Why Americans Love Guns

There is no country in world like the United States of America.  One of our defining characteristics is our love for guns.  They are just about everywhere - even where they are banned.  Some would argue this is a problem, I see it as one of the greatest protections for liberty ever devised.  The number of gun owners and the great number of guns is not a mistake, it was designed to be so.  Our Founding Fathers understood what happens when power is given to the government.  They designed a system that put the power in the hands of the people, not just the power to vote, but the actual physical power of government was placed in hands of the people.

Most of us understand the basic separation of power between branches of government, such as executive, legislative, and judicial.  This was not the only separation of powers.  There were also clear separations between federal, state, and individual powers.  This was the case with weapons and resulted in what we now understand as the right to bear arms as protected by the Second Amendment.  The clear intention of the founders was to ensure the power of arms was concentrated at the level of individuals, not the state, and definitely not the federal government.  
 
We were not to have a standing army, but an army primarily composed of free citizens well trained in the use of their own firearms.  This great army could be called into the service of their state or the union as needed, then return to their homes.  While we have drifted from this original intention in the structure of our military, some of the constitutional restrictions on a standing army are still clearly set out in the highest law of the land.  First, congress is only allowed to fund the army for up to two years at a time (Article 1 Section 8).  Second, the officers of the state militias (now seen as the National Guard) are appointed by the states (Article 1 Section 8).  Third, and of most interest here, is the restriction on the federal government not allowing them to keep individuals from owning and carrying firearms (Second Amendment).
 
This was not only to ensure enough armed citizens to provide for the common defense, but was to allow each individual to defend their own lives and property with those firearms, and to allow for the people to defend their rights from the tyranny of government when needed.

So why do Americans love guns - because we love liberty.  You can't have one with out the other.  I invite each of you to accept the responsibilities of a free citizen.  Get trained and get armed.

Copyright 2016,  Steven Adams 

Quotes of Interest:
 
James Madison
“…As the greatest danger to liberty is from large standing armies, it is best to prevent them by an effectual provision for a good militia.”
 
Alexander Hamilton
“Little more can reasonable by aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed and equipped;…  This will not only lessen the call for military establishments; but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form any army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights and those of their fellow citizens.”
 
Thomas Jefferson
“What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?  Let them take arms, the remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them.  What signify a few lives lost in a century or two?  The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.  It is nature’s manure.”
 
All quotes are taken from Les Adams’ book entitled The Second Amendment Primer, which I highly recommend.