The title is the ending of a famous quote by Chairman Mao Zedong of China. This quote is very truthful, and was realized long before by the Founding Fathers of this country when they wrote the Bill of Rights to appease the Anti-Federalist into ratifying the U.S.

Constitution, which devised the most near perfect government ever developed. In the writing of the second amendment it 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.”

In the United States, power is meant to be held by the people. Therefore the second amendment was written to ensure that as long as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights wis the supreme law of the land, power will always be in the hands of the people. It is the fourth checks and balances of our government which your government books and teachers never told you about.

Throughout the last decade, gun control has become a hot issue in American politics. The major controversy stems from whether the second amendment was meant for individuals or for collective groups like police and military forces. Many believe people do not need guns for personal protection, and guns are only used for crimes.

This is not true. As many of the Founding Fathers have said in the past, to prove that individuals should keep and bear arms. For instance, Samuel Adams said, “Among the natural rights of the Colonists are these: first, a right to life; secondly, to liberty; thirdly, to property – together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can.”

Thomas Jefferson said, “No [citizen] shall be debarred the use of arms within his own lands.” Richard Henry Lee said, “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”

And as George Washington put it short and simple, “A free people ought … to be armed.”

Two centuries ago George Mason, “Father of the Bill of Rights” stated, ” … when the resolution to enslaving America was formed in Great-Britain, the British parliament was advised … to disarm the people. That it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them. But that they should not do it openly; but to weaken them and let them sink gradually.”

In the last century, gun control is one of the predecessors to some of the most infamous genocides.

According to the Sierra Times, in 1929 the Soviet Union established gun control then 20 million dissidents were exterminated between 1929-1953.

Turkey established gun control in 1911 and 1.5 million Armenians died between 1915-1917. In 1938 the Nazis established gun control and everyone knows what followed.

China established gun control in 1935 and during 1948-1952, 20 million political dissidents died; Guatemala established gun control in 1964 and between 1964-1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians died; Uganda established gun control in 1970 and 300,000 Christians died between 1971-1979; and Cambodia established gun control in 1956 where one million “educated” people were exterminated between 1975-1977. And let’s not forget about the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The Founding Fathers in the past knew just as much as this century’s revolutionary figures. Without arms, freedom can be easily taken. Government is known as “a necessary evil.”

The people under a government should never take their eyes off of this evil.

The unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that exist today, may not be around tomorrow. The citizens of a government must have their right to defend themselves if they are to coexist.

– Alex Hardman is a freshman majoring in electrical engineering.