From: Anita Gauck
Columbus
Death by a thousand cuts. Laws that seem innocuous. It happens so slowly that distracted citizens pass by their TVs spouting regurgitated news and think it has no impact on their lives.
It’s not a new phenomenon; but, in modern times our devices, purportedly developed to join us together, have numbed the senses to the point of cognitive dissonance from critical thinking. In other centuries, it occurred because the people were preoccupied by the need to find sustenance for their existence. There are many reasons that humans turn from freedom to serfdom. Perhaps it is just easier to conform than to confront and stand one’s ground.
The Scottish historian Alexander Tytler in 1787 noted every democracy will go through a cycle of bondage, spiritual faith, courage, liberty, abundance, selfishness, complacency, apathy, dependence and then start over in bondage. Can that cycle be interrupted? By all accounts, the U.S. right now is at the end of the spectrum. A few are standing their ground but instead of being supported they are slandered and attacked.
The Constitution was written by those who were in bondage to the British Empire. They used critical thinking to set up a government based on liberty and personal freedom. Were they perfect men? No. Did they make mistakes? Yes. But they set forth a foundation for the freedoms we have today. The primary mission of the British Crown the morning of April 19, 1775 was to confiscate the firearms of the colonists in Lexington and Concord. The colonists knew a disarmed citizenry was subject to tyrannical government when they wrote the Second Amendment, a lesson that is being disregarded by many today. For those who believe the government can protect them, Google genocide and gun control. You will find horrific numbers of deaths in countries where citizens had been stripped of their means of self-defense. Germany is by no means alone in these atrocities.
Red Flag laws that defy the freedoms protecting from forced entry and obliterate due process, gun registration that puts a mark on the door of every owner, confiscation of certain types of weapons and limiting age for purchase are all small cuts that lead to severe hemorrhage and death. Any person who is old enough to serve in the armed forces should be allowed the same freedoms at home as any other citizen. One can die protecting those in foreign countries but is not able to defend their own home in America? Notwithstanding, with gun ownership comes responsibilities for safe handling.
The county sheriff is our first line of protection against unconstitutional law. I commend those who are standing by their oath to the Constitution. They and other officials need our support and deserve our praise.
Virginians (where freedom’s roots began) took a stand Jan. 20th and all states should respond likewise. Fear is a powerful tool in the box of bondage. Those attending the Richmond rally did not bow down to the fearmongering of VA’s governor. May many more stand up.
