Evil people roaming streets preying on the innocent is not ok. I’m tired of seeing videos of people being
assaulted to the point of serious injury, for no reason whatsoever. Literally unprovoked acts of violence
happening every day, and these evil people laugh about it with a complete disregard for human life.
These videos show people from all walks of life getting randomly sucker punched for literally no reason
other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes it is one punch and others it is a full-
on assault, punching and kicking while the victim lays there taking strike after strike and wondering
when it will be over and what they did to deserve it. Even worse, bystanders just sitting there or walking
by doing nothing to help. They keep on about their business as if nothing is going on. Often times
people will take out their cell phones and record it, only later to be uploaded to websites with millions
of views, instead of using their phones to call 911 for help.
What would prevent or stop these evil attacks? Guns. Law-abiding citizens with a gun would help stop
these attacks. Anyone can argue statistics about gun violence. You can pull statistics from multiple
sources and make it look however you want it to look, but facts are facts. Armed citizens save lives.
Armed citizens refuse to be victims. What about all the murders and people shot every weekend in
Chicago and Baltimore? Unfortunately, violence in inner cities is not going away while Democrat leaders
enable the behavior and do not stop gang violence and violent crimes even though they have some of
the strictest gun laws in the country. Sadly, when we hear people say Black Lives Matter, apparently,
they do not care about the fact that in 2020, black males between the ages of 15-34 are TWENTY times
more likely to be a victim of a gun homicide. Democrats will mislead you by arguing that states with the
least gun restrictions had higher rates of gun-deaths (homicides, suicides, accidental discharges, and self
defense) in 2019 while state with most restrictive gun laws in the country and has one third the rate of
gun-deaths. What Democrats do not want you to know is the rate of violent crime in gun friendly states
is half that of those in anti-gun states according to the F.B.I.. Simply put, states with more restrictive
gun rights have exponentially more violent crime than states with less restrictive gun rights. Spin it how
you want but facts are facts.
We as a society have become numb to the violence and that is not okay. How did we get here? That can
be as simple as taking corporal punishment, prayer, and pledge of allegiance out of schools, resulting in
a moral and ethical decay in our youth. Violent video games and movies on television. Kids not being
raised in solid homes and held accountable or punished when they do wrong. Parents have raised kids
to be easily offended, selfish, and unable to make their way in the world on their own. This has led to
kids being soft and as they grow up to be tomorrow’s leaders, they shut down when there is
competition or conflict, instead of rising to the challenge and treating failures as learning opportunities
for improvement. Less emphasis on the nuclear family. Mental health diagnoses and lack of treatment.
The cancel culture war we have been involved in for the last several years is also a reason. I honestly
blame a lot of the violence, including the war on cops, on former President Barack Obama as he set race
relations back 50 years in this country. He was supposed to be “The Great Unifier” instead of “Divider in
Chief.” As a retired cop of 20 years, I saw that change take place almost overnight. That’s a debate for
another day.
Mass killings have been happening for centuries and this is nothing new. One search on the internet will
bring hundreds of massacres dating back to as far as 260 B. C. and most have a common theme. Leaders
in power killing innocent people over religions, cultures, revolts, genocide, and some were just because
they wanted to show their power. Were guns around back in 260 B. C.? Of course not, but the victims
were often not allowed to have any types of weapons. They were held to a standard of submission.
Fast forward many centuries to our own war for independence and we see that the sovereignty of our
nation rests on adherence to our founding documents. The most important amendment to the U. S.
Constitution is the Second Amendment. It safeguards all the other amendments. It also assures that
not only will we be able to fight off invasion from other countries, “We the People” will never again face
tyranny or oppression from our own government. The Second Amendment safeguards what our
Founding Fathers wrote in The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Without the Second Amendment, we
would not be able to freely make our own ways through life without fear of falling prey to the evils of
society.
Gun control advocates and government officials are blind to the issue and its answers. In 1966, Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “It may be true that morality cannot be legislated but behavior can be
regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. It may
be true that the law cannot make a man love me, religion and education will have to do that, …. And so
that while legislation may not change the hearts of men, it does change the habits of men.” North
Carolina Republican candidate for U.S. Congress Courtney Geels said, “We cannot legislate our way out
of evil.” Dr. King and Geels are both saying that people in our society cannot be forced to love and
respect one another, but they can be held accountable for their actions. Legislation only affects those
who abide by laws. Criminals do not abide by laws.
