Well Regulated: Bear Both Arms and the Truth

The Second Amendment, at its core, is not just about guns. Firearms are merely ancillary to a greater fundamental truth, namely that an individual is not free without the ability to engage in a sufficient use of force when needed to defend life, liberty, or property. In order to properly advocate for the right to keep and bear arms, it is necessary to tell the truth. In the past several months of civil unrest and violence, it has become clear that there are forces trying to lead this country from the truth, especially as it pertains to that most basic of rights, the right to self-defense.

In June, Steven Baca was attacked by violent protestors who were tearing down a statue of a conquistador, while police refused to take action. A protestor began to attack Baca with a skateboard, one screamed out “he’s a cop”, and another cried for someone to “get his license plate”. As several men descended on him with weapons, one protestor can be heard yelling to Baca that “they’re going to kill you”. Fearing for his life, Baca drew his concealed handgun and shot one of his attackers who had pulled a knife. After the incident, Baca was charged with four counts of battery (one was later dropped) and illegal carrying of a deadly weapon, and a militia who moved to prevent further violence after the shots were fired were also detained. However, by reading the headlines, one would assume that some far-right militiaman had gone to a peaceful protest and opened fire on the demonstrators. This is especially true for the media which simply referred to it as a “shooting at a protest”, omitting the essential fact that this was a self-defense incident where Baca only shot because he was being attacked by thugs with weapons.

More recently, a video went viral of the McCloskeys — two married lawyers in St. Louis — standing outside of their home with a pistol and a rifle. Missouri is an open-carry state, but the reason that they were armed that day was because of a massive mob outside their house. The McCloskeys live on a private street, but that was of no consequence to who the media has dubbed “peaceful protestors” who bent down an iron gate in order to gain ingress to the neighborhood before shouting threats at the McCloskeys about burning down their house and killing them (below). Because the McCloskeys had their firearms, no one attacked them or attempted to destroy their home. In the media coverage following this event, the couple was chastised not only for defending themselves with firearms, but for their race as well. Business Insider specifically implicated racism because it was a white couple who had defended themselves with firearms. The McCloskeys survived the ordeal without firing a shot, only to have their firearms seized by the state, their reputations destroyed, and are now facing criminal charges.

That the McCloskeys are facing an accusation of racism should not come as a surprise when the media are quick to find racism in just about anything — usually. A photo viral recently, of armed protestors. I, of course, believe that the right to keep and bear arms is a natural right, extended to all human beings — regardless of their beliefs. What makes these photos noteworthy is that seemingly no one cares about what they were protesting for. The photo (below) received lavish praise despite Reddit’s anti-gun bias. More importantly, this is despite the group to which these protestors belong: the New Black Panther Party. For those unfamiliar, the New Black Panther Party is an extremist, black-supremacist and black-nationalist group. Their hatred is not hidden, subtle, or even alleged.

A similar photo went viral about a month later, of a group of actors who pretended to be Black Panthers while engaging in an armed protest (below). Even though the “body armor” appears to be fake, and the AR-15 is just a .22lr, the message is clear when a group of people seek to emulate a virulently racist organization and are praised as peaceful folk marching for justice and a morally righteous cause.

These examples serve to illustrate our nation’s twisted views — where self-defense is called bigotry, and bigotry is openly praised — have been propagated and held up by many in the government and the media. But even these do not hold a candle to the greatest lie of them all: the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), later referred to as the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP). What happened in Seattle can only be described as a short-lived Marxist insurgency where terrorists took control of six blocks of Seattle. More to the point, CHAZ/CHOP was cheered on by the local government’s leaders who provided cleaning services, portable toilets, and even described the takeover as a “summer of love”. The local government encouraged this terrorism, and that is the only accurate word to describe armed Marxist revolutionaries declaring sole dominance over a portion of an American city. Just like the aforementioned NBPP, the warlord Raz Simone and his revolutionaries have a burning hatred for white Americans especially — leading to a policy of racial segregation within CHAZ — a feeling seemingly shared by the Seattle government, which introduced a course specifically for white city employees to “interrupt whiteness”.

Just as firearms can be a force for good, they can also be used for evil, and CHAZ is the perfect example of that. The aforementioned Raz Simone was seen on video handing out rifles from the trunk of his Tesla to strangers on the street for the purposes of continuing to enforce his control within CHAZ and advancing his ideology. These revolutionaries did not arm themselves to defend against attack, they took up arms to intimidate and initiate violence. As an example of how these revolutionaries exercised their power, look to when a YouTuber, who goes by The Yankee Marshal, went to CHAZ. He was convinced that CHAZ was a “street fair” filled with peaceful protestors, and to prove this point, he filmed himself walking around the area. While walking down the street, a group of what might be termed “armed enforcers” noticed a pin for an animal shelter which they thought was a police pin. Immediately, they descended on The Yankee Marshal and began to threaten and assault him. However, the story of how “order” was enforced within CHAZ does not stop at vocal aggression and simple assault. CHAZ experienced numerous shootings, one of which was captured on video. After the initial spat of gunfire, a man can be heard asking “You’re not dead?” before one last gunshot.

Death, destruction, and hatred: that is the future which we are rapidly being forced towards by those who despise this nation, its culture, its history, and those who embrace it. Look to the examples laid out in this column, and you will see antagonists who attacked and threatened innocents while our governments stood by and watched it happen. It is disheartening and terrifying that such action is not only tolerated, but met with thunderous applause. This violence must be stopped, must be denounced, and those responsible must be punished accordingly. Our great nation is not a lost cause. We can avoid further bloodshed and achieve a great future, but the first step towards that goal is to not be complacent with lies. Rather, it is necessary to stand, armed with the truth, against evil so that others will not have to stand and fight against murderous hordes.