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Thursday, October 12, 2023

Don't Tread on me!

   

    Since our country’s inception, our founding fathers have established certain unalienable rights. What is an unalienable right? How I would define an unalienable right would be rights that cannot be bought or sold, transferred, or traded, but most importantly surrendered. The 2nd Amendment itself is not an unalienable right. Hold on, before you grab torches and pitchforks, read what I have to say. The 2nd Amendment is not an unalienable right, but it affords us the opportunity to defend our life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. History proves that a disarmed populous is not only a controlled populous, but also a vulnerable one. This truth became all too real for Israeli citizens last week.

    As Hamas was wreaking havoc outside the walls of Gaza, Israeli citizens huddled inside their homes and safe rooms, only to be burned out of their home or blown up inside of it. Nothing and no one to protect them. Some Israeli citizens only comfort before armed Hamas gunman shot unarmed citizen after unarmed citizen was that their children were hidden well enough to survive. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The only good thing about the senseless deaths of the citizens is that they weren’t alive to witness the brutality that happened next. I have seen videos and images of women being dragged by their hair from the backs and trunks of cars. Signs that they have been beaten and sexually assaulted. The brutality of the rape still evident on their blood-soaked clothing that sticks to their leg as they are ruthlessly shoved into the back of another vehicle to be raped again by Hamas militants waiting outside the vehicle, while other Hamas terrorists shout “allahu akbar”, which means “God is most Great”. Maybe those citizens don’t want to be armed, but I think they will.

    There are two massive failures here by the Israeli government. First, they failed to imagine how low their enemy would go to strike fear in the hearts of the Israeli citizens. Second, because they failed to imagine the depths of the barbarism that Hamas would inflict on civilians, they didn’t allow the Israeli citizens in harm’s way an opportunity to defend themselves. Yes, these two points are directly related.

    Israeli citizens are not afforded the right to carry or bear arms. Generally, you have to prove that you have a need in your daily life to be given permission to own a gun for protection. Many unarmed families outside of Gaza were beaten, abducted, or shot by Hamas in their homes, in the street, in their car, at the market. Some of the people kidnapped or killed were vocal supporters of Palestine. Did Hamas interview the 67-year-old mother from the United States if she supported Palestine before they shot her Israeli husband in front of her, then tied her up and repeatedly raped her before stabbing her because they didn’t want to waste their bullets. She bled out before help could arrive. There are so many advocates for gun control until they themselves are subjected to traumatic events that change their minds. Unfortunately, too many didn’t survive long enough to change their minds. At this point, I would think that anyone living outside of Gaza can petition the Israeli government for permission to protect their home and family with a firearm. If the government denies this right, they can show them exactly what Hamas is capable of.

    This leads to the biggest problem of the Israeli government, which is that they underestimated their enemy. That, my friends, is inexcusable. The reason that Israel exists is that they couldn’t imagine that anyone was capable of the atrocities perpetrated by Nazi Germany. Let’s be clear though, the reason that these atrocities were made into a reality was because of an unarmed citizenry. China, Russia, Cambodia, Cuba, Vietnam, Korea, Great Brittain, and the list goes on. In each and every case the commonwealth underestimated the lengths that a totalitarian or authoritarian regime would go to gain or retain power. Apparently, the Israeli government just could not imagine that Hamas would coordinate a ground offensive with the sole purpose to kill as many citizens they could, while simultaneously kidnapping as many they could to demoralize the Israeli people

    I spoke to an Israeli citizen, and they are angry. Not like anything I’ve seen before. They are angry at Hamas, but also angry at their defense ministers because they didn’t see it coming and defend them. Who would want to imagine a group of over 1500 terrorists infiltrating communities to kill and destroy? Who would want to imagine that Hamas is capable of repeatedly raping women and children as young as 5 and 6, then tossing their lifeless bodies from moving vehicles because they no longer serve a purpose. I don’t care if they want to imagine it, IT’S THEIR JOB TO! Since they cannot fathom the depth of human depravity and the atrocities that one group of people can subject another to, the Israeli government has 1200 citizens dead, more injured, some abducted, and others unaccounted for. I’ve heard a comedian joke about guns in their state, and they learned about the states surrounding them in case those other states ever attacked. We take that reality for granted, and that is exactly the position Israel is in, yet the Israeli government doesn’t trust it’s citizens with firearms. I know about 1200 people that wished Israel did trust them enough to defend themselves.

    Setting aside our military and government for a moment and we are just going to discuss a possible attack on its citizens. