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<h1 id="title-index">gun-ctrl</h1>
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<div id="conspiracy">
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<p>GUN CONTROL, PATRIOTISM, AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE</p>
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<p>By JACOB G. HORNBERGER</p>
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<p>The State of California recently enacted a law which requires
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owners of semiautomatic weapons to register their guns with
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the state. But when the law went into effect, thousands of
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California gun owners, although risking a felony conviction,
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refused to comply with its requirements.</p>
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<p>The gun owners were immediately showered with harsh criticism,
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not only from their public officials but from many of their
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fellow citizens as well. The critics implied, among other
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things, that since the law had been passed by the duly elected
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representatives of the people, the gun owners, as members of
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society, had a duty to comply with its terms.</p>
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<p>The controversy raises important issues concerning liberty,
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property, government, patriotism, and civil disobedience.</p>
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<p>As I have repeatedly emphasized, by adopting the welfare-state, planned-economy way of life, the American people of our
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time have rejected and abandoned the principles of individual
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freedom and limited government on which our nation was
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founded. But they have also rejected and abandoned something
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of equal importance: the concept of patriotism which
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characterized America's Founding Fathers.</p>
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<p>There have been two different notions of patriotism in
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American history. The one which characterizes the American
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people of the 20th century--the one which is taught in our
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public schools--is this: patriotism means the support of one's
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own government and the actions which the government takes on
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behalf of the citizenry. The idea is that since we live in a
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democratic society, the majority should have the political
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power to take any action it desires. And although those in the
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minority may not like the laws, they are duty-bound, as "good"
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citizens, to obey and support them.</p>
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<p>The distinguishing characteristic of this type of patriotism
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is that the citizen does not make an independent, personal
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judgment of the rightness or wrongness of a law. Instead, he
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does what he has been taught to do since the first grade in
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his government schools: he places unwavering faith and trust
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in the judgment of his popularly elected public officials.</p>
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<p>The other concept of patriotism was the type which
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characterized the <span class="NORP" title="NORP">British</span> colonists during the late 1700s.
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These individuals believed that patriotism meant a devotion to
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certain principles of rightness and morality. They believed
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that the good citizen had the duty to make an independent
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judgment as to whether his own government's laws violated
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these principles. And so, unlike their counterparts in America
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today, these individuals refused to automatically accept the
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legitimacy of the actions of their public officials.</p>
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<p>Let us examine how "real-world" applications of these two
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concepts of patriotism differ dramatically.</p>
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<p>In the late 1700s, the <span class="NORP" title="NORP">British</span> colonists were suffering under
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the same type of oppressive regulatory and tax system under
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which present-day Americans are suffering. What was the
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reaction of the colonists to this regulatory and tax tyranny?
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They deliberately chose to ignore and disobey their
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government's regulations and tax acts. Smuggling and tax
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evasion were the order of the day! And the more that their
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government tried to enforce the restrictions, the more it met
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with disregard and disobedience from the citizenry.</p>
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<p>Sometimes smugglers or tax evaders would be caught and brought
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to trial. The result? Despite conclusive evidence of guilt and
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the judges' instructions to convict, the defendants' fellow
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citizens on the juries regularly voted verdicts of acquittal.</p>
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<p>And civil disobedience was not limited to economic regulations
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and taxation. There was also widespread resistance to
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conscription, especially during the French and <span class="NORP" title="NORP">Indian</span> War.
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Those who were conscripted deserted the army in large numbers.
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And those who had not been conscripted hid the deserters in
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their homes.</p>
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<p>This was what it once meant to be a patriot--the devotion to a
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certain set of principles regarding rightness, morality,
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individualism, liberty, and property; and it meant a firm
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stand against one's own government when it violated these
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principles.</p>
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<p>If an American of today were magically transported back to
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colonial America of the late 1700s, he would immediately find
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himself at odds with the colonists who were resisting the
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tyranny of their government. How do we know this? By the way
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which Americans of today respond to what is a much more
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oppressive and tyrannical economic system: with either
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meekness or, even worse, with ardent, "flag-waving" support
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for the actions of their rulers.</p>
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<p>And what is their attitude toward their fellow citizens who
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are caught violating the rules and regulations? Again, either
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meekness or fervent support of their rulers. After all, what
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was the reaction to the conviction of Michael Milken for
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violating such ridiculous economic regulations that even King
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George would have been embarrassed? "He got what's coming to
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him--he shouldn't have made so much money anyway!" And to
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Leona Helmsley's conviction for having taken improper
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deductions on her income tax return? "She's obnoxious--she
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should go to jail." The thought of rising to the defense of
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these victims of political tyranny is an anathema to the
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present-day American "patriot."</p>
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<p>And what about jury trials involving economic crimes? Like the
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good, little citizens they have been taught to be, especially
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in their public schools, American "patriots" dutifully comply
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with the judge's instructions to convict their fellow citizens
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of violating this regulatory and tax tyranny. Although they
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have the same power as their ancestors to disregard the
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judge's instructions and to acquit their fellow citizens, the
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thought of doing so is repugnant to present-day "patriots."
