The Second Amendment in our cherished Bill of Rights in the US Constitution secures to every individual in America the inalienable right of self-defense. But this right did not originate with the American Constitution. To the contrary, millennia before the Constitution, Jesus set forth the same principle, explaining that:
“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed” (Luke 11:21 NASB).
Romans 1:20 further affirms that everything that can be known about God has been revealed through what He has created. One of the many things obvious throughout creation is the God-implanted instinct of His creatures to defend not only their own life and that of their mate and offspring but also of any home or property they may possess or inhabit.
America embraced this natural and Biblical truth on a national level through the Second Amendment, which ensures that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”[1]
Yet like so many other God-given rights today, the right of self-defense is under attack. For example, just last month the Virginia Senate passed five measures to limit the ability of individuals to defend themselves, and the Virginia Assembly (i.e., House) passed seven similar provisions.[2] Each one made it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to possess and use weapons of self-defense.
Not surprisingly, many in the state were outraged by the state’s blatant infringements on their constitutional, natural, and Biblical rights. Numerous local communities began fighting back, with county sheriffs promising to deputize thousands of average law-abiding citizens in order to allow them to keep their own arms.[3]Additionally, more than one hundred Virginia counties and cities passed resolutions declaring themselves to be sanctuaries for gun owners, meaning that over 90% of the state’s counties have rejected the legislature’s unconstitutional legislation.[4]
But none of this is stopping Virginia Governor Ralph Northam from coldly threatening:
If we have constitutional laws on the books and law enforcement officers are not enforcing those laws on the books, then there are going to be some consequences.[5]
State representative Donald McEachin took the rhetoric further, suggesting military involvement:
The governor may have to nationalize the National Guard to enforce the law.[6]
(Note to Virginia’s elected state officials about their lack of familiarity with basic civics: no governor of any state can “nationalize” the National Guard, only the president can do that. Furthermore, the governor is already the commander in chief of the state’s Guard units; and state law enforcement officers take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, which always supersedes a demand by the governor to enforce state laws that violate the Constitution.)
Governor Northup could learn much from his predecessors, including Thomas Jefferson—one of the state’s earliest governors. In the 1776 Virginia state constitution, Jefferson helped place the clause specifically declaring:
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms within his own lands or tenements.[7]
The reasoning behind this provision was given by fellow Virginian and Founding Father James Madison, who pointed out:
Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace.[8]
Generations of Americans have long understood how vital the right of self-defense is for law-abiding citizens, and from the beginning they have therefore jealously guarded the right to “keep and bear arms.” Since the Bible cautions leaders that they will “give an account” for their actions (Hebrews 13:17), maybe the current politicians in Virginia should consider protecting the natural, Biblical, and constitutional right of self-defense rather than attacking it.
Foundations of Truth hereby waives all claim of copyright (economic and moral) in this work and immediately places it in the public domain; it may be used, published, edited, and distributed in any manner whatsoever without any attribution or notice to Foundations of Truth.
[1] Constitution of the United States of America 1789 (rev. 1992). Retrieved from https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/United_States_of_America_1992 [2] Gregory Scheider, “Virginia’s Democratically Controlled House Passes Seven Gun Control Measures,” The Washington Post(January 30, 2020), here. [3] S. Neale “Assault on the Second Amendment: Virginia Senate Passes Three Gun Control Bills,” The Washington Examiner(January 16, 2020), here. [4] Paul Bedard, “Uprising: 90% of Virginia Counties Become Gun Sanctuaries, Expanding Movement to Nine States,” The Washington Examiner (December 18, 2019), here. [5] Martin, J. (2019, December 13). Virginia state representative suggests National Guard be called to force enforcement of new gun legislation. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/virginia-state-representative-suggests-national-guard-called-force-enforcement-new-gun-1477242 [6] Ibid. [7]Jefferson, T. (1776, June 13). The Virginia Constitution of 1776, third draft. Retrieved from https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/no-freeman-shall-be-debarred-use-arms#footnote3_a299gx6 [8] Madison, J. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lawrencehunter/2012/07/29/both-james-madison-and-the-anti-federalists-were-right-about-standing-armies/#56c3a18175a0
im not sure why and how they can take are natural rights away and re-write the constitution if thats the case they would re-write it every day if we let them..its time to take back control of what is ours an get rid of the politic idiots show .yhey think that there bigger and better than the rest of the world its a good thing we have all the guns and bullets we need to protect are self's from political parties with there bright ideas that there DILDOS AND WORDS ARE GOING TO PROTECT THEM.lets move them in to a ruff part of the country and give them a pen an paper oh ya an there DILDO that will prote…