Second Amendment

It is not my intent to use this blog for political purpose and certainly I would not have thought I'd write something in support of the second amendment of the US constitution, mostly because I'm not certain where I stand.

However, several days ago a young man who lost his sister in a school shooting voiced in a radio interview his continuing support of the second amendment and bearing arms, aka owning guns, because he understood that the writers of the amendment intended as a tool, a defense against a tyrannical government, allowing citizens to take up arms against the government if they, the government, were ever to reduce the government from a democracy to something less like a dictatorship.

He got me there.  The constitution does need a provision to save us from tyranny.  This got me to thinking about how this picture might materialize or manifest itself.

The thinking went a little like this:  what is tyranny?  how do we identify tyranny?  and what can we as mere citizens do to stop tyranny?

In the process I reviewed my memory of past administrations in the United States, questioning are there any signs of tyranny at any time in my memory.  Maybe!  Skipping ahead I wondered how my BB gun and single shot 22 would make a different.  Perhaps as the boy in the interview was correct, I need a semi-automatic or automatic long gun.

With gun in hand, figuratively, I assume I was in a scenario there tyranny was clearly defined and present.  What do I do next?  Stock up on groceries and fuel and ammo.  Close the gate and set up an alarm system.  Take turns with my wife listening throughout the day and night for the alarm to go off.  OK, I realized having the second amendment and a gun was not going to save me or my country.  But I do need to process to work with my neighbors and those elected into office to do something.  I need to speak up and support those leading our country.

As I write I skipped over what is tyranny and how to identify it, I just assume those questions were adequately answered.  Returning to those questions I have one additional question:  why are common folk talking about tyranny these days?  Are we in or at the edge of a tyrannical government?  And what must I do?  What must we all do?