The Federalist – by Jesse Kelly
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.”—H.L. Mencken
Name the civil liberty that has ever been returned to the citizens after government took it away. Let me save you some time: It does not exist. Governments take away liberties and never return them outside of a political revolution.
The American people are not the ones in need of a “cooling off” period when they purchase weapons. It is the U.S. government that should be restricted from passing knee-jerk laws in the wake of tragedy to satiate media cries of “SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!” That includes the fresh call for “red flag laws” that allow for confiscating people’s guns if someone else tags them as mentally ill or a danger to others.
I don’t care who is calling for these laws. I don’t care about their motivations. These calls for new “red flag laws” are horrid, and Americans of every political persuasion should stand firmly against them.
Any time you find yourself starting a sentence with, “There should be a law,” you’re probably wrong. Here’s a helpful thought experiment for you to use from now on. Whenever you think there should be a new law, picture the person in government you hate the most and ask yourself if you want that person in charge of writing and enforcing your new law.
I understand that can be uncomfortable, but you need to start accepting the reality of what government can and will do to you. Government employees are not your betters, and they do not have your best interests at heart.
Who exactly do you want to wield the power of the red flag law to decide if you are guilty of “dangerous ideas” and therefore should be stripped of your rights? The director of the FBI? Or the head of the Internal Revenue Service?
Maybe what we need is a red flag court system, similar to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court. Then it will never be fooled or used to abuse the citizens. Even if those people do get out of hand, we will always have the rank and file FBI agents who would never dream of infringing on the rights of an American citizen to bring about the results they want. Right?
There have been far too many calls to “DO SOMETHING” in the wake of one of the worst weekends in recent memory. While some of these calls were no doubt genuine, many were calls for the government to take actions that somewhat conveniently would attack the political enemies of the caller.
Far too many Americans on both sides of the aisle view government as a weapon to strike at their adversaries. Instead of properly ignoring the killers’ manifestos, people pounce on them, publish them, and extract what they want from them to justify renewed assaults on long-time foes.
These calls for government action almost build political enemies up into bloodthirsty, all-powerful juggernauts who can only be taken down by the full force of government. Unsurprisingly, Democrats and their media allies quickly pounced on the El Paso killer’s statements as some sort of confirmation that the white supremacist movement (which they’ve conveniently spent the last two years attaching to Donald Trump) has returned to the detestable days of power it enjoyed as a weaponized arm of the Democratic Party.
The reality is, outside of 100 losers with tiki torches in Charlottesville and CNN contributor Richard Spencer, the white supremacist movement is widely and rightly scorned by pretty much every single American on both sides of the aisle.
“But the killer was a white supremacist!” Yes, it is abundantly obvious that’s what he was. And we’re hearing more and more about the leftist Antifa persuasions of the Dayton killer. Remember this, though: Evil people will always find something to latch onto.
So often we pretend that the ideology creates killers. The reality is that angry, lonely young men prone to violence will find some horrible cause that will allow them to quench their thirst for blood.
It isn’t time for red flag laws. It isn’t time for raising the age to buy a weapon. The time has come for you to purchase a weapon and start taking responsibility for your own life.
The American government is not your babysitter. It’s not your mommy. The American government exists to protect your liberty. Outside of creating a police state, it lacks the ability to protect from the actions of a sick individual with murder on his mind.
Nobody is coming to save you. Nobody is coming to help you. Even those who aren’t trying to gain power and legitimately are trying to help can’t. You are responsible to protect yourself and your loved ones.
The hatred that lies in the hearts of men is not destroyed in the halls of Congress. Evil comes in many forms, and far too often we search for answers in places they can never be found. A new government “war on hate” won’t change a single person’s heart. Whether evil uses white supremacy or Antifa to justify its need for blood, the need remains just the same.
Killers are still out there. They’re everywhere. Take responsibility for your own protection. If you truly desire to be safe, then pick up a weapon, train with it, and make yourself so.
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Jesse Kelly is a Senior Contributor at The Federalist and the host of “The Jesse Kelly Show” on KPRC 950 in Houston. Jesse is a Marine Corps combat veteran and former congressional candidate in Arizona. He resides in the Houston area with his wife and two sons.
https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/08/dont-need-red-flag-laws-need-good-americans-get-guns/