Why I Fight (With apologies to Colion Noir)...

This past Tuesday, Colion Noir published a blog post over at America’s First Freedom, entitled “Why I Fight…”.

In the blog post, he gives a brief synopsis of his own situation:

To say that I’m not your typical National Rifle Association member is somewhat of an understatement. But at the same time, I am your typical NRA member. You see, like you and 5 million others like you, I care deeply about the Second Amendment right of law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms. And like you, I’m willing to fight for that right.

On paper, the NRA is pretty much about this. 5 million (and more) people who care deeply enough about the Second Amendment to join an admittedly controversial organization and fight for their rights.

However, when the rubber meets the road, it’s a little different for CN.

Through all my activism the past several years, I’ve come under plenty of attack—mainly from liberals who call me an “Uncle Tom” or somehow portray me as betraying black Americans by my advocacy for the Second Amendment. That doesn’t even make sense. Is my entire identity as a black man based on my gun ownership? Some of the most influential black individuals in history have advocated for the use of firearms, so how come when I do it, I’m vilified?

Indeed. He’s not staying in his pre-assigned stereotypical box, and he catches hell for it from people of his own race, and people who wish to pigeonhole his political beliefs, solely based on his physical characteristics.

While not to the severity he has, I’ve run into similar calls of “betrayal” since outwardly expressing my interest in firearms, and my interest in defending my right to have whichever firearms I choose. Even when I grudgingly concede things such as the fact that background checks aren’t going to away, the vilification continues.

For those who may just be tuning in, Regular Guy Guns and the firearms industry isn’t my sole source of income. By day, I work in the local (South Florida) entertainment industry, and I also dabble in landscape and architectural photography. Due to a fluke either by myself, or Instagram, my real-world persona was linked to RGG. I’m not ashamed of my interest in firearms and the Second Amendment - far from it actually - but for mostly professional reasons I chose to keep the two businesses compartmentalized. But, due to said fluke, Instagram followers of my personal profile were notified on one random day of the existence of Regular Guy Guns…i.e, “Your Friend DV is now on Instagram as @regularguyguns.” Not sure why it happened, but there it is.

Honestly, I picked up a good amount of followers from it. I think quite a few friends of mine used it as an excuse to be more honest about their interest in firearms, and were pleasantly surprised to see an “non-stereotypical” supporter of all things 2A. However, there was a marked amount of histrionics as it were. Same as it ever was, but the “link” renewed it to a fever pitch for a bit.

Oh my god, you own assault weapons? A silencer? Is that a machine gun? Oh my god you’re firing a machine gun in that video! Did you have a gun on you last time we all had dinner together? OMG your stepson is going to grab one of your evil assault rifles and hose down the school! Your guns are nothing but death machines! I wipe my ass with your death machines! Every time you walk out of the house with a concealed weapon, you are punching me in the nose! You’re an artist, you have to support gun control! Your hobby finances death! Guns killed eleventy billion babies last year! Katy Perry told me to hate guns! Kim Kardashian is against guns, and so am I! You’re voting for Trump, aren’t you? And you’re an NRA member? I thought I knew you!

I’m not talking to you anymore - our friendship is over!

Well, good. If you are going to define our friendship by my ownership of firearms or lack thereof, I’m guessing we weren’t really friends to begin with.

Anyways, my situation reflect the ultimate reality of firearms in this nation. Being of a certain profession, orientation, or race, somehow means you have to be against effective means of self-defense and tyranny repulsion. Yes, tyranny repulsion. Those other freedoms enumerated in the Bill of Rights are guaranteed and protected by the Second Amendment. Yes, the government may have tanks, attack helicopters, guided missiles, and nuclear weapons, but last time I checked, determined men and women with rifles - regardless of whether they were right or wrong - have caused our high-tech troops no amount of grief a few times in history. And if I recall, a few ragtag troops beat one of the world’s most advanced armies a few hundred years ago, and went on to found this very nation. Asymmetric warfare, Google it.

With that in mind, people need to remember the Second Amendment is for everybody - “the right of the people to keep and bear arms”. There’s no qualifier - it doesn’t say “The right of the conservative people…”, it says “the people”. It’s for all of us.

Unfortunately, the politicians, on both sides, have lumped in the fundamental right to self-defense, by any means necessary, (or the denial of) with a whole host of other issues. If you support universal healthcare, social equality, marriage rights, and other liberal concepts, you “have to be against” guns. If you are a Second Amendment supporter, you “have to support” the exclusivity of traditional marriage, closer ties between church and State, an aggressive interventionist foreign policy, and other neoconservative concepts. You can’t just support the Second and have diverse opinions for other issues. Until recently, the people controlling the conversation on both sides would brook no variation of thought or nonsense. The Second Amendment shouldn’t be a wedge issue, it should stand independent of all others - again, it’s for all of us. Grab a gun. Grab a hundred guns. Learn them, use them. Educate others. Politicians, stop making it a wedge issue. Democrats, drop the anti-gun nonsense and you’ll win some elections. Republicans, calm down on the social conservatism and you’ll enjoy even more of a surge, which means more Second Amendment supporters.

Fortunately, more and more people are expressing their support of the Second, regardless of their other beliefs. I personally know people who support universal single-payer healthcare and the Second. I know LGBT folk who are more heavily armed than the most staunchly conservative Texan. The less of a wedge issue it becomes, the more secure our right becomes. We can all join together and secure our freedoms from those who wish to usurp them from us. An armed populace is a free populace. I’ll fight to keep our freedoms secure.

Will you?