U.S. 9th Circuit Court Of Appeals Decision Is An Opportunity For The NRA To Promote Armed Militia Training
By Matt Berman March 25, 2021 Nobody Asked Me
The NRA has an opportunity right now to win the gun control debate. But I don’t think they know how to take it.
If you have heard about the , you probably have seen that there are 2 general responses. Some think this is an egregious infringement on civil liberties. Others think it’s a positive step towards gun control which you believe will limit overall violence. I am here to offer you another perspective. The perspective that basically, the decision is relatively inconsequential, but that it could be used to promote gun ownership if the NRA played it right. If anybody from the NRA is reading this you should hit me up. I have some ideas for you.
THE MEANING BEHIND THE 2ND AMENDMENT IS ABOUT PATRIOTISM, NOT PERSONAL COMFORT
I am not suggesting that people have no right to own a gun for personal protection. Don’t misunderstand me about that one. I firmly believe people that are comfortable and willing to own & possess a gun for protection should have that right. Philadelphia is a dangerous city, and there are a lot of violent people all over the world. Not everybody fights fair, and not everybody is going to consent to a fist fight. But even if you disagree with this, it’s not the point.
The point here is about what our founders intended with the 2nd amendment. But more than that, it’s about using your common sense of today to think about what makes the most sense. This court decision basically said that the state can infringe on the right to bare arms in certain conditions. Those conditions aren’t necessarily as important right now as the very notion of the state doing something like that. However, you have to think a little deeper.
That “Well Regulated Militia” Part Hasn’t Been Taken Seriously
I’ll repeat: the argument about whether people should be able to have guns for personal protection aside, this is about why the 2nd amendment exists. It exists to enable people to form their own militia, train and prepare, in case of an attack. To defend, and protect the nation. Not just your house. More than just your family. This is about being a volunteer fighter defending the homeland. It’s about protecting your country in a way you deem to be right even if or when the government disagrees with you. In fact, a militia is prepared to fight against the tyrannical government in order to restore order in the homeland. A very grave, and serious matter.
The opportunity for the NRA is to inspire more patriotism, whether you own a gun or not.
For the people in the back I’ll say it one more time: I’m not saying you shouldn’t be able to protect yourself. Even in public. Perhaps this ruling should get reconsidered, from the perspective of the individual. Not everybody will want to join a militia either. They should have their personal rights protected as well. But for the time being, the focus is on whose gun possession rights can be infringed. That is where the NRA and others have an opportunity.
WE HAVE BEEN UNDER ATTACK FOR A WHILE NOW, SO ACT ACCORDINGLY
The opportunity for the NRA is the fact that people are looking for a way to defend themselves, and be heard.
Even though things remain relatively functional, parts of our nation are hanging on by a thread. The violence in Philadelphia may be typical, but it’s increasing and alarming. Murders in broad daylight. Election crimes in the open.
City officials stealing money left & right. A DA that does nothing. Police whose hands are tied. It’s like Gotham City out here. Last year dozens of cities had riots. Looting. Misinformation is at an all-time high. Depression & suicide are up. I mean honestly, it’s amazing that anything is working right now. Nevertheless, when you think about defending the country, the 2nd amendment comes up. Who has a right to own, and more importantly, where are they allowed to possess – a gun? People need to know their rights, and those who are ready to accept the responsibility, should exercise that right to get their fire arms.
THE NRA SHOULD ENCOURAGE TRAINED MILITIAS TO DEFEND THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS FROM ATTACK
This is going to make liberals crazy, but that’s what you’re forcing. If people’s individual gun rights are being taken away it’s because they can’t prove they are part of something big enough to justify it. However, if they formed a militia under the rights granted in the constitution, the government can’t stop that. What this decision proves is that individual-level thinking is too small-minded for the exercising of gun ownership & possession. It’s not just about you. Or your rights. Or your wants & desires. It’s about being willing to, at a moment’s notice, take that gun and defend your city with it. That’s a lot to ask. But if you aren’t prepared to do that, maybe you don’t need that gun.
This may sound extreme, but that’s the point. That’s why the gravity of it in our constitution matters in this discussion. People need to stop thinking about themselves, and start thinking like a patriot. Sacrifice. Not self-centered satisfaction. Our rights didn’t come free, and they won’t be free to retain. But that means we can’t do it alone. People need to band together, whether they’re doing so to get armed or not. The people that do want to arm themselves, may need to join a militia. That means a militia needs to be perhaps better defined by law, and then protected by law. To give citizens rights to show force against potential government tyranny.
