Dear Editor,
This is in response to Mr. Bishop’s letter that appeared in your paper dated April 17, 2016. In the letter, Mr. Bishop wanted to know “What is the purpose of owning an Uzi? An M16? – that in origin was intended to kill as many as possible.”
A brief history lesson is in order here. The Revolutionary War between Britain and the United States took place from April 19, 1775 and Sept. 3, 1783. The Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. The bill of Rights, which contains the second amendment, was ratified by the last state (Virginia) on Dec. 15, 1791. The purpose of the Revolutionary War was to break away from a tyrannical government that was not listening to a portion of its people.
Our Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, 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.”
The second amendment states, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The founding fathers not only stated we have the right (or duty) to alter or abolish a form of government that has stopped allowing we, the people, to pursue our unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness but gave us the ability to abolish the tyrannical government through The Second Amendment. A right without an ability to carry it out is useless.
So to answer Mr. Bishop’s question, the purpose of owning a weapon “that’s origin is to kill as many as possible” is to level the playing field if the government becomes repressive to a point that a revolution is in order. You don’t take a knife to a gunfight.
Sincerely,
Eva L. Pierce
Owego, N.Y.
