What are guns really for?

In April 1775 the caretaker of Olde North Church in Boston, Robert Newman, at about 10pm, lit two lanterns and placed them in the belfry. It was a signal that the government's army had mustered in the night and were headed to the colonists weapons depot in Concord to confiscate their weapons. Another concerned citizen named Paul Revere had been waiting for the signal and thus rode his horse to Lexington in order to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams who, with outstanding warrant, were hiding from the government. The resistance that followed, resulting from the governments desire to disarm the people, became know as the "Shot heard round the world."

Prior to this, throughout history, the only legal way for a person to keep and bear arms was for a person to be authorized by the government. The license required to do so was known as a "Coat of Arms" and was only given to members of the nobility. If a common man or woman possessed arms without the required license they would immediately have been put to death.

Because we have taken this right for granted we have forgotten where the idea came from. The founding fathers of the United States believed that in order for a free people to remain free they would need to have the same level of armament as those who wished to take their liberty away. The result of this was that the founding fathers made sure that the right to keep and bear arms was absolutely stated as a right of the people of the United States, without regard to a coat of arms as a privilege of a nobility.

The right to bear arms is not about need, it is not about hunting, it is not about shooting the crack head that breaks into your house, and it is not about sportsmanship... The right to bear arms is completely about the people's right to defend themselves against a tyrannical government who may wish to take their freedom away from them.