{"id":117765,"date":"2026-07-09T14:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T19:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=117765"},"modified":"2026-07-09T14:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T19:42:16","slug":"117765","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=117765","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

What becoming an American taught me about liberty<\/a><\/p>\n

Growing up in Australia, I lived in what most people would call a \u201cfree\u201d society. But it wasn\u2019t until I moved to the United States and embraced the U.S. Constitution that my entire worldview transformed. I realized that back home, freedom was treated as a privilege carefully defined by the government. In America, the Second Amendment taught me a profound truth: we are born free.<\/p>\n

Today, as a firearms instructor and the Northeast Regional Director \u2014 and former New Hampshire State Director \u2014 of Women for Gun Rights, I live by a simple creed proudly stamped on my adopted home state\u2019s license plates: Live Free or Die.<\/p>\n

To me, the motto means embracing personal responsibility and never surrendering the agency that belongs to free people. The U.S. Constitution, which is now my Constitution, does not create those rights \u2014 it recognizes them and establishes a government whose powers are limited so those rights may endure.<\/p>\n

I am now one of millions of American women who choose to live prepared, not scared. Many of us volunteer our time to defend this civil right. Yet for years, well-funded gun control organizations have tried to convince the public \u2014 and women in particular \u2014 that passing more restrictions is the only way to keep our children and communities safe.<\/p>\n

These groups often claim to speak for all women and all families. But those of us working alongside women in our communities know the rhetoric does not match reality.<\/p>\n

Now, hard data has finally caught up to what we\u2019ve known all along.<\/p>\n

A national survey commissioned by the Crime Prevention Research Center and conducted this year validates what Second Amendment advocates have long argued: the public rejects the gun control premise. When asked what would do the most to reduce violent crime, voters overwhelmingly favored holding criminals accountable over passing new restrictions.<\/p>\n

Thirty-one percent of respondents chose enforcing existing laws as the best way to lower crime rates, while more than 30% favored arresting and prosecuting violent and repeat offenders. Only 30% supported passing new firearm-related legislation. Combined, enforcement-focused solutions outperformed new gun-control measures by more than 30 percentage points.<\/p>\n

The message from the American people to their legislators is remarkably simple: hold violent criminals accountable, stop treating law-abiding citizens like the problem, and trust ordinary people pursuing their own happiness.<\/p>\n

Crucially, the Center\u2019s survey shatters the myth that women universally support disarmament. Substantial numbers of female voters favored enforcing existing laws over passing new restrictions.<\/p>\n

Among women, the data highlights a growing trend. Instead of looking to politicians or an unreliable government for a false sense of security, women are increasingly choosing self-reliance. Nationally, concealed carry continues to grow among women, reflecting a profound cultural shift.<\/p>\n

According to the survey, 20% of voters report possessing a concealed carry permit, and nearly 30% report carrying a firearm at least occasionally. More importantly, the number of Americans carrying concealed firearms increased by more than 5% in just over a year. Carrying a firearm for protection is no longer exceptional \u2014 it has become part of the American mainstream.<\/p>\n

In New Hampshire, we understand the value of removing unnecessary obstacles to liberty. We are consistently recognized as one of the safest states in the nation while respecting the right of law-abiding citizens to carry without first asking government permission. A culture that values
\nSo what concerns me in the Live Free or Die state is not death itself, but the slow erosion of personal agency \u2014 the quiet cultural shift that teaches us to look first to the government, rather than to ourselves, for our safety, our well-being and ultimately our freedom.<\/p>\n

The right to self-defense is not a bureaucratic luxury. It is an inherent human right.<\/p>\n

Coming from a country that chose a different path, I can tell you that restrictions do not deter violent offenders. They only disarm the vulnerable. Australia continues to grapple with violence against women and violent home invasions despite some of the world\u2019s strictest firearms laws. While these challenges are not unique to Australia, America remains exceptional in one important respect: it trusts ordinary, law-abiding citizens with access to an equalizing force.<\/p>\n

That is true empowerment.<\/p>\n

The Center\u2019s survey suggests Americans are waking up to this reality. They don\u2019t want more laws that turn peaceful citizens into criminals. They want safety, accountability and the freedom to protect what they love. They want to live free.<\/p>\n

When I first arrived in America, I thought freedom was something carefully defined by the government. Becoming an American taught me something far more profound: we are born free. Liberty is our birthright. The Constitution did not give us that birthright \u2014 it recognizes it and establishes a government whose powers are limited so that liberty may endure.<\/p>\n

Yet liberty is more than a birthright. It comes with a solemn civic responsibility. As a naturalized American citizen, I swore an oath to honor and defend it. That responsibility belongs to all of us: not only to preserve liberty for ourselves, but to pass it intact to the Americans who will one day inherit it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What becoming an American taught me about liberty Growing up in Australia, I lived in what most people would call a \u201cfree\u201d society. But it wasn\u2019t until I moved to the United States and embraced the U.S. Constitution that my entire worldview transformed. I realized that back home, freedom was treated as a privilege carefully … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,24,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-o-the-day","category-rights","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117766,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117765\/revisions\/117766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}