U.S. Olympic trap and skeet shooter Kim Rhode stresses that the Second Amendment gives Americans the ability to protect the exercise of our First Amendment rights.
Rhode has won a medal in five consecutive Olympic games, and is aiming for more.
According to TIME, Rhode defended the Second Amendment, saying: ‘We should have the right to keep and bear arms, to protect ourselves and our family.”
Then she got more specific — talking about how the Second Amendment is in the Bill of Rights to guarantee the exercise of freedoms. Rhode said, “The second amendment was put in there not just so we can go shoot skeet or go shoot trap. It was put in so we could defend our first amendment, the freedom of speech.”
Rhode also stressed James Madison’s point, that Americans have guns to fend off government overreach and tyranny. Rhode said, “[The Second Amendment is] also to defend ourselves against our own government.”
TIME asked Rhode how she responds when gun control is pushed in response to terror attacks, such as the one in San Bernardino. Rhode said she understands the emotional basis on which gun control is pushed and that her “heart breaks” for the families of victims in such situations.
But she said the reality is that San Bernardino-like attacks prove the importance of carrying a gun for self-defense. She said, “[Such tragedies] make me want to carry even more.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.