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They choose instead to do their "duty" and thereby become
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"patriotic" agents of their own government's tyranny.</p>
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<p>Therefore, there is no doubt that the American of today would
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feel very uncomfortable if, all of a sudden, he found himself
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in the <span class="NORP" title="NORP">British</span> colonies in 1775--in the midst of smugglers,
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tax evaders, draft resisters, and other patriots of that time.</p>
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<p>This brings us back to the individuals in California who are
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refusing to register their guns.</p>
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<p>As our American ancestors understood so well, the bedrock of a
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free society is private ownership of property. And there are
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fewer more important rights of private ownership than the
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unfettered right to own weapons.</p>
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<p>Why is ownership of weapons so vitally important? Not for
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hunting. And not even to resist aggression by domestic
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criminals or foreign invaders. No, as history has repeatedly
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shown, the vital importance of the fundamental right to own
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arms is to resist tyranny by one's own government, should such
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tyranny ever become unendurably evil and oppressive.</p>
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<p>The lesson which Americans of today have forgotten or have
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never learned--the lesson which our ancestors tried so hard to
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teach us--is that the greatest threat to our lives, liberty,
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property, and security lies not with some foreign government,
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as our rulers so often tell us; instead, the greatest threat
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to the well-being of all of us lies with our own government!</p>
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<p>Of course, there are those who suggest that democratically
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elected public officials would never do anything seriously
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harmful to the American people. But let's look at just a few
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twentieth-century examples. They confiscated people's gold.
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They repudiated gold clauses in government debts. They
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provoked the <span class="NORP" title="NORP">Japanese</span> into attacking Pearl Harbor and then
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acted like they were surprised. They incarcerated <span class="NORP" title="NORP">Japanese</span>-Americans for no crime at all. They injected dangerous, mind-altering drugs into American servicemen without their
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knowledge. They radiated the American people in the <span class="PERSON" title="PERSON">Northwest</span>
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and then deliberately hid it from them. They have
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surreptitiously confiscated and plundered people's income and
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savings through the Federal Reserve System. They have
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terrorized the citizenry through the IRS. And, most recently,
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they have sent our fellow citizens to their deaths thousands
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of miles away in the pursuit of a relatively insignificant
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cause.</p>
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<p>Those who believe that democratically elected rulers lack the
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potential and inclination for destructive conduct against
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their citizenry are living in la-la land.</p>
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<p>Of course, the proponents of political tyranny are usually
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well motivated. Those who enacted the gun-registration law in
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California point to those who have used semiautomatic weapons
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to commit horrible, murderous acts. But the illusion--the
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pipe-dream--is that bad acts can be prevented through the
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deprivation of liberty. They cannot be! Life is insecure--
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whether under liberty or enslavement. The only choice is
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between liberty and insecurity, on the one hand, and
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insecurity and enslavement on the other.</p>
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<p>The true patriot scrutinizes the actions of his own government
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with unceasing vigilance. And when his government violates the
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morality and rightness associated with principles of
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individual freedom and private property, he immediately rises
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in opposition to his government. This is why the gun owners of
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California might ultimately go down in history as among the
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greatest and most courageous patriots of our time.</p>
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<p>Mr. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of
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Freedom Foundation.
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------------------------------------------------------------
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From the May 1991 issue of FREEDOM DAILY,
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Copyright (c) 1991, The Future of Freedom Foundation,
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PO Box 9752, Denver, Colorado 80209, 303-777-3588.
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Permission granted to reprint; please give appropriate credit
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and send one copy of reprinted material to the Foundation.
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</p>
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