Incredibly, there are still people in the outdoor and shooting sports community who are attempting to remain apolitical. They shy away from definitive terms like liberal or conservative. These folks still believe that, if you just try hard enough, you can win a logical argument with people whose decisions are driven by emotion.
I’ve been scolded and advised not to “provoke” the anti-gun crowd, those who wish to disarm lawful American citizens. We need to be reasonable and willing to compromise I’ve been told.
I will admit that I understand the origins of what I call the “reasonableness disease.” it stems from mirror thinking. Humans at their base level all believe that everyone else in the world think and behave as they do. If they consider themselves a reasonable, rational person then they expect all other people to act the same.
While this type of thinking is childish and naïve, it’s nonetheless very prevalent, particularly among those who would rather not deal with problems head-on, but sidestep them.
Let me set the record straight, as least as far as I am concerned: if you are a person who is actively lobbying a government agency, be it local, state, or federal to restrict the ownership of firearms by lawful citizens of the United States, you are endangering me as an individual, my family, my community, and by extension my country.
In modern America the tool most readily used to protect the individual from violence, oppression, and tyranny is the firearm. Hundreds of years ago governments worldwide outlawed the possession of swords by peasants to ensure they paid their taxes and obeyed whichever ruler sat in power. The issue today is the same; disarm the peasants so they can be ruled.
When you actively seek to disarm me you are deliberately attempting to subjugate me and put my family in mortal jeopardy. That fact makes you my enemy.
The Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States did not create the rights of man, it simply enumerated and affirmed them. When you seek to nullify or circumvent the Constitution of the United States as well as the Constitutions of each individual State, you are my enemy.
Pretending that your enemy doesn’t exist doesn’t make it so. Ignoring your enemy only gives them the time and opportunity to strengthen their position and deliver their final blow. Attempting to argue logic with a man ruled by emotion is no more productive than attempting to teach Latin to a hog. It wastes your time and annoys the hog.
I’m reminded of on apt analogy of compromise. A burglar breaks into a home and demands that the homeowner give him all of his money. The homeowner stubbornly refuses. The burglar then demands ninety percent of the owner’s money. The homeowner again will not comply. Now the burglar demands half of the owner’s money. Again he refuses to hand over a penny. “You just won’t compromise on anything will you?” the frustrated burglar says accusingly.
How do you bargain with someone who wishes to endanger your family? How do you compromise with a person who seeks to subjugate you and nullify your God-given right to protect your life? In what manner should you negotiate with a group of people who seek to circumvent and make irrelevant the foundational document that has made the United States of America the greatest and most prosperous nation ever to grace this world?
The answer is…you don’t. No bargaining, no negotiation, and no compromise. The enemy is the enemy and the sooner you accept that fact, the better equipped you will be to defeat them.
Paul Markel has been a firearms industry writer for thirty years and is the author of the book “Student of the Gun; A beginner once, a student for life.” Paul hosts and produces “Student of the Gun” a show dedicated to education, experience, and enjoyment of firearms.
This article was originally published here in 2013.