The worst Vice-President in history, Kamala Harris, recently said that gross violations of our God-given right of self-defense are “reasonable.” Tyranny is not reasonable. Take your feelings, cut them into shreds, and burn them. I don’t care what you “feel” about my right to defend my Faith, Family, and Freedom. God gave me that right; not you, not popular consensus, not the President, not Congress, not the Supreme Court, and not even the U.S. Constitution. 

The Second Amendment of the United States is perhaps the clearest of all amendments in the Bill of Rights. It affirms that our “right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” “Shall not be infringed” is not followed with “. . . unless we feel unsafe” or “. . . unless Californians don’t like it” or “. . . unless nine unelected tyrants in black robes say otherwise” or “. . . unless the United Nations decides people shouldn’t be armed” or “. . . unless there is a crisis” or “. . . unless a criminal or terrorist commits a deadly act with a weapon” or “. . . unless the Vice-President thinks it’s “reasonable” to do so.”  

The right to keep and bear arms in personal and private self-defense by any means necessary is not a constitutional right – there is no such thing as a constitutional right; rather, it is a God-given natural right inherited at birth and which cannot be justifiably taken away or restricted. You may forfeit your rights by misusing them to violate other people’s rights, but no one can rightfully take them from you. Period. Full stop. 

That ought to be the end of the debate. Unfortunately, conniving tyrants and ravenous despots clawing their way to power need to remove their last obstacle – an armed population. James Madison famously spoke of the “the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation.” The context of his statement makes it even more powerful. 

In Federalist No. 46, Madison discoursed on federalism and attacked the “visionary” notion that the states would ever be dominated by the federal government. He said that in order for that to happen the federal government would need to amass a standing army, which was completely contrary to the Founding Fathers’ principles. In response, Madison suggested that even if the federal government were able to create such an army, it would be no match the armed population of the people of each state: 

“Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger. The highest number to which, according to the best computation, a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one hundredth part of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This proportion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. Those who are best acquainted with the last successful resistance of this country against the British arms, will be most inclined to deny the possibility of it. Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. And it is not certain, that with this aid alone they would not be able to shake off their yokes. But were the people to possess the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, who could collect the national will and direct the national force, and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments, and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance, that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned in spite of the legions which surround it.” 

Madison was not afraid of federal tyranny because the American People were armed to the teeth. Not only were states equipped with the power, right, and duty to call up the militia (i.e. the armed people of their jurisdiction), but the people themselves had a complete and absolute right to be armed, to wield arms, and to defend themselves. The idea that the average person could and should be armed, as a right from God, for the sake of defending his own Liberty and that of his country, is the genesis of the Second Amendment. Thus, the right to keep and bear arms preceded and is superior to the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the Second Amendment. No government, state or federal, can strip anyone of this God-given right. To do so is brazen tyranny and treason. 

If we allow ourselves to be disarmed, we will be led as lambs to the slaughter. We will become like every other weak and enslaved nation if we relinquish our right to protect what matters most – our Faith, Family, and Freedom. Barring authentic revelation from Almighty God, no true man and especially no real Christian would give up his arms and leave his family defenseless and surrender his rights to maniacal tyrants and vain oppressors. You are duty-bound to defend your family even to bloodshed if necessary. 

Remember, it is the duty of the American People to shatter in pieces any tyrannical government that attempts to set itself up over them. The Declaration of Independence affirms: 

“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” 

Please burn this truth in your mind – it is not only your authentic right, but your sacred duty to “throw off” and “abolish” any government that would violate your rights. This is what our forefathers did in 1776. They did not fight against a foreign government; they overthrew their own government that had become oppressive. They therefore declared it as a permanent right that all peoples possess at all times to rise up and overthrow any government that becomes despotic and tramples their rights. 

Lastly, I give you the words of John Adams. In his Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States, he proclaimed: 

“The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than that to hang a robber, or kill a flea. But killing one tyrant only makes way for a worse, unless the people have sense, spirit, and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against tyranny; against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many. Let it be the study, therefore, of lawgivers and philosophers, to enlighten the people’s understandings and improve their morals, by good and general education; to enable them to comprehend the scheme of government, and to know upon what points their liberties depend; to dissipate those vulgar prejudices and popular superstitions that oppose themselves to good government; and to teach them that obedience to the laws is as indispensable in them as in lords and kings.” 

Tyrants, by definition, have abused their oaths and violated the rights of the People. They have therefore come out as enemies to the country and to the God of Liberty. It is therefore the right of that nation so abused to kill the tyrants who oppress them and who Lord over them without right or authority. 

John Adams’ caution is also crucial. In order to win in this war against tyranny, we must be moral, good, and upright. It would lead to chaos worse than before if we removed a tyrannical regime but left a vacuum that could be filled with every imaginable type of oppressive government from tribalism to monarchy to democracy. As it currently stands, though tyrants infest every nook and cranny of our federal government, we still have the Constitution as a broad framework. No government was ever more inspired and wisely formed than the Constitution if we would only follow it and hold our elected “representatives” accountable. Thus, we must be wise, upright, good, moral, just, and religious people. We must turn to God and, in His strength, rise up to remove obstructions to our full exercise of Liberty, to prosperity, and to peace. 

Without our God-given right to keep and bear arms in self-defense, we would have little hope of ever reversing our current plight and maintaining what Liberty remains. Never surrender your arms. Never barter away your rights. Never acquiesce to grasping tyrants who hate you, want to enslave you, and pretend they are your masters. Embrace the American tradition of rebellion to tyrants. 

I leave off with this encouragement from Patrick Henry on the eve of the opening shots of the glorious American Revolution: 

“Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable–and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. 

“It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” 

Zack Strong, 
February 15, 2024