I firmly believe that at this point, our primary focus should remain on keeping the victims (and their family members and friends) of this unspeakable tragedy in our thoughts and prayers.
That being said, as responsible, armed citizens, we still have a duty, a responsibility that never ends, to defend our Second Amendment rights.
If you allow the chipping away of a constitutional right to any degree (no matter how trivial the concession may be in your mind), eventually, the right will cease to exist.
Take the First Amendment as an example. Look at the history of the SCOTUS precedent. You will see that the overwhelming number of landmark cases deal with guarding against free speech attacks on the "margins" or "periphery." If you don't protect the ability to freely and openly communicate via certain forms of unpopular symbolic speech (wearing a jacket emblazoned with the slogan "**** the Draft"), if you don't protect seemingly valueless speech containing patently offensive statements about public figures (Hustler Magazine v. Falwell), etc., then pretty soon, you have no First Amendment rights left.
If we want to protect our Second Amendment rights, we MUST protect the central core of Second Amendment rights as much as possible by attacking ANY seemingly insignificant perimeter threats.
If you are defending Athens from invasion, you don't fight the battle in Athens or just outside its walls, you fight that battle miles and miles outside of Athens.
Write your Congressmen (I've already written mine and will continue to do so). Donate to the NRA (or whatever organization you feel will put up the best fight). Do not apologize or feel guilty for defending your Second Amendment rights. Posting your thoughts and feelings here is undoubtedly useful but unless you are getting out there and making your voice heard in the world, you are simply doing nothing more than preaching to the choir.
That being said, as responsible, armed citizens, we still have a duty, a responsibility that never ends, to defend our Second Amendment rights.
If you allow the chipping away of a constitutional right to any degree (no matter how trivial the concession may be in your mind), eventually, the right will cease to exist.
Take the First Amendment as an example. Look at the history of the SCOTUS precedent. You will see that the overwhelming number of landmark cases deal with guarding against free speech attacks on the "margins" or "periphery." If you don't protect the ability to freely and openly communicate via certain forms of unpopular symbolic speech (wearing a jacket emblazoned with the slogan "**** the Draft"), if you don't protect seemingly valueless speech containing patently offensive statements about public figures (Hustler Magazine v. Falwell), etc., then pretty soon, you have no First Amendment rights left.
If we want to protect our Second Amendment rights, we MUST protect the central core of Second Amendment rights as much as possible by attacking ANY seemingly insignificant perimeter threats.
If you are defending Athens from invasion, you don't fight the battle in Athens or just outside its walls, you fight that battle miles and miles outside of Athens.
Write your Congressmen (I've already written mine and will continue to do so). Donate to the NRA (or whatever organization you feel will put up the best fight). Do not apologize or feel guilty for defending your Second Amendment rights. Posting your thoughts and feelings here is undoubtedly useful but unless you are getting out there and making your voice heard in the world, you are simply doing nothing more than preaching to the choir.
