You Have A Horse In The Second Amendment Race Whether You Like It Or Not

Recently, a friend of mine (yes, I have friends!) and I were having a discussion on the various state-level gun control and gun rights proposals working their way through the legislatures. As a background, this friend of mine does not own a firearm, but does generally identify and support liberty-minded causes and personalities. If I recall correctly, our conversation was started because of a notorious shooting incident somewhere, and his theory was that either the federal “assault weapons” ban would be reinstated permanently, or that half the states in the US would enact some form of a ban on their own. Erroneously, he thinks the states have the right to bypass the federal Constitution, but that discussion is for another blog.

Anyways, the conversation continued on amiably, but he left it with the (paraphrasing from memory…) statement of “I have no horse in this race, but you gun guys have to figure this all out before they start banning stuff. They banned AR-15s once, they’ll do it again!”

Yes but no. Outside of rabid gun-grabber circles, hardware bans don’t play well even in the vast middle of the electorate. However, what really got me thinking is the phrase “I have no horse in this race…”

Whether you own a firearm or not, you do indeed have a horse in the Second Amendment race. The right to keep and bear arms includes being able to purchase them, free of government meddling, at any time…

Note: For my dedicated readers, this is all “Gun Philosophy 101” stuff. You don’t have to read it since you know it already, but keep it handy for your unarmed but potentially gun-curious friends, ha ha

Of course, my general opinion is that all American households should have at least one person in them who is armed or has ready access to armaments at all times. I understand that of course there’s legal obstacles to attaining this status in a lot of places, but having firearms available (outside government meddling) should be the standard. Being armed should be the default setting for a free American citizen.

However, I will recognize that the right to keep and bear arms also means you have the right to not keep and bear arms. Friend-of-the-site Mandatory Carry thinks it should be, well, mandatory, but I’m nominally OK with it if someone chooses not to own a gun, as long as they don’t get in the way of my ability to own any gun in a free and expeditious manner.

However, even if you don’t own a firearm, you should at the very least support the right to keep and bear arms to the maximum degree. The right holds meaning for you, both in obvious ways and not-so-obvious ways.

The Second Amendment Protects The Fourth, The First, And So On…

As a little history, I kind of have personal experience with this situation. When I was a teenager in the wilds of New York State (back when it was somewhat livable), Howard Stern, long before he turned into a sad old regime shill, ran for Governor on the Libertarian platform. Of course, it was a PR stunt, but I wondered what this libertarian thing was about. The commercial internet was young at the time, but after much poking around, I’d consumed the basics of liberty. Mises, that sort of thing. The crux of it all was that of course, certain rights are inherent to us all. They don’t require the effort of another to maintain, you just have it by default. Free speech, the right to keep and bear arms, privacy, the whole bit. A compelling argument for the right to keep and bear arms was that when faced with a government which conducts itself via coercion, being armed means you can exercise your other rights, even if the government chooses not to recognize them at all. The Second protects the First.

Being too young to lawfully acquire a firearm, and not even knowing how to in 1990s New York State, I didn’t have one to call my own to guarantee my other rights. But it was nice to know I had every right to own a firearm. Naïvely I thought I could just go to a store when I was 18 and get a gun. I remember reading about the Brady Bill and all that, but at the time it wasn’t in effect.

Regardless, it was actually quite a long time until I actually purchased a firearm. Not going to lie, I was in my 30s. Sure, I had shot my share of guns, but I simply didn’t prioritize owning one. However, I understood the importance of being able to freely acquire a gun if I felt the need to. On a principled level it was as I said, I understood that all other rights were polite requests unless force could be deployed to back them up. On a practical level, I also knew that if I needed to get a gun, chances are I’d need one fast, and having legal obstacles to the process could prove dangerous.

Which brings me to my next point…

You Don’t Need A Gun Until You Do

By most estimates and metrics, over 130 million people in our nation own at least one firearm. Some own more, some own a lot more. There’s over 600 million firearms in private hands, just for reference.

To put it in context, there’s around 345,426,500 people in the United States per what Grok said earlier today. So around 38 percent of the population has ready access to at least one firearm. Some studies have suggested that half the population owns at least one gun, which is entirely believable. For a very good reason, the stats on firearms ownership are hard to come by, and it’s generally agreed amongst serious and non-biased researchers that whatever numbers are reported, the actual numbers are significantly higher. And good!

