Over 200 years ago, the framers of our great nation wrote down on paper what they declared to be natural and God-given rights that every one of our countries law-abiding citizens would be able to enjoy. The second amendment on this bill states, A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Now after all these years of shaping our country and trying to grant rights to any and all groups where rights have been infringed, many of our nation’s leaders, along with it’s citizens, are trying to take this right away. Politicians in favor of abolishing gun rights have attacked it from many angles in an attempt to chip away the second amendment until there isn’t enough left of it to stand. One area where they focus a lot of their attention is Concealed Weapons Rights.

Before a gun is ever purchased an individual has to be given a background check, often times at a state level and many times at a federal level. According to the American Journal of Preventative Medicine “a person is disqualified from purchasing a firearm if he or she is under indictment or convicted of a crime punishable by more than 1 year in prison, is a fugitive from justice, is unlawfully a user of a controlled substance, has been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution, was dishonorably discharged from the armed services, has renounced U.S. citizenship, is subject to a restraining order, or has been convicted of domestic violence.” Unfortunately, many of our countries citizens have given up their right to bear arms by finding themselves in one of these categories. But in this background check we keep many of the people who would be dangerous with a gun away from them.

Once a gun is obtained, the only way to carry that gun on your person is to obtain a permit to do so. To obtain this permit you must take a class that outlines not only simple gun safety techniques, but also self defense scenarios, how to use your gun for protecting others in public and private situations, etc. An important thing to note here is that these people going to this class are law-abiding citizens. The people committing murder and mass shootings are not the ones found in these classes. In fact they are quite the opposite. They are people who want to protect themselves and their families from crazy killers. After studying the crime trends in every county in the US, John Lott and David Mustard concluded, "allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes. . . . When state concealed handgun laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by 8.5 percent, and rapes and aggravated assaults fell by 5 and 7 percent." (check the facts at http://www.nraila.org/Issues/factsheets/read.aspx?ID=18)

Just a few days ago, an armed robber entered a liquor store in Atlanta, GA and shot and killed one of the employees. Before the employee was killed he screamed for help, prompting the owner of the store to grab his own gun. The owner came out and shot the robber twice, once in the arm and once in the leg. Although he didn’t kill the man he made it quite easy for the robber to be picked up by the police. Unfortunately, the store owner wasn’t able to prevent the death of his employee, but he was able to prevent any further death including his own. (read the article http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2009m12d5-Atlanta-GA-store-owner-shoots-robber-who-murdered-a-clerk)

Although we are no longer in a war for the freedom of our country, and we no longer have a regulated militia, we are still free men seeking to be safe from those that oppress us, including armed gun-men. Our rights are there for our safety and protection, and while we obey the law they cannot be stripped from us. And if they are stripped from us, we are only handing the reigns over to men like this robber in Atlanta. Only then, he won’t have any opposition.