The Opportunity For The NRA Is At Hand
The opportunity for the NRA is to dominate a conversation in America that we need to have already.
If the NRA got behind this message, it would empower people rather than divide them. Yes, the woke mob may still try to fight against it. But there should be no resistance because this is not a discriminatory declaration. A person of any race or religion or sexual preference could form a militia and be part of their own. They can exercise their rights just the same as anybody else. That also presents the biggest potential problem to appropriate militia regulation.
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
Prior to the European invasion of this land, the native people were constantly at war with one another. Tribes fought and killed one another with serious brutality. This, of course, is no excuse or justification fo the European aggression. The point is that this is the land we’re built on. Now look at us. Hundreds of years later and people have already formed into disorganized gangs, militias, micro-parties, and other groups to fight each other. Even though it’s still pretty theatrical, antifa vs. Proud Boys is an example. Neither group is a very well-regulated militia, even though some of them are capable of exacting some destruction.
This just proves how inept our law enforcement is to stop these groups, many of whom are comprised of weak deranged lunatics. They are not the nation’s best & brightest. An armed militia took over and established CHAZ in Seattle in 2020. Other armed militias showed their force at capitol buildings or other protests & demonstrations. I do not know how “well-regulated” they were, though. Because (thankfully) we haven’t yet seen real combat on our land. Riots are the closest thing we’ve seen to a true battle on American soil – unless of course you count gang violence in Philly, Detroit, Chicago, etc. But that’s another story…
KNOW YOUR ENEMY: TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
Whether foreign or domestic. What you should fear are tyrannical government officials. Governors who breach the constitution to force businesses closed during an election year. Like Tom Wolf. Mayors who follow the nursing home policy that was killing people across the country. Like Jim Kenney. Health commissioners like Tom Farley and Rachel Levine who directed and ordered that policy. These people threatened legal force on people if they kept their business open, even though it is always 100% voluntary that people go into a private business establishment. They lied about how deadly the was while they were still using it to kill people to justify their actions. That is about as bad as it gets. But they committed these offenses without using guns. So to some, they look innocent.
They have demonstrated that there is no force capable of stopping that kind of deadly bureaucracy. An armed militia couldn’t necessarily have even stopped it. Because part of the challenge is that these tyrants grip the minds and hearts of people. So many people. If critical mass is reached, even if you know it’s nonsense, it doesn’t matter.
For example, I knew the restaurant restrictions were nonsense, but that shut down restaurants. So even if I felt comfortable with indoor dining, I couldn’t make that free choice anymore. Therefore; they win. That means that as we look to train more militias capable of defending against government tyranny, new kinds of defenses have to be developed. Legal methods to stop this kind of behavior, for example.
WHAT SHOULD WE (THE PEOPLE) DO?
One thing we need to figure out is how to stop payment on government employees’ salary. They were the 1 position that remained “essential” by the de facto assumption we can’t function without them. But I kept working without income. That happens frequently for small business owners. You have to figure out a way to leverage credit. Sell some stuff. Pick up a side gig. Do whatever you have to do to make it through. But Tom Wolf didn’t have to worry about that as he stole our money to pay for ads to promote election anomalies he created. Rachel Levine got paid as they were leading elderly people to the slaughter and forcing their loved ones to say goodbye on Zoom calls. The inhumane uncivil cowardice of these individuals is unmatched. There was no way for us to shut off their money.
Can you imagine if Congress wasn’t getting paid during their own shut down? How long do you think it would have taken to solve these problems. Get those checks out. Stop strangling the economy. Think about if your city services shut off. How long would people wait around before making the mayor feel the pain? So there needs to be some kind of provision in our laws to allow citizens to determine as a collective that politicians shouldn’t get their money. If we could do that, we can really force them to change. Nothing else will matter. They don’t care if they’re the butt of a joke in the media for a day. People move on too quickly, and they face no consequences.
Don’t Expect This Change To Happen Overnight
I don’t know exactly how to accomplish this yet. But this would be an unprecedented ability for our civil rights. It would obviously need to be set up so it can’t be abused, but right now we are getting abused because we can’t hit politicians where it hurts: their bank account.
So if you want to own a gun, be prepared to join or start a militia, because it’s not about you anymore. Our nation requires more from its armed patriots. But, there are also a lot of ways to be patriotic without picking up a gun, and the battles we face are in the courtroom as well. They are in the street. In the grocery store. These tyrants in our government have taken their ideological battle to every imaginable place in your life.
There is an opportunity for the NRA here, if they’ll take it.