Gun Control: A Spiritual War Against Humanity

In ancient Greece, legendary philosopher Aristotle wrote something that would change the world forever. Regarding the human right to self-defense, he argued that the hand acts as nature’s claw, talon, or horn by enabling us to protect ourselves and our families from evil.

“All the other animals have just one method of defence and cannot change it for another… For man, on the other hand, many means of defence are available, and he can change them at any time, and above all he can choose what weapon he will have and where.

Take the hand: this is as good as a talon, or a claw, or a horn, or again, a spear or sword, or any other weapon or tool; it can be all of these, because it can seize and hold them all. And Nature has admirably contrived the actual shape of the hand so as to fit with this arrangement.” – Aristotle

This obvious truth about our evolution as a species inspired many others who would later influence the laws and policies in Europe, and eventually the United States. The second amendment was built upon by philosophers who read Aristotle’s words.

However, as governments have become more powerful and society has become safer over time, we’ve lost our natural sense of protection and the dignity that comes with it.

Today, in America and around the world, media pundits, lawmaker, and ignorant citizens actually encourage us to be without any means of defense. Being weak and docile is seen as noble by much of society today. “Just let the police and military handle all of that,” they say, and let your rights be slowly consumed, amassing ever more power to the hands of a few.

This culture of virtuous personal weakness, or at least that’s how they see it, is damaging the psyche and spiritual state of millions of ignorant people who buy into this self-deprecating, authoritarian idea. Men and women who put themselves at an intentional physical disadvantage are not only defying common sense, but human nature as we have always sought the best tools to defend our families and tribes with.

As follows, the right to keep and bear arms is not only a constitutional right, but a human right and a spiritual right as well, as no man is noble that which denies himself or others the virtue of his defense, as nurtured by the capabilities of his training. Charles Montesquieu, a French judge who also advocated for a separation of powers in government which would later become the philosophical basis for the U.S. Constitution, also defended the human right to use arms.

“Where bearing fire-arms is punishable as a capital crime and where it is not more fatal to make an ill use of them than to carry them, is not agreeable to the nature of things … It is unreasonable to oblige a man not to attempt the defence of his own life.” – Charles Montesquieu

Gun control goes far beyond simple policy decisions that place sometimes arbitrary restrictions on gun ownership. The culture of gun control is an attack on our spiritual selves, the right and wrong of our actions. By giving up control of guns to the government, you’re taking away my and your personal responsibility to defend each other, and instead replacing it with our responsibility to defend government as the means of all our defense.

As Jeffrey R. Snyder wrote in A Nation of Cowards,

“’Cowardice’ and ‘self-respect’ have largely disappeared from public discourse. In their place we have offered ‘self-esteem’ as the bellweather of success and a proxy for dignity. ‘Self-respect’ implies that one recognizes standards, and judges oneself worthy by the degree to which one lives up to them. ‘self-esteem’ simply means that one feels good about oneself” – Jeffrey R. Snyder

However, as nice as feeling good about yourself sounds, it is not indicative of any moral fortitude, mental strength, or personal bravery. Having enough respect for yourself and others not to bar them from their own defense should be the very basis of any free society.

We are now, just as Jeffrey wrote in the title of his article, living in a nation of cowards. In what once was called the home of the brave, people are afraid to carry a gun for defense, to hear words or ideas that they disagree with for clarity, or to diverge from the group-think culture that plagues our institutions out of the fear that they might be outcasted from their other weak-minded, herd-following peers.

Gun control is little more than an integral component of an all-out war on our spiritual selves, our human rights, and our liberty.