Along those lines, even though we have a heavy level of firearms ownership, it does not imply that our nation is dangerous as a whole. Despite the media hype (from both sides of the spectrum), we’re a very peaceful nation at the moment. With the exception of certain cities, our rate of actual violent crime is pretty low. With a dose of caution and planning, you could easily drive from Surfside Beach, South Carolina to Morro Bay, California and likely not encounter a situation where a firearm would even be remotely necessary.

Now, “likely” isn’t as certain as “never”, of course. You take that trip 99 times peacefully, and then on the 100th time, you get stomped in the parking lot of a seedy Motel 6 in Longview, Texas. It could happen. It has happened. 99 times, you didn’t need a gun - but on that 100th time, you wished you did. It’s the old fire extinguisher analogy. It’s there doing nothing until you need it.

On a more mundane level, needing the unencumbered ability to purchase a firearm is a necessity. Sure, the default should be that you have a modern service rifle such as an AR-pattern weapon close at hand, but I can’t demand you do so. However, I’d like the minimum to be for you to be able to run down to your local gun shop and purchase said rifle without hassle. Is there a risk a bad guy could get a firearm in the same manner? Sure (and it’s statistically rare), but freedom is dangerous. Be even more dangerous in response.

Note: Ideally the modern service rifle I’m talking about should be an Colt or FN M4A1 select-fire rifle (or similar) with a suppressor fitted. Freely available on Amazon and delivered to your home with no government meddling. However, until that time comes, a semi-auto variant of such is fine.

Worth remembering is that law enforcement has no obligation to respond to your calls for help. “Herd immunity” doesn’t work, either. You might live in a community where a lot of other people are armed, but when the chips are down, they won’t be coming to help you. Even if they did, it’d be too late.

But anyways, the situation where someone has needed to get a gun, stat, has happened numerous times in the past. During the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict, scared denizens of Los Angeles ran to gun shops, hoping to quickly acquire firearms to defend themselves and their homes with. They ran smack-dab into manual background checks (no NICS or California DOJ system in 1992) waiting periods, and restricted magazine capacities on the weapons themselves. The irony here is most of the people begging for firearms had voted in support of gun control in the past few elections. Oops. Sadly it seems they haven’t learned their lesson. I’m digressing a little, but still.

More recently, during the general unrest following the death of George Floyd, people around the nation lined up at their local gun shops. In most states, they didn’t have too much of a hassle since the only gun control laws were the federal minimum. Those laws are of course immoral and unconstitutional, but it pales as compared to the even bigger hassle Californians, New Yorkers and the like have to go through. Of course, once again, they ran into the very laws they voted for in the last election. Rioters were literally at their doorstep and they had to wait weeks to even consider taking their gun home.

A violent mob isn’t going to wait for your background check to process or a waiting period to expire. You should be able to see those flames on the horizon, run down the street to a gun shop, and equip yourself with a practical rifle or pistol immediately. Of course, your first mistake was not having one to begin with, but it’s immoral to have bureaucratic barriers in your way as you attempt to rectify the situation.

Guarantee Your Freedom By Being Armed

It’s no secret that in the next few weeks, the fortunes of our nation could be altered greatly. Vice President (and for all intents and purposes, de facto Acting President) Kamala Harris will be going head-to-head with 45th President of the United States Donald John Trump in what is likely to be a historic and contested election. It’s already been a heck of a ride so far. Two (maybe three?) assassination attempts on Trump, current President-in-name-only Joseph Biden dropping out and putting Harris on the spot, and numerous other controversies have got the nation keyed to a fever pitch. Never mind the numerous contentious down-ballot races at the federal and state level.

The potential for violence and general civil unrest is higher than I can ever remember it being. We all know the general tilt of those likely to start such things, and sadly they seem primed to do so regardless of the victors of the various races nationwide.

Ideally, you should be armed prior to November 5th, 2024. If you aren’t equipped with a proper modern firearm such as an AR-pattern rifle, rectify that situation now.

Because like it or not, you have a horse in this race.

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