Most people might describe the American Dream in terms of career success, monetary wealth, or accumulation of things. For me, it is not that simple.
My American Dream is to wake up one day to discover I no longer have to fight. My dream is a victorious end to the constant attacks on our Constitution and Bill of Rights by our own citizens and an out-of-control government.
Our Founders envisioned this internal war that many citizens today fail to see or refuse to fight. Upon leaving the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a group of citizens what sort of government our delegates had created. His response was, “a Republic, if you can keep it.” Though our Founders had succeeded in establishing a Constitutional Republic, Franklin knew, keeping it would be an ongoing challenge, dependent on the active and informed involvement of the people.
Too many Americans are not active, informed, or involved in vigilant oversight of our government, which has become a cesspool of corruption. Our government is now our enemy’s best weapon in the war against liberty, steadily trampling our Constitution and Bill of Rights, legislating away our liberty with law upon law, taxing the people into poverty, and enslaving the citizens with entitlements. Our government has shifted from its role of protector to predator, dismantling the foundation of liberty to feed its increasing addiction for power and absolute control.
As this war rages, my specific battle zone is the Second Amendment.
I have devoted my time and energy to fighting the persistent attacks on the Second Amendment because, without it, we have no means to defend the remaining Bill of Rights.
World history proves an armed citizenry is the best tool for keeping tyranny at bay. In the 20th century, over 170 million people were annihilated by their own governments after being disarmed, and the process was always the same: 1.) Registration of firearms, 2.) Confiscation of firearms, and 3.) Annihilation or subjugation of disarmed citizens.
Gun control has never been about guns; it was always about control. We have spent years trying to hold gun-controllers at bay; trying to preserve the freedom that has not been infringed. But my goal is to move beyond holding the line and push forward, repealing the thousands of gun control laws on the books in America so we can return to our Founders’ original position on gun rights.
The right to keep and bear arms is a right, not a privilege. “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
My American dream may never become a reality. However, I will continue to fight for it because I would rather die on my feet fighting for liberty than live on my knees in reverence to tyranny.
The Second Amendment is my line in the sand. MOLON LABE.
Jan Morgan is the owner of the Gun Cave Indoor Firing Range and a guest columnist for “Down Range with AWR Hawkins.”