Pass it on

[Colt Smith]

http://atorchwithnoflame.com/


I think we are all pro 2A here. We discuss among ourselves and others of our peers. We talk about guns, tactics, accessories, ballistics, etc. But what are we doing to teach new generations about the importance of the Second Amendment and the Constitution in general?

Please pass on the link above and pass on your appreciation and respect for our heritage and founding principles to our youngest citizens. Explain to them why these things are worth protecting.

 

[TexasBill]

...Our children are being brainwashed with Liberal and Socialist propaganda...

They get conservative propaganda, too. But labeling it as conservative, liberal, socialist or fascist is a big part of the problem.

The reality is the Second Amendment isn't any of those things. The founders of our nation weren't conservatives; they were revolutionaries, which is about as far to the left as you get. And many of the values they expressed in the Constitution were (and still are) revolutionary. But the rights they recognized into the first ten Amendments weren't conservative or liberal: they were human rights, existing independently of the document which serves mainly as a guide to limiting the powers of the government to the benefit of all.

The Second Amendment is intended to allow the American people, in whom the sovereignty of the state resides, to defend that sovereignty from oppressors from either side of the political spectrum: fascist, socialist or pretty much any other "-ist" that gets too carried away with itself. And it applies to both external and internal threats. Don't forget: until independence was finally settled, the colonists were British subjects fighting their own army.

Therefore, the Second Amendment must be taught free of the trappings of left or right. That is it not only the right, but the duty of every American to defend it because it is the one right that gives us a fighting chance to preserve the others.

In its full glory, the Second Amendment should be just as uncomfortable to the right as the left because it plays no favorites and is not always popular with the status quo. I know a lot of people feel it's important during the current administration; I felt it was at least as important under the previous one.

So quit labeling it as the province of one side or the other; it is equally important for both sides to understand what it means and why it's there and must remain there.

 

[Colt Smith]

I apologize for going outside of the bounds here. I realize the extremes at both ends of the spectrum and that labels are a problem. I agree with all you have said. I just feel such frustration, as an American, that the republic our founders established and our forefathers, families, friends and neighbors died defending is fading away and being replaced with something 180 degrees from what was intended for us. And our children are oblivious and unaware of the significance.

 

[TexasBill]

That's why, as you said in your original post, it's up to us to teach our children about the Constitution, what it means, and why each art of it is important and how they work together.

And don't count out the chance that it is possible to change a mind here and there: In 1968, the same Charlton Heston featured in that excellent video appeared on the Joey Bishop television show calling for strict gun control.