The single biggest debate topic I have with my European friends is about guns. I have already written about the guns after discussing it with them. No one has changed their minds since. My political stance on every issue revolves around the protection of Liberty.

From what I have gathered, Europeans treat guns as if they were nuclear weapons. While I do not disagree that guns can kill people and have been used to kill people, I do disagree that we should have laws against guns. There are many reasons for this line of thinking. The most important one being that owning a gun does not directly harm anyone and disallowing someone to own a gun is a violation of Liberty.

I refuse to take away any Liberty. I do not believe you can take away some Liberty so that some other Liberties can be protected. That is what the recent debate was about. I first head this argument after a few beers–perhaps some tequila as well–but, I still understood that owning a gun is not a violation of Liberty.

The credit for the argument that the act of owning a gun is a violation of Liberty–and that being why I should be against guns–goes to my German friend who is also teaching me German. Her argument is that guns have no purpose outside of killing. Because its only purpose is to kill, it is a violation of the Liberty.

I do not know if gun technology is useful for anything else. I’m not that knowledgeable about guns. No one knows if gun technology can be useful in the future. I can accept that guns have no use other than killing–whether in defense or aggression. The part where her logic falls through the floor is claiming that ownership of a gun is violating Liberty.

Ownership is not a violation of Liberty. A gun by itself is not a violation of Liberty. Using a gun to kill someone is a violation of Liberty.

The only part of the equation that violates Liberty is the act of killing. It is conceivable that some people who own guns will commit murder. Legislating is not going to stop crime. Criminals are such because they break the law. How would putting laws in place affect them?

It will affect the law abiding citizens and make them less capable of defending themselves from the criminals.

My biggest concern is not the criminals with the guns. As bad as the criminals are, there is still one group that is worse: the government. One can call it paranoia but, the biggest violator of Liberty is the government. They also happen to be the ones with all the guns.

If there is only one reason necessary to support guns it would be for the citizens to protect themselves against the possibility of a tyrannical government.

More tyrants have come out of Europe than the United States. I don’t think it is that difficult to understand the dangers of a rogue State.

“. . . people have certain rights, and when a government violates these rights, the people have the right to “alter or abolish” that government.” – The American Declaration of Independence

In the most extreme case when government violates the Liberties of the people in a violent manner, it is up to the people to fight back against that government.  I do not believe sticks and stones are going to match up to government-grade firearms.

Guns are the people’s protection against government enslavement. Guns facilitate the well being of Liberty. They do not violate it.

By Tommy Leung

Tweet

Tags: europeans, gun control, gun laws, guns, guns liberty, Liberty, tyrants

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.