(IBD) Shoot Tyrants, Not Deer: A Warning From Russia - Americans, Never Give Up Your Guns

[Daniel John Sobieski]

Gun Control: As the administration considers repealing the Second  Amendment via executive order, a reminder of its true purpose comes from a  country that has suffered greatly from murderous and criminal tyrants.

'The president is going to act," said Vice President Joe Biden, who is  conducting meetings all week on possible gun-control measures in the wake of the  Sandy Hook shootings in Newtown, Conn. "There are executive orders, executive  action that can be taken. We haven't decided what that is yet, but we're  compiling it all." Never mind the Constitution says the right to keep and bear  arms for any purpose "shall not be infringed."

We are assured that what Biden was talking about was "sensible restrictions"  on firearms such as mental health reforms that would keep guns out of the hands  of the mentally impaired. No one would disagree with that.

But the question is how you define it. Would a returning veteran suffering  from post-traumatic stress disorder be restricted? Would anyone who has ever  sought counseling or taken an anti-depressant? That would include a lot of  people.

Such restrictions would not have prevented Newtown, since the shooter used  weapons legally purchased and registered by his mother. Nor would an assault  weapons ban have prevented Columbine, which occurred right in the middle of the  last ban.

Some, such as New York governor and 2016 presidential possibility Andrew  Cuomo, have mused about the possibility of outright confiscation of guns or  mandatory buyback programs. Good luck with that, as both the Constitution and an  armed citizenry stand as obstacles. The phrase "from our cold dead hands" to  many is more than a cliche.

Which brings us to why we have a Second Amendment. No, it is not to protect  the right of states to have their own militias. George Mason, called the father  of the Bill of Rights, said, "What is the militia? It is the whole people. To  disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."

James Madison, called the father of the Constitution, said of tyrants, "(They  were) afraid to trust the people with arms," and lauded "the advantage of being  armed, which Americans possess over the people of almost every other  nation."

Read More At IBD:  http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/011013-640220-russian-writ...