The RLC shares our Founders’ belief that in a free society each citizen must have the right to keep and bear arms.  For this purpose they ratified the Second Amendment to explicitly restrict Congress’s ability to create any federal laws abridging that right.  Knowing that this right is the guardian of all liberties and our own personal sovereignty, the citizens of Florida adopted Article 1, section 8, Right to Bear Arms of the Florida Constitution specifically prohibiting the legislature from any infringement upon the right of the “people to keep and bear arms.”  There is no doubt the Founders would be dismayed by the proliferation of unconstitutional legislation that prevents law-abiding Americans from exercising this right today.

The Right to Bear Arms is not about hunting deer, keeping a pistol in your nightstand, or protecting oneself against common criminals; it is about preventing tyranny.  The role of small arms in defending against aggression should not be overlooked.  There were no federal gun laws at the end of the 19th Century during a period in which gun violence was rare.  Now, after a hundred years of progressive government intervention and thousands of gun laws and regulations, we have more gun violence.  By influence of the special interests, the Federal Government has set their sights on the Second Amendment with the purpose of eliminating the sole guardian of our liberties.

The many Federal anti-gun laws written since 1934, along with the constant threat of outright registration and confiscation, have put the FBI and the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) at odds with millions of law-abiding citizens who believe the Constitution is explicit in granting the right of gun ownership to all non-violent Americans.  We, as a nation, have forgotten the basic precept of free society – that all citizens must be responsible for their own actions.  Gun control proponents like the characterize light weapons as ineffective during wartime, but history proves that they are critical to the self-defense of a nation.  The Founders knew that unarmed citizens wouldn’t have been able to overthrow a tyrannical government as they did.  They envisioned government as a servant, not a master, of the American people.  The muskets they used against the British Army were the assault rifles of the time.

It is practical, rather than alarmist, to understand that unarmed citizens cannot be secure in their freedoms.  It is convenient for anti-gun activists to dismiss this argument by saying, “That count never happen here, this is America” – but history has shown that only vigilant people can keep government under control.  By banning specific weapons today, we are planting the seeds for tyranny to flourish ten, thirty, or fifty years from now.  Tortured interpretations of the Second Amendment cannot change the fact that both the wording of the amendment itself and the legislative history conclusively show that the Founders intended ordinary citizens to be armed.  The notion that the Second Amendment confers rights only upon organized state-run militias is preposterous; the amendment is meaningless unless it protects the gun rights of individuals.

Thomas Jefferson said, “The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that it is their right and duty to be – at all times armed.”  Jefferson, and all of the Founders, would be horrified by the proliferation of unconstitutional legislation that prevents law-abiding Americans from exercising their right and duty to keep and bear arms.  The RLC is committed to upholding the Founders’ vision for a free society by co-sponsoring the Second Amendment Restoration Act.