If there were ever a survey asking gun owners why they buy guns, I’d wager the majority of them would say that it basically is for protection. The Second Amendment was not written for hunters but for the people’s self-protection, including protection from tyranny. The first thing smart dictators do is remove guns from registered owners.

While the media and the left pontificate about the evil of guns used in recent mass shootings, Senator Lindsey Graham told the blatant truth when asked about why he owned an AR-15.  His comments were reported in an article by Hunter Lovell in the Washington Examiner:

The South Carolina senator made the comments to reporters aboard Air Force One that he maintains an AR-15 in case "there's a hurricane, a natural disaster, no power, no cops, no anything."

His remarks were first revealed by Voice of America on Twitter. A reporter then asked him to clarify if he meant the semiautomatic rifle was for looters.

"Yeah, people, they’re not going to come to the AR-15 home," Graham responded. "Well, I think if you show up on the porch with an AR-15, they’ll probably go down the street."

One of the survivors of the awful El Paso massacre, Christopher Grant, a black man, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that he was surprised his mother didn’t have her gun with her : “I ran towards my mother to try and shield her. And I’m like ‘mom.’ Cause my mom is a gun-wielding grandma. She carries a snub-nose Smith and Wesson, 38 special with a built in scope in it — everywhere she goes.”    

This was probably not something CNN wanted to report while visiting survivors in hospital. Why did this black woman carry a gun? For protection, of course.

It still has not occurred to the Left that gun laws only impact the law-abiding. Criminals break these laws all the time but politicians continue to ignore the fact that good people with guns prevent more mass shootings than gun-free zones. In fact, gun-free zones only place targets on the backs of the innocent humans there.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were still mainstream journalists who knew how to research the truth when it comes to guns and the Second Amendment? I’ve written several columns on gun control and readers know that I’ve always abhorred and feared them. Growing up on the mean streets of Spanish Harlem had a lot to do with this antipathy. But I no longer could adhere to the emotional reactions of my youth once I understood what gun ownership meant to others in different parts of the country.

What I discovered, and what the Left refuses to admit, is that guns are not the problem. People are. There have always been guns in the country but mass shootings of innocents were rare until the 1960’s. In a recent PJ media column by Dennis Prager, he explains:

“Given the same ubiquity of guns, wouldn't the most productive question be what, if anything has changed since the 1960s and '70s? Of course it would. And a great deal has changed. America is much more ethnically diverse, much less religious. Boys have far fewer male role models in their lives. Fewer men marry, and normal boy behavior is largely held in contempt by their feminist teachers, principals and therapists. Do any or all of those factors matter more than the availability of guns??

America might be one of the most diverse nations; however, the difference between then and now is that when immigrants first came to America they wanted to be Americanized. Today’s immigrants in many ways, thanks to the ideology of multi-culturalism, refuse to be assimilated into their new country and revere their homeland flags rather than ours.  

In 2007, I was honored to meet and hear Ayaan Hirsi Ali.  This beautiful Somali woman suffered genital mutilation at age 5, fled from to the Netherlands to avoid an arranged marriage, educated herself, and became a member of the Dutch Parliament. She said that not all cultures are good and called ours, a benign ladies-first culture.  She had never heard those words until she came to a Western nation. She warned, however, that it is "this culture that is under threat today. Many of those born into it take it for granted or, worse, apologize for it." 

As for America being less religious, there is no doubt. Would there have been a Columbine massacre if God had not been removed from the schools?  Most of the mass shooters fit the same profile. Most are single males and come from broken homes. Nearly all have been under the influence of marijuana or psych drugs. Not sure if any of these murderers were regular church goers but I doubt it..

Dennis Prager hits the nail on the head with his concluding remarks:

“Finally, since the 1960s, we have been living in a culture of grievance. Whereas in the past people generally understood that life is hard and/or they have to work on themselves to improve their lives, for half a century, the left has drummed into Americans' minds the belief that their difficulties are caused by American society -- in particular, its sexism, racism and patriarchy. And the more aggrieved people are the more dulled their consciences.”

I call it the pussification of the nation and with so many of these aggrieved personalities out there, gun ownership seems to be the best defense against them. John Lennon’s lyrics about guns are more relative today than those in the insipid Imagine but he’d never be allowed to write them today.

When I hold you in my arms (ooh, oh, yeah)
And I feel my finger on your trigger (ooh, oh, yeah)
I know nobody can do me no harm (ooh, oh, yeah)
----------"Happiness is a warm gun,” by the Beatles.

Image credit: Christophe Lessere