Editor:
The only reason we are citizens of the United States of America rather than citizens of the Commonwealth of Nations such as Canada, Australia or New Zealand is because in 1775 the colonists did have guns which gave them the ability to assert their rights.
The first battle of the Revolutionary War was the attempt by the British to confiscate the munitions stored at Concord, Massachusetts. The British effort failed because the colonists were armed. This explains why the rights in the First Amendment to the Constitution (freedom of religion, speech, press, peaceable assembly) were guaranteed by the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms.
Unless citizens have guns to assert their rights, they have only whatever rights the government permits. Thus, the Second Amendment is the people’s defense against their own government, should that government over-reach its constitutional authority.
Secondly, since local, county and state governments have no legal requirement or ability to protect citizens from criminal acts, citizens, therefore, have the responsibility to protect themselves with the arms guaranteed them by the Second Amendment. Governments can only apprehend, try and incarcerate criminals after the fact; therefore, “Protect and Serve” on police cars is a misnomer.
William R. Faurot
Idyllwild
