George Roof is a resident of Magnolia.
It’s been over 60 years since I graduated high school. There was a rather strict requirement that, to graduate, you must have completed four math subjects, four English, four sciences, American history and American citizenship. We grouped the last two into what we called “civics.”
Civics taught us history before it was modified for political purposes. It taught us about the Constitution to the degree that we had to memorize portions of it. We studied how James Madison and Thomas Jefferson differed in opinions on certain items yet passionately defended others.
As I read the letter to the editor from Peter Graffagnino of Bridgeville, I felt a sudden angst about where the world had gone in my lifetime and why those subjects had been dropped from our education system (“United States being characterized by gun violence").
Mr. Graffagnino falls into the web of the liberal mindset that, by removing guns, the world will think more highly of us. Nothing is further from the truth. If that was true, why would citizens of almost every country dream of living here?
Guns are not the issue. If they were, the people he quotes from Australia wouldn’t have had the tragedy of Bondi Beach. Our media is intent on convincing people that an inanimate object is a problem, while automobiles, drugs and alcohol are not. Yet now, Australia’s prime minister has dictated that all personal firearms must be “bought back,” a euphemism for confiscation. No one ever expects to be paid the real value of any confiscated firearm. And then what? In England, it then became knives — kitchen knives no less.
As a reminder to Mr. Graffagnino and others of similar mind, the U.S. Constitution was written by learned men who’d experienced a government that set out to confiscate their guns. The true American spirit showed up and stopped that short. So, it was imperative that the Constitution contain inalienable rights for the people. They designated the first 10 amendments to establish those rights, which would not be under the purview of the government. They called them the “Bill of Rights.” After establishing that the government couldn’t prescribe a set religion, could not stop the people from voicing their opinions nor gathering and could not decide what the press did, they wondered what could stop that from being turned around. They found it in the Second Amendment.
The nefarious actions taken by people will never be stopped by confiscating guns. It would be implausible for scofflaws to give up guns, as it’s already illegal. The requirement would fall on honest people, thereby creating more and easier victims of the scofflaws. From a government standpoint, it would be much easier to control the electorate. Look at New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Look at England, where private gun ownership is severely restricted, and you’ll find a government that’ll arrest you if you have a post on the internet it finds appalling. Think about the pandemic, when Joe Biden forbade you to go to church or to be seen in public without a mask. He encouraged being fired from employment if you didn’t get an untested vaccine. Do you see the correlation with corrupt governing?
So, I actually couldn’t care less about what the rest of the world feels about America. They can stop coming here if they’re unwilling to assimilate. Remind them that letters to the editor aren’t restricted or censored for content by politicians here. There’s only one reason that’s a possibility, and it was thought up by our Founding Fathers 250 years ago. It’s the Second Amendment.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
