Natural Law, Second Amendment and Gun Control

So the recent shooting that has not occurred in a black neighborhood, where such things are apparently not worthy of much, if any, attention has the press doing it's usual shtick. Men who are slowly but surely becoming as emotional as women when it comes to these things are generally competing to see who can be the most sympathetic and approval seeking. Rational minded people, both men and women, are being cast as kid killers, Nazis, and klan members for simply upholding their rights and objecting to be treated like criminals. It seems that one of the issues is that perhaps a large portion of US society fails to understand (or even know) natural law and how man made laws sprung out of it.

In all of our genes is the coding for a flight or fight response. Most of us have little control over these reactions. Heart rates increase. Blood pressure goes up. Adrenaline kicks in. Vision narrows. These reactions are nature's means of telling us to defend our lives. Sometimes that defense is running as fast as you can. Sometimes that defense is harming the threat until it isn't a threat any more. The vast majority of times the run response is the path taken. We can call this cowardice if we want to, but it's a natural reaction. Among mammalian species the female typically will fight if her young are threatened. The male on the other hand will not only fight to protect himself, but he will fight to protect his female mate and often his offspring. Mostly because in nature if he does not do so, the next male will kill his offspring and mate with the now available female.

I was watching an episode of Blue Planet where a polar bear had found a female to mate with. This occurrence is apparently a rare event. This bear mated with the female and fought a number of other males, to the point where he was limping and blood was all over his body. Just to make sure he could mate. The female? She was wandering off, pregnant and unscarred. That's some male privilege for you. But I digress. The point being that self defense by whatever means necessary is a natural law. If you are threatened you have the natural right to end that threat.

Armaments are extensions of this law. Not many species can craft weapons. That takes a level of intelligence AND a body capable of manipulating materials. This ability to create weapons is an extension of the natural right to defend oneself. Whether that weapon is a arrow, blade, sword, sling shot, or firearm. There is no doubt that the founders of the Republic understood this. The second amendment was not created as some means to protect "hunting" as so many in the gun control side of the argument like to say. While hunting may be an activity in which guns are used, one should not be fooled into thinking that one needs to have such a justification for gun ownership or ownership of any weapon of any kind.

What has informed the gun control issue is the rapid urbanization of society in addition to racial angles. Modern gun control was initiated as a response to the Black Panther party for self defense. When the Black Panthers decided to patrol the streets with guns and watch police, which was perfectly legal, there was alarm about "armed negroes". Gun control legislation soon flourished. To be sure that is not the first time that alarm about "armed negroes" occurred in America, but it should serve as a reminder to those who are for gun control to know that it has been historically used to control an "undesirable" population. Yesterday that undesirable population was black folks. Today it is white, largely rural, heterosexual males.

Urbanization has come along with often heavily armed police who are often not present when the threat to one's person is actually occurring. Since such threats are, at least for non-blacks, a rare occurrence, it allows non-black persons to believe that no one is in *need* of arms. Even though there is no constitutional requirement of personal *need* in order to have the right to a firearm (or weapon of any kind). While we are inundated with news about criminals (new or old) who shoot up schools or worksites, we rarely hear of the times when a person who is not a police officer used a gun to defend themselves or others. Yet these things happen often.

Incredibly, the fact that gun restriction laws do nothing to stop those intent on breaking the law from obtaining and using guns seems to escape the conversation. It's as if it is inconceivable to a large proportion of US society that there are people who don't give a flip about laws on the books. Murder is illegal, yet it happens. Rape is illegal, yet it happens. Assault and battery are illegal, yet it happens. I could go on and on. The fact is that law breakers don't care what legal obstacles are in place. Their only real concern is whether they can get away with said act (assuming not to be suicidal).

Increasingly society is being turned into "mandatory flight". laws are on the books that if someone is threatening you then you must try to remove yourself from the situation. If you know how to defend yourself and stand your ground and seriously injure or kill a person who poses a threat to you, YOU may end up prosecuted for using unreasonable force or murder. When these school shootings happen, the instructions are to run and hide. Fight only if it's the last resort (the gunman has entered the room you barricaded yourself in and hope you can take him out with hand to hand combat. Sure.

Those of us who do not desire to be rendered sitting ducks by the state are seen as unreasonable. We are called all manner of names because we wish to act in our own defense (and those of others). The state is acting in manner that constrains the law abiding rather than the law breaking. That 10 day waiting period? Won't stop a criminal. That "gun must be unloaded and carried in a container separate from the ammunition" law? Yeah, criminals certainly unload their weapons when traveling. That concealed carry permit that is only good in one state? Yeah, criminals are certainly observing that. Can't have your weapon in an Airport? Sure. All constraints on the law abiding. But this is what is going on in America. The state seeks to constrain the law abiding. Be it gun control or speech.