Gun Control, Patriotism, and Civil Disobedience

by Jacob G. Hornberger
(continued)

Therefore, there is no doubt that the American of today would feel very uncomfortable if, all of a sudden, he found himself in the British colonies in 1775 -- in the midst of smugglers, tax-evaders, draft-resisters, and other patriots of the time.

This brings us back to the individuals in California who are refusing to register their guns.

As our American ancestors understood so well, the bedrock of a free society is private ownership of property. And there are fewer more important rights of private ownership than the unfettered right to own weapons.

Why is ownership of weapons so vitally important? Not for hunting. And not even to resist aggression by domestic criminals or foreign invaders. No, as history has repeatedly shown the vital importance of the fundamental right to own arms is to resist tyranny \by one's own government\, should such tyranny ever become unendurably evil and oppressive.

The lesson which Americans of today have forgotten or have never learned -- the lesson which our ancestors tried so hard to teach us -- is that the greatest threat to our lives, liberty, property, and security lies not with some foreign government, as our rulers so often tell us; instead the greatest threat to our freedom and well-being lies with our own government!

Of course, there are those who suggest that democratically- elected public officials would never do anything to seriously harm the American people. But let's look at just a few twentieth- century examples: They confiscated people's gold. They repudiated gold clauses in government debts. They provoked the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor and then acted like they were surprised. They incarcerated Japanese-Americans for no crime at all. They injected dangerous, mind-altering drugs into American servicemen without their knowledge. They radiated the American people in the Pacific Northwest and then deliberately hid this information from them. They have surreptitiously confiscated and plundered people's income and savings through the Federal Reserve System. They have plundered and terrorized the citizenry through the IRS. And, most recently,they have sent our fellow citizens to their deaths thousands of miles away in the pursuit of a relatively insignificant cause.

Those who believe that democratically-elected rulers lack the potential and inclination for destructive conduct against their citizenry are living in la-la land.

Of course, the proponents of political tyranny are usually well-motivated. Those who enacted the gun-registration law in California point to criminals who have used semiautomatic weapons to commit horrible, murderous acts. But the illusion -- the pipe- dream -- is that bad acts can be prevented through the deprivation of liberty. They cannot be! Life is insecure -- whether under liberty or enslavement. The only choice is between liberty and insecurity, on the one hand, and insecurity and enslavement on the other.

The true patriot scrutinizes the actions of his own government with unceasing vigilance.

And when his government violates the morality and rightness associated with principles of individual freedom and private property, he immediately rises in opposition to his government. This is why the gun owners of California might ultimately go down in history as among the greatest and most courageous patriots of our time.

JACOB HORNBERGER is founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation, P.O. Box 9752, Denver, Colorado 80209. Tel: (303) 777-3588.

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RECOMMENDED READING: That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right, Halbrook ($12.95); Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out, Kates ($9.95); Firearms & Violence, Kates ($15.95). A Right To Bear Arms, Halbrook ($24.95). Available from Freedom's Forum Books, 1800 Market Street, San Francisco, California 94102. (Add $2.00 postage & handling for first book and $1.00 for each additional item.)