not bestow, the natural, unalienable right to keep and bear arms, based in self-defense and given by God. It cannot be granted by government, nor taken away by government. No government has ever disarmed its people for good and altruistic reasons, and history records that a disarmed people are a people under tyranny.
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I will make references to God, but don’t expect everyone to worship Him. That’s a matter of faith and choice, never compulsion. But if such rights aren’t God-given, man may play with them at will.
I CARRY A HANDGUN BECAUSE:
*Evil exists and may confront anyone at any time and any place.
*God exists and expects me to protect myself, those I love and those unable to protect themselves.
*To fail to protect God’s greatest gift–-the gift of life–-is inexcusable.
*Self-defense is a God-given, natural, unalienable right.
*My life is worth far more to me, those that love me, and to a just society than the lives of vicious criminals and terrorists. So are the lives of any innocent.
*The Constitution is only paper and ink,a statement of principles and intentions. When the will wavers and when some wish to change, ignore or destroy those principles and intentions for imagined good reasons–-or bad–-only the threat of, and if necessary, the effective application of, the force of arms will serve to preserve liberty.
*Democrats and other deluded, malicious people are as desperate to disarm the law-abiding as they are to coddle violent criminals, domestic and foreign.
*Going armed reinforces and upholds the Social Contract.
* Thomas Jefferson was right:
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
*A government that labels half of the nation “white supremacists” “insurrectionists,” “domestic terrorists,” “racists,” and sends federal law enforcement to spy on and harass parents objecting to the sexual and political indoctrination of their children makes plain the wisdom of the Founders in writing the First and Second amendments.
Graphic: Twitter Post
*So does a government that throws wide our borders, admitting known terrorists, violent criminals, the diseased and criminally insane. That’s temporarily ended, but Democrats promise to do it again.
*It demonstrates, as nothing else can, that I am the master of my government, not its slave; that elected officials work for me and only with my continuing consent.
*It reminds politicians every iota of power they possess is on temporary loan from Americans on condition of good, lawful behavior. They hate that.
*I am a free American, and no evidence of that fact is more meaningful and convincing than that I own and carry the firearms I prefer.
*Semiautomatic handguns and rifles with “high-capacity magazines” are precisely the kind of common and usual firearms the Founders intended Americans to keep and bear. They were content citizens kept and carried the most powerful, useful military arms of their time, even cannon. Technology changes with time; the principles of liberty do not.
As Benjamin Franklin said:
Those that would surrender essential liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
*A single respiratory virus with a 99+% survival rate reminds rational Americans how fragile civilization can be, how quickly some would seize absolute power, how reluctant they are to surrender such illegitimate power over others, and how quickly it can all go bad.
*I could not live with myself for failing to protect women in danger.
*Exercising the Second Amendment helps remind women it is the ultimate women’s issue. No one–-apart from children–-benefits more from the ability to deter and stop criminal attacks.
*I know human nature. I know what evil lurks in the hearts of men.
*Having a Democrat political and social philosophy is no defense against such thugs. It encourages, helps, even creates them.
Graphic: Author
*The police have no legal obligation to protect me—or anyone. We’re on our own and always have been.
*The police simply can’t protect anyone; there are far too few of them–-fewer than ever before–-and far too many of us, and circa June 2026, proactively doing their jobs in parts of America is a sucker’s bet.
*When seconds count, the police are always minutes (or in blue cities and many other places, an hour or more) away—when they can respond at all.
*As an adult, I am solely responsible for my continuing existence.
*Criminals fear the guns of armed citizens far more than the guns of the police. They should.
*I can imagine few feelings worse than being unarmed when and where a terrorist or mass shooter attack takes place.
*Firearms are like fire extinguishers. When one is needed, it’s needed right now, badly, and nothing else will do.
*I will never surrender essential liberties without a fight; that’s what Americans do.
*Foremost, I am an American; I am a free man; it is my tradition and heritage.
For a longer version of this article, go here to my home blog.
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
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