Open forum: Gun ownership

After Pearl Harbor in 1941, it was a well-known fact that Japan could have taken America by land troops. After the World War II, Japanese generals were asked why they did not invade us. They wouldn’t because most every house in America had a gun.

Four states (Michigan, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania) comprised that largest army of hunters in the world — 1.3 million. Such numbers saved America from a brutal takeover.

George Washington’s first national address emphasized the right for every citizen to bear arms, so if a militia were needed to defend our country from a tyranny or invasion it was available.

People have been murdered after tyrants forcibly took all their weapons. Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Idi Amin are examples of this history.

There are an unknown number of lives saved by citizens with weapons not reported by the Main Street media. Some of these occurred in a mall in Clackamas, Ore.; in Early, Texas; in Butte, Mont. Included were a 12-year-old saving herself from rape and possible death from intruders, a mother saving herself and her 9-year-old twins, and the list goes on.

Neither the Bill of Rights nor the Constitution gives authority to the government to infringe on the right of citizens to bear arms as has been stated by the Supreme Court over and over again. Justice Story’s words were used in McDonald vs Chicago (2010): “The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms is widely seen as the palladium of the liberties of a republic.”

One boy, 16-year-old Luke Woodham, killed his mother, two students, and wounded seven because his girlfriend broke up with him. Woodham planned to go to a junior high school from his high school to kill more students. Assistant Principal Joel Myrick went to his truck, loaded his pistol, and saved lives by shooting Woodham in the parking lot of the high school. Due to gun laws, Myrick was not allowed to carry his gun on his person. How many lives were saved is unknown.

Sixty-four percent of school parents want their kids to attend a school with armed guards as President Obama’s girls do.

Obama hints he will activate gun control and raise the national debt ceiling with executive orders. Per the Constitution, he has no authority to do this, but he ignores the law of the land. Is he a tyrant wanting to take our guns away?

Danny Lanning is a resident of Stephens City.