How much power do you want your government to have?

Recently a family member posted to Facebook a meme claiming there’s no good reason why Americans should own an automatic or semi-automatic weapon.

At first I decided to scroll on.

But I can’t keep silent. Good reasons, all constitutional (and not like you think) exist to allow Americans to own high-power weaponry.

1. Government is FORCE. As a collective of free people, we choose what type of government we want, and we give it the power to enFORCE law.
2. The only power our constitution gives our government is the power to protect our God-given, inalienable rights. Our government does this by FORCE.
3. What are our rights? Our Declaration of Independence outlines them: the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Our government’s one and only job is to ensure no one infringes on these rights. Only when our rights are threatened is the government charged to use force to protect us.
4. In our huge country populated by many personalities, we are surrounded by people who engage in activities we may find repugnant. But if these activities do not infringe on anyone’s rights as outlined above, the government—per our constitution—should not be involved. To wit: You may have a bedroom in your home loaded with equipment designed for sadomasochism. As long you are not forcing someone to participate in your activities, it’s your right to own such equipment. Or maybe you’re one of those people who drinks his/her own urine every morning (they exist), or perhaps you delight in living in a cave on your own land. If your life choices infringe on no one’s rights, the government has no constitutional power to be involved.
5. If there’s an AR-15 in my home, how does it infringe on your right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness? My AR-15 becomes an infringement to you only if I choose to use it to harm you. But I am a law-abiding citizen. Like 65,000,000 other Americans who own guns, today is another day that will pass without us harming anyone with our firearms. My ownership of a gun, or a tank for that matter, is no infringement on any of your rights, which makes it none of your business. The government should become involved when someone uses their AR-15—or handgun, or car, or knife, or fist—to harm another person. Doers of such evil are criminals. Criminals are the only people whose rights should be constricted by government force.
6. It is a mistake to give government the power to restrict ownership of any item by law-abiding citizens, because if we open that door, the government will keep on taking. Worse, to do so is to judge a person to be a criminal without evidence, without due process. People have been murdered by rope, twine, hangers, knives, bottles, ceramic tile, pantyhose, fertilizer, zip ties, tape, rat poison, firewood, gasoline, bed sheets, illegal drugs, legal drugs, water—the list is endless. What we need to outlaw is murder. Ah, you say, we have a law for that. Yes, we do. We need to enforce punishment of THIS, and enforce it swiftly, consistently, and publicly. The rest of us law-abiding citizens should be left in peace.
7. As for the 2nd Amendment: This was inserted into our nation’s founding documents to protect American citizens from an overbearing government that tends to grow in size over time and grab evermore power—infringing on our rights. We’ve lived for 250 years in relative peace (on and off), so those reading this now have been lulled into a deception, that is, that the peace we have enjoyed all our lives will continue and that the biggest enemy of freedom is outside our borders. History denies this. That is why Americans should have the right to choose what means they will use to protect themselves from their government and their neighbor. Should the day come when our government is our worst enemy—such as in Venezuela, North Korea, Syria, or China—I want to be able to protect my family, my property, and my life. A powerful weapon is my best defense in such a case. The framers of our constitution understood this. Likely that is why the 2nd Amendment appears so high on the list.

So how much power do you want to give your government? It has more than enough already to legislate the smallest details of your life. Choose liberty. Someday you may have to fight for it with a firearm. I hope that is never the case, but history says otherwise.