By now you know that President Joe Biden is doubling and tripling down on gun control. To Democrats, it doesn’t matter that we already have gun control in this country. It doesn’t matter that taking away the ability of law-abiding people to defend themselves costs more lives than it could possibly save. You will never hear a Democrat mention the many thousands of successful incidences of self-defense made possible with firearms each year.
The history of firearms in America comes from their use by settlers to hunt and defend themselves. This is a foundational reason why guns are part of our culture, and firearms are still important to farmers, homesteaders, and anyone who wants to be secure in the home.
This cultural artifact was set into legislative stone when the Founders wrote that the citizen’s right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. That language is simple and straightforward, and it is the law of the land.
No sooner than 1934 did our nation first put gun control legislation into effect. It was a part of President Roosevelt’s “New Deal on Crime.” The New Deal has been a disaster for Americans, siphoning off billions in tax dollars and violating your right to free association. Most importantly, the psychological effects of the New Deal changed the culture so that charity is considered a function of government, rather than the duty of a neighbor.
The New Deal on Crime required extensive background checks and imposed a $200 fee for the transfer of automatic weapons. The New Deal on Crime made automatic weapons practically a thing of the past among law-abiding people. It has made them strange and frightening to us- making us much more likely to agree to further infringements.
This has created a sharp power differential between government and the people. This power differential is, we would argue, a priority for those who want more control over your life, and whose appetite for control knows no bounds.
Just four years later came the nation’s second gun control act, the Federal Firearms Act (FFA) of 1938. This law required gun manufacturers, dealers, and importers to apply and pay for a federal firearms license. The act also made it illegal for convicted felons to own guns. After this, we forgot as a nation, that when a person has committed a crime, served his time, and “paid his debt to society,” he should have his rights restored. This idea of fair redemption has been lost. Today, those convicted of a crime are permanently disabled financially — and they cannot legally defend themselves or anyone else.
In 1968, the screws were turned down tighter, as LBJ required a transfer stamp on items deemed “destructive devices.” He also criminalized gun ownership by the mentally ill, permanently taking self-defense away from a subjective category of people that most can’t accurately categorize.
Between 1968 and today, no fewer than three major gun control acts have been passed. Today, the idea that self-defense is a right given by God, is a foreign one. Our collective worship of the State has grown. Our trust in our neighbors has diminished, as has our sense of responsibility for our lives and circumstances. This is what centralized power does, what it is meant to do — and what it will always do.
