A Neglected Topic

One of the things that has bothered me for a long time is the statement usually worded "They'll get my gun when they pry it from my cold dead fingers."  Several folks, my friends included, might disagree with me here; but I can't in good conscience agree with that.  It's taken me years to fully grasp why I feel this way, so here are my thoughts on it:

Our Founding Fathers fought the war for freedom because they thought it was a just war.  The concept has been around since before the time of Christ, has been stated by such church fathers as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, and is very well put by the Roman Catholic Church (I'm not agreeing with all their doctrine of course, but this puts the matter more succinctly than most others) as follows:

• The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain; 
• All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
• There must be serious prospects of success;
• The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power as well as The precision of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

These were the conditions that our Founders contemplated and agreed were met when they set in motion the Revolution which gave us our freedom.  That is not the situation we have today.

The gun owners of the nation cannot inflict lasting, grave or certain damage to the enemy. The powers of the the ballot box and the mailbox have not been exhausted, there may still be the grounds for civil disobedience; but the ammo box is still not called for. Current technology of our nation's military--and even many law enforcement agencies--would quickly end organized armed resistance.  Any uprising would likely cause more damage than good.

There may once have been a time that armed conflict could have been effective; but that was before the battle lines were drawn as clearly  as they are now.