Letters to the editor for Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Let’s talk Second Amendment

When the rules of government were successfully agreed upon, they called those rules the Constitution of the United States of America. Following a bloody revolution to free themselves from a despotic government, the founders knew too well what governments can become if left unchecked. So in order to protect the people and their newly won freedom, the founders established the first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights. Those would be protections from the long arm of government.

The First Amendment would allow the people to speak their mind should they find the government veering dangerously away from the rules. And to further secure that First Amendment, they added the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms. The wise founders knew what it was like to live unarmed under a ruthless despotic ruler, as they had no means to defend themselves. Should a corrupt and despotic government decide to silence the voice of a concerned people, they knew they would have to answer to an armed lawful citizenry not willing to sacrifice any of their rights handed down by adherence to “divine providence.”

Of all the correspondence to and from the founders on the Second Amendment, not one word about hunting or target shooting — they knew an armed people would deter the wrongdoers in government as well as attend to the security of a free state.

Jefferson said as he was talking about the newly established government, “bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”

Perhaps the ignorant people of this country would rather have those chains around their own ankles, so they can experience the meaning of despotism.

William Barwig

Gardnerville