I often hear, “You don’t have any need for an AR-15 or a weapon with high-capacity magazines.” Really?
Who gets to decide how I spend my money? Me. Who dictates what I may purchase for protection,
hunting, or sport shooting? Who decides what weapon I can have and how many rounds of ammunition
I can have? Me. If the government did, what would be their criteria to limit gun ownership of law-
abiding citizens? How many guns is too many? Congress passed The National Firearms Act of 1934 (N. F.
A.) and it was an intrusion on the right to bear arms as well as the sovereignty of the states. It is another
tax on citizens, and violates the sovereignty of the states as written in the Tenth Amendment because it
is not mentioned in the Constitution. The N. F. A. does not prevent anyone from buying anything. All it
did was increase the size of our government created the need for another federal agency, the B.A.T.F.&E
(Bureau of Arson Tobacco Firearms and Explosives). People can still purchase automatic weapons,
silencers, bombs, etc. The United States is built on a foundation of capitalism and, in a free market
society, citizens cannot be told what they can or cannot do with their money, and they should not be
penalized for spending money on certain items but not others like cigarettes and alcohol. It is simply
taxation without representation.
With regards to AR-15’s and other weapons with so called “high capacity” magazines, the fact remains
that these weapons only account for less than 3% of gun deaths according to the F.B.I. which in 2019
was just 580 people of the 45,222 gun-deaths that year. That says that the so called “assault weapons”
are not the problem. According to Statista Research, there have been 129 public mass shootings from
1982 till June 1, 2022. Only 13% of mass public shootings involved using a rifle which includes all
variations of rifles, from bolt-action to semi-automatic. According to Congressional Research, from
1995-2016 firearms only accounted for .41% of all deaths. Mass shootings only accounted for .23% of
gun-deaths. All gun deaths can be prevented. Suicides can be prevented and in fact, around 60% of
gun-deaths are suicides. Domestic violence and criminal activity account for 88% of mass shootings.
Domestic violence and gang violence can be prevented. Even justifiable homicides can be prevented.
Again, people with evil in their hearts are going to do evil.
Since we cannot legislate evil, we can reduce it with easier access to mental health treatment as well as
actively pursuing violent criminals and locking them up. This means letting police do their jobs
proactively pursuing criminals instead of reacting to incidents. Crime task forces strategically targeting
high crime areas based on hard data and statistics to catch criminals in the act or before they have the
chance to act. Support the efforts of law enforcement and keep criminals behind bars. Schools
encouraging students to “See something, say something” and inform a teacher or staff member if they
know of a student making threats. Including mental health screenings as part of annual doctor checkups
even as early as adolescent years. Ending “gun free zones” which are easy targets, and having proactive
armed security and/or staff in schools, health facilities, and churches. Gun free zones only encourage
evil acts because the offender knows no one will stop them. The armed security guard at the entrance,
the armed patient or visitor in the lobby of the hospital, the armed customer at the bank or convenient
store, the armed staff and teachers/professors, the armed members of the church’s congregation, and
the armed homeowner all have the ability to stop an active shooter incident or any acts of violence. I am
reminded of author Robert Heinlein, who said, “Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite
society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” Red Flag laws are
absolutely not the answer or even a part of the solution for a plethora of reasons, but that is a debate
for another time.
The violence in our country is not going to go away. We must demand accountability from our leaders,
but we also must do what we can to avoid being a victim. Realizing that law enforcement officers cannot
be everywhere at every time, citizens must be able to defend themselves adequately, even with the use
of deadly force with a firearm, until help arrives. George Washington said, “There is nothing so likely to
produce peace as to be well prepared to meet an enemy.” Be prepared how you see fit based on your
ability and resources.
The country’s founding fathers foresaw the need to safeguard our life and liberty. They gave us the
documents that created the foundation of our great nation. They gave us a blueprint for how this
country should be run. The reality is our founding fathers knew our rights and lives would need to be
safeguarded so they wrote the Second Amendment into our Constitution. “That right shall not be
infringed” is the most important part of the amendment. We must selfishly put our life and liberty above
those people with evil intentions. The armed citizen is not a victim. The armed citizen is a free citizen.
Author: Brad Kirby is a retired Sergeant, Instructor and K-9 Handler of 20 years with the Durham County
Sheriff’s Office in Durham, North Carolina. These beliefs are his own and are in no way related
to anyone or any organization.
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