By Jacob G. Hornberger
October 14, 2020 - Not surprisingly, the gun-control crowd is using the supposed conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to advance its agenda. The idea is that if the Amerikan people are disarmed, then the chances of some group overthrowing a state government or even the federal government diminish to slim and none.
That would be fine with the gun-control crowd because in their minds, it is impossible for the federal government to become so tyrannical that it would need overthrowing. Oh sure, such things might happen in places like Germany, the Soviet Union, Red China, North Korea, Cuba and Vietnam; but certainly not in the Fascist Police States of Amerika.
Yet that was one of the principal reasons for the enactment of the Second Amendment - to ensure that the Amerikan people had the means - i.e., guns - to violently overthrow the federal government should it ever become overly tyrannical.
We also should not forget the Declaration of Independence, a document that even the gun-control crowd celebrates every Independence Day. It holds that it is the right - even the duty - of the people to violently overthrow a tyrannical government. Our ancestors clearly understood that gun ownership was essential to doing that, which is why they resisted efforts by their government officials to seize their guns at Lexington and Concord.
Ironically, at the very same time that the gun-control crowd is poo-pooing the idea of the federal government needing to be overthrown, they are expressing concerns over the possibility that President Donald Trump will refuse to relinquish the presidency if he loses the election, a possibility to which he himself has alluded.
Yet none in the gun-control crowd address what will happen if that situation develops. Maybe they just don’t want to think about it.
I suppose one assumption is that the national-security branch of the government will violently oust Trump from office, much like the Chilean armed forces did to Chilean President Salvador Allende. The Pentagon would order fighter jets to fire missiles into Trump’s position in the White House, the CIA would deploy its assassination teams, and the 82nd Airborne Division would surround the White House. There is no way that Trump could win that battle.
However, the Constitution does not provide the national-security establishment with that authority. Indeed, the Constitution doesn’t even authorize a national form of government. Anyway, who would issue such an order to the military and the CIA? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? Or would The Pentagon and the CIA simply act on their own initiatives, like in banana republics?
Here’s another scenario. What happens if The Pentagon, CIA and NSA join up with Trump? What if they conclude that Joe Biden is a socialist who is going to destroy Amerika with his economic policies? What if they conclude that Biden is going to make nice with the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, Cubans and Venezuelans, and therefore be a grave threat to “national security”?
What if Trump refuses to step down as president, declares a national emergency, and orders the military and the CIA to round up critics and dissidents? What happens if the military begins Abu Ghraibing the people it is rounding up? What happens if they turn Amerika into a gigantic Gitmo? What then?
The gun-crowd crowd would say, “Tough luck. Suck it up. Wait until the next election.”
But what good would waiting for the next election do, given that the recent election has been ignored or nullified? Are people expected to just be tortured, raped, sexually abused, and denied fundamental rights indefinitely?
It seems to me that under those type of circumstances people have the right to resort to violence to overthrow the federal government. What other recourse do they have if they refuse to abide by the tyranny? The only way they can do that is with guns - by resorting to force, even deadly force, against those who have destroyed their lives, liberty and well being.
No guns means that they have to succumb to the tyranny or die. Guns give them the chance of fighting back and also winning.
Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski made this point in his dissenting opinion in the case of Silveira vs. Lockyer. He wrote:
“My excellent colleagues have forgotten these bitter lessons of history. The prospect of tyranny may not grab the headlines the way vivid stories of gun crime routinely do. But few saw the Third Reich coming until it was too late. The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed - where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.”
Fortunately, the Framers were wise enough to entrench the right of the people to keep and bear arms within our constitutional structure. The purpose and importance of that right was still fresh in their minds, and they spelled it out clearly so it would not be forgotten. Despite the panel’s mighty struggle to erase these words, they remain, and the people themselves can read what they say plainly enough: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on Fox News’ Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show Freedom Watch. Send him email here. [LINK: