Tomorrow, July 4th, we celebrate Independence Day, the day we signed the Declaration of Independence to set us free from the rule of England. We actually made that declaration on July 2nd but signed the actual document on the Fourth.

Many, particularly our young people, don’t know what Independence Day means. They simply state it as our birthday. Independence Day was the beginning of our freedom and set forth over the course of many years a series of battles, in many venues, to keep and preserve that freedom - some of those events costing the lives of brave Americans. For this, understanding patriots are grateful.

For me, this year is a special birthday for America. The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced and defined one of our basic and necessary rights - the right to keep and bear arms. This is a bright day for Americans, even the ones who disagreed with the ruling, for this ruling will prolong the rights and freedoms we all enjoy to disagree without fear of reprisals.

Too much of society attempts to focus on violence, utilizing fear tactics to convince us that guns are evil and need to be outlawed. Lost from debate is why the framers of the Constitution thought it necessary to create the Second Amendment - “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”.

To help readers understand this, Larry Elder of Town Hall has Part 1 of “Why Do We Keep and Bear Arms?’ Mr. Elder takes us from the beginning to modern day times in what leaders of the world, including Hitler, had to say about an armed citizenry.

Elder reminds us what Thomas Paine said in 1775 about what happens when we take guns away from lawful citizens and the effect it has on criminals.

“The peaceable part of mankind will be continually overrun by the vile and abandoned while they neglect the means of self-defense. … (Weakness) allures the ruffian (but) arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order in the world. … Horrid mischief would ensue were (the good) deprived of the use of them. … The weak will become a prey to the strong.”

But perhaps a more telltale indication of the movement of our society is revealed by Elder when he quotes a 20th century political leader about gun ownership - a leader who happened to be a democrat.

On this Independence Day, I hope you will take an extra moment to reflect back on the true meaning of this day, the day we declared our independence, our freedom and what it has cost us to keep that which is so precious.

Tom Remington

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