The Patriot Post® · Gun Control

In my last post here, I posted an open letter to Governor Mitt Romney. I urged him to be bold in his values so that he will resonate with the electorate more faithfully. They will know it when they hear it.

This is done by looking at the repeal of gun control in the United States or, at the very least, a moratorium on all enforcement of gun laws for a period of five years.

How will this help?

While candidates for nearly every office are struggling to get the electorate to understand them, the repeal of gun control will be the very bold step of showing the people that Governor Romney understands the electorate instead. He hears the people.

The electorate is about 80% independents, conservatives and libertarians; liberals and leftists comprise, we are informed, about 20 – 24% of the people, give or take a tad. Who is registered to vote and who is not is another issue, considering voting age of those demographics, fraud and other factors. Should Governor Romney actually take up a position on respecting second amendment values of independence and smaller government – should he reflect a deeper understanding of second amendment purpose the way 90 million gun owners understand it – he could likely increase the rolls of newly registered conservatives, independents and libertarians.

This becomes a winning strategy in stimulating the Vote, in self-government participation, and a better rapport between the government and the governed. It can make it easier to reduce the size of government.

When it comes to the bold position on the armed citizen – an official position, that is – it will send a life-saving message to voters.

Instead of bringing plans to the stump, one candidate should heed the plans of the people and reflect that.

America can recognize a difference between a Good Samaritan and a Vigilante. The vigilantes operate outside of due process, they have no legal authority, and they generally work for some political purpose against the interests of the community.

Good Samaritans operate within due process and the law, they operate on all the legal authority they need in order to intervene, and they bring a redeeming social purpose to the incident.

Armed self-defense in the news is Good Samaritans in action, not Vigilantes. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, or the success of intervention and how police react to armed citizen intervention. You will notice how citizens are praised by police, heralded at times, and thanked. Many of these citizens are accoladed for coming to the aid of a police officer, or for saving a child, or performing CPR before the Paramedics arrive, or some other act of involvement in the absence of first responders.

America loves her Good Samaritans. America is a nation of Good Samaritans.

Every single person who owns a gun, trains with it to protect loved ones, anyone who is as prepared as reasonable, is probably the last one to imagine himself/herself a hero; they tend to view their choices as a duty and decency. To them it is many things, not the least of which is love’s command.

These moments come in the absence of first responders. Gun control is unreasonable, because of two main reasons. Gun control is not where crime is fought, and gun control is merely an excuse to grow government when gun control predictably fails. Without gun control, we would never have the bureaucracies we’re stuck with, nor would we have shortages of food, energy and talent.

Understand that crime is fought best at the scene of the crime and you have the secret to smaller government: when violence is a much lesser issue, when it is reduced by the armed citizen as it is in 49 states, immense spending against hate, bigotry, violence and greed become unneeded. It soon becomes clear what the more practical and reasonable action was all along.

Gun laws are themselves weaponized to grow dependency on the State. Yet, gun laws are not consistent throughout the U.S. Many states have no registration requirements, for instance, and decline to write poor gun laws. Clearly, those governments feel that they do not need to know where the guns are, impeaching the alleged need for a great many gun registration laws. Experts point out that no crime has been solved thanks to registration.

Governor, the entire United States has no need for gun control, nor does any public servant need to know where the guns are. What we are seeing in these right-to-carry states is that officials do not quarrel with the Sovereign, they concur with the Sovereign.

49 states. Big cities promoting gun control go against their legislators, as in Aurora, Colorado. Was that a good decision?

It is time to make a bold statement that there are shared values between Governor Mitt Romney and the people. The stumping must not be how to understand you, Sir, but that you understand us.

I suggest sitting down with a dozen gun owners – not the non-profits – and hear what gun ownership is all about. It is not heritage, it is not civil rights, it is not U.S. History, it is not hunting; it is all about being the only one you can depend on, and it fights not only violence where it is fought best, it also fights dependency where dependency is fought best.

John Longenecker is author of The CPR Corollary.