You gotta fight! For your right!

I’ve heard a lot of reasons why guns should be kept. I have also told a lot of people that I don’t want to take away guns from people. I only want to take away concealed weapons.

Most people will still respond with other defensive arguments. They will say that it is their right to carry a gun.

The majority of friends, family members, and strangers that I debate with on the issue of banning concealed guns will always at some point will counter with that banning concealed guns is taking away a person’s right; the right to carry a gun.

Think about how many issues people can argue with it’s my right. Unfortunately the “it’s my right” argument will only emerge when a person doesn’t have anything left to argue with or cannot come up with a plausible response to the issue.

I don’t mean to generalize, but I see this happen on many occasions. I am 100% guilty of it too. I know that I usually when I rely on the “it’s my right” argument, I don’t want to admit I am wrong. I am usually not thinking of the actual issue. It’s very similar to an argument for the existence of God. The argument for God’s existence is that God exists because I believe it to be so. Also, something can’t come from nothing; therefore, God must have created the big bang or God created humans.

Now, obviously it’s not exactly the same because no one can prove that God does not exist just like people cannot prove that he does exist but people can show physical evidence that an article in the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of Americans to carry firearms.

The point I am trying to get across is that they are similar scenarios because often times people will fall back on these arguments when they don’t have a legitimate counter argument.

Stay tuned to the next post and I’ll explain why “the it’s my right” and arguments for the second amendment can backfire.

The NRA is NOT the face of pro-gun lobbyists….

The non-profit organization is only a mask for the pro-gun lobbyers to hide behind.

When two men, a lawyer and a former reporter from the New York Times, founded the NRA in 1871, it was merely a club for hunting and sport. In fact, the early members of the NRA- ex-soldiers, National Guardsmen and elected officials-had little use for hunters.

Interestingly enough, it was created because of how poor the marksmanship of soldiers in the civil war had been.

The NRA had no political ties whatsoever. And even more ironically, while in its early years the NRA endorsed, and even had the nerve to draft, gun control laws the organization itself now opposes today.

That’s strange huh? How could an organization that was created to help marksmanship and that supported gun control to an extent have so much pull in the political field in helping civilians hold on to their guns?

Also, how can pro-gun lobbyists use this organization to fuel their arguments when the NRA hasn’t even been true to itself? Do you see what I’m saying?

The NRA is believed to be the face of gun lobbyers but in fact, it is only a mask that lobbyers hide behind in vain.

In other words, pro-gun advocates will use the NRA as a protection against anti-gun advocates. But, unfortunately their unsung hero, the NRA, is really a pretender.

The NRA fully supports the second amendment, and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and self-defense in the United States.

That’s interesting, because nowhere did I see that it supports the second amendment and the right to own concealed guns. And if you’re going to say that it says right there, that it supports the promotion of firearm ownership rights, then I would say that the second amendment explains the rights of gun ownership and remember, that the second amendment does not state you can own a weapon for personal carry.

So, while the words of the NRA may sound like they are true to gun lobbyists, it actually is only a front by the NRA.

There are always loopholes people. Ways, to get around things and make the language more appropriate for your audience.

There is no place on the NRA’s website that supports the use of concealed guns. The NRA is strictly supporting the use of guns for competitive sport and hunting.

That is why the NRA is a mask that lobbyists are hiding behind.

It’s a faulty mask with a few cracks in it that reveal it’s false nature.

Handguns go BOOM!!! Rifles go BANG!! How can that be?

Call me crazy, but I’m going on record right now and saying that I am more concerned about concealed guns than weapons of mass destruction.

What? I said you could call me crazy.

I know what you’re thinking, “Brett, you really are crazy. There is no way that weapons of mass destruction are less of a threat than a tiny handgun. No way!”

Well I say, yes, there most certainly is a way that concealed guns are far worse.

You see it’s the concealed weapon that is literally concealed. It is the concealed weapon that isn’t being monitored constantly by the government. When was the last time you had a chance to stop a bullet from a handgun as it was approaching you? Never. That is unless you are Neyo from the Matrix, which most likely, you’re not.

The point I’m trying to get across to you is that handguns are in fact much more dangerous than larger weapons.

Handguns, and weapons alike, because of the accessibility people have to them along with the portability of them, become weapons of mass destruction. They aren’t predictable, and even more so undetectable.

Adults, teenagers, children, elderly people can all gain access to a concealed gun. Anyone has the ability to take a concealed gun with them and use it in anyway they choose.

Unlike pre-19^th century when guns were used strictly for protection, the army and hunting for food, today most people don’t use guns for those reasons.

While people hunt for competitive sport and in some cases to retrieve food still using rifles, concealed guns, such as handguns, aren’t thought of as a hunting weapon or competitive shooting weapon.

When people think of concealed guns, most of the time the thought will be associated with violence, gangs and criminals.

History Day 2011 Documentary: Columbine High School Massacre

Watch these video clips taken from BBC’s Zero Hour and Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine.

The Second Amendment: What it says and what it doesn’t say

The second amendment, more commonly known as the “right to bear arms”, gives several freedoms and rights to people such as the ability to carry a gun. Right? Well, not exactly. There are definitely some rights that the second amendment protects but some of the rights that many people think come with the second amendment are only perceived as rights, not rights that are actually given by the second amendment.

You see, when the second amendment was created, America had just won its freedom from Great Britain. Militias, which were armies formed by civilians of a country, were used by the U.S. to fight Great Britain. These militias were the main defense used at the time for the United States since there was no legitimate army for the America during that period.

Now, while there were criminals obviously back when the second amendment was established, there was not any law enforcement to protect civilians. In order for people to protect themselves, they had the right to carry guns. But carrying the weapon most likely meant using it in your home or if the militia, which still had strict guidelines for joining, needed people. To obtain food, people needed to hunt. There were no processed foods or manufactured foods in the 1700’s.

So what does the second amendment do and what doesn’t it do?

• The Second Amendment provides for citizens to use guns for universal military obligation and a well-regulated militia (army).
• The second amendment does not grant the right for concealed personal carry.
• The Second Amendment allows a person to protect their livelihood, and their family and friends livelihoods.
• The Second Amendment does not protect people from committing crimes or attempting to commit crimes with a gun.
• The Second Amendment does not allow people to use guns against other people based on an emotional response.
• The Second Amendment does allow you to use guns to hunt.

Remember that the language that was being used during the 1700’s was not the same language being used in 2012. The founding fathers did not want people to use the second amendment to mistakenly protect their “ability” to carry a gun for personal use. A lot of people who are pro-gun will say that, “the second amendment protects my right to carry a weapon”, and it does, but just not in the way that people usually think it does.

“We the People of the United States….”

 “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

The above quote is from the Constitution of the United States of America. It is the second amendment in The Constitution. Most people in America know the second amendment as the “the right to bear arms”. This amendment protects a right, just like every other amendment does. But the second amendment is probably the most highly debated amendment in The Constitution. This is because of the context in which the amendment was originally drafted. It’s also highly debated because it is used for the argument for and against banning guns.

I’m sure the founding fathers did not intend to take away peoples right to protect themselves with guns when tey created this amendment. Why? Well, because they created this amendment. However, I am positive that the second amendment would surely be ratified if the founding fathers knew that concealed weapons such as handguns were ultimately being used for criminal intent.

I created this blog, because as the title of the blog suggests, I believe concealed weapons, such as handguns should be banned in the United States of America. I have many reasons why I believe so and will back up my claims with well-organized arguments, evidence and logic. Over the course of this blog, I want followers to become engaged in the conversation.

My claims and arguments are just that. They are arguments against policy, not of fact. I intend to refer back to the 2^nd Amendment of the Constitution of The United States, the “Right to bear arms”. My argument will revolve around the philosophy of the 2^nd amendment. Many people argue that banning weapons would be bad. I agree with this statement but probably not for the same reasons many people believe. I believe that only concealed weapons should be banned, not rifles and larger weapons to use for protection, hunting and competitive sport. I will explain why in later posts.

I intend to hopefully change people’s viewpoints because I want my audience to be an interactive one. I want my audience to not just listen and become engaged in the conversation inside the blog, but become engaged in the conversation that occurs outside of the blog too.

What did the founding fathers such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Mason and Benjamin Franklin have in mind when they created the constitution? It was to protect the rights of Americans and create order out of chaos. It was not to create chaos and give Americans the right to murder with handguns. Take action for banning concealed weapons now!