Guns. There isn’t much more polarizing than guns rights/control these days. Before we dig in let’s throw back to a simpler time, one when someone wrote the 2nd amendment and what they were actually trying to accomplish.

First, let’s start with some context (because without context we have utterly worthless, shitty information) – we (the old U.S. of A.) had just been through a pretty crazy war with an authoritative government, set on suppressing the rights of the people, and pretty much doing whatever they wanted to us. We wrote a constitution, and then immediately amended it with the bill or rights, because this is America and we don’t usually do things right the first time. The 2nd Amendment gives us the right to bear arms. The thinking here is that, we just fought a war against tyranny, the first thing a tyrannical government does is disarm it’s citizens so they can’t rebel, how do we stop that? Keep ourselves armed so this doesn’t happen again. Makes sense right? If it doesn’t you’re not a rational human, please leave.

So now, we’ve evolved to the point where guns hold a symbolic significance – they signify freedom. Freedom from tyranny, from an overbearing government, from a other people trying to tell us how to live our lives, their possession means that the government is for the people, and subject to our will, not the other way around. They aren’t just for hunting and for the army, they mean more and are interwoven in our cultural fabric. They are certainly a dangerous thread, but part of the fabric nonetheless.

One thing that most gun opponents don’t understand if that safety and freedom exist in an inverse relationship. The safer you are, the less freedoms you have. We all accept that there is a balance here, we need police to take care of criminals, you aren’t free to blast down the highway at 95mph, smoking a blunt, and firing your glock out the window. Laws temper freedom so that we can all pursue our happiness without hurting someone else’s pursuits.

Will tragedies still happen? Yes. If people don’t have guns, they’ll use airplanes, if they don’t have those they’ll use pipe bombs, knives, cars + trucks. The issues is ideology and mental health, the tools are not the issue – guns are a symbol of our freedom and ultimately no more dangerous that a car – it’s the person holding the wheel, or the gun, or the knife that we need to deal with. Banning guns won’t work – not because “only the criminals will have them” – because you’ll make law abiding citizens criminals, because they know of a time when the government tried to assert its will without the people’s consent and paid for it.

The issue here is that to live in a free society you have to accept risk. You can’t hope to be completely safe and free. Will there always be nuts hiding in their basement plotting a shooting? Yes. You must accept that that reality exists. Does everyone need a fully automatic M-16? No. But you cannot take guns away, they are part of who we are, and part of the freedoms we have fought so hard for from tyranny.

Happy to continue the discussion below – however, this isn’t a Trump rally – keep your arguments rationale, and respectful and all opinions will be welcomed.