Here in the U.S., it’s a popular belief that having a firearm is an empowering thing, and I agree that it is. Having a firearm has been described as the great equalizer, allowing those who are physically weaker than an attacker and/or outnumbered by attackers to effectively fight back.
This is the very reason that I think that every woman who is serious about being able to protect herself and her family should get a firearm and train to proficiency and to maintain proficiency.
The life that she may save could be her own. It could also be her child, her spouse, her parent, her grandchild…
You get the idea.
Recently, though, an opinion piece asks, What if the Second Amendment is a distraction? What if it is a pacifier?
Now, before you go ballistic about those questions, realize that the questions comes from someone who is a Second Amendment supporter in the most fundamental way. As in shall not be infringed is plain, clear, and shouldn’t be violated, and with an understanding that the Second Amendment is to protect ourselves from the government. It’s not about hunting.
So, let’s clarify what those questions are really about. Mollie Engelhart writes,
What if we preserve firearm ownership to varying degrees depending on what state you live in, while allowing almost every other pillar of human freedom to quietly erode around us?
She continues:
So I keep coming back to the same uncomfortable thought: If we hold the line on the Second Amendment but surrender our food, our health, our privacy, our fertility, and our ability to live independently from centralized systems, then what exactly are we protecting?
What will my children have left 20 years from now? A rifle, but no real food? The ability to own firearms while being completely dependent on corporations and government systems for survival?
And she makes a good point. What if people are in danger of feeling complacent, of being pacified, because they have a firearm while having lost their other rights that would be worth fighting for? Are guns a pacifier?
Remember, the Second Amendment is the enforcement mechanism for the First Amendment and all of the other rights protected by the Constitution including the Bill of Rights, but if we focus only on the Second Amendment without exercising and protecting our other rights, will the Second Amendment really matter? After all, if you have no other rights but the right to a firearm, what rights will you potentially be using the firearm to protect from the government?
Certainly, in some statues of the Union this is more of a concern than in other states because some states have less respect for individuals and individual rights than other states, but it’s something that all of us should be thinking about.
We work to protect our Second Amendment rights, and those Second Amendment rights are in place to protect our freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom from illegal search and seizure, etc.
We need to continue to protect our Second Amendment rights, but we should also work to protect our other rights, too.
They’re all important.