The right to life and liberty, these are the hallmark traits that for over two hundred years defined America and her citizens. Wars were fought to establish these principles; that men were capable of living a life of self governance, and that the dignity of each individual was more important than that of the collective. Our founders recognized that individual human beings possessed great ability and if left to their own devises in an environment of freedom, they would most times, act with moral restraint, recognizing that freedom required personal responsibility.  Times are changing and our country no longer represents these principles.

Recently, the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right to carry a concealed weapon for self defense. This ruling not only violates the constitution, it goes against the very principles of life and liberty. It has long been assumed that personal protection was the responsibility of the individual, not the government. In fact, this has been the ruling in several Supreme Court cases. In Warren vs. The District of Columbia, for example, the Supreme Court ruled that a government is under no obligation to provide protective services to individual citizens. In Lynch vs. N.C. Department of Justice it was determined that police are only obligated to arrest criminals, not prevent criminal acts against individuals. Finally in Castle Rock vs. Gonzales it was found that an individual is not entitled to police protection even under a restraining order. In other words, you are on your own when it comes to personal protection. This is why the Second Amendment is so important, the right to keep and bear arms strikes directly at the heart of protecting life. How can you have a right to life if the ability to defend it is being taken from you? You simply can’t, once that right is gone you are no longer the master of your own destiny.

The Second Amendment is a right that must be fought for at all costs. Sadly, many people may not realize the many fronts our gun rights are being assaulted from.  While people know the ruling by the 9^th Circuit Court was wrong, they fail to see that the ruling is made to apply to future generations. The left is incredibly patient; they know that right now that ruling will have little sway over people, even the states it presides over, with a few exceptions. They also know however, what they are teaching your children about this country and gun ownership in particular, and that when these children grow up they will very likely accept a ruling like the one made by the 9^th court. The left is playing a long game of cultural change where our liberties are lost at such an incremental pace, generation to generation, that no one seems to notice.

The very definition of what it means to be an American, what the constitution means, and what rights we have are all changing right before our very eyes through our education system.  For example, high school text books are re-writing the Second Amendment, giving it an entire different meaning. U.S. History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Exam defines the Second Amendment as something that only applies to state militias. The Amendment reads as follows in this textbook. “The people have the right to keep and bear arms in a state militia.” The word state, of course, implies an entity in control of the militia. This would equate to a standing army which was something the founders were adamantly opposed to.  The Constitution, for example, only authorizes the funding of a standing army for two years. After that period funding would have to be reauthorized. Another book suggests that people have the right to own guns provided they register them with the government, and yet another gives the student the opportunity to revise the Bill of Rights while suggesting they are outdated.  This is how they slowly change the culture.

Another way our education system is indoctrinating our children is by punishing them for having anything to do with a firearm. For example, Josh Welch was suspended from school for biting a pop-tart into the shape of a gun. This is happening on a frequent basis across our country, kids are being suspended for wearing shirts portraying guns, bringing toy guns to school, drawing pictures of guns and even playing cowboys and Indians. Not only that, they are also inflicting fear and panic by conducting intruder on campus drills, or active-shooter drills where they are taught to run and hide. While it is one thing to conduct drills for preparedness, it is something else entirely to deliberately induce panic. (Author’s note: As a substitute teacher I witnessed this very thing. I can say with great confidence that these drills are being conducted to teach kids to fear firearms.) The end result of this indoctrination could likely be a weakened population ready and willing to surrender their firearms because they have been taught to fear them.

The left has been chipping away at our culture for the past one hundred years. Little by little they have infiltrated our institutions and changed the very nature of what it means to be an American.  When Barack Obama said we were five days away from fundamentally transforming America, he meant he was here to put the final touches on a process of social change that has turned America from a nation of rugged individualism to one where people beg the government to provide them safety. This is evident by observing what is taking places in our colleges and how Americans are now offended by everything.  The kids now begging for safe spaces are our future policy makers, politicians, police officers and soldiers. After a lifetime of anti-gun indoctrination it is unlikely that their positions will change.  We can petition our government and stage protests all we want. As long as the left controls education we will lose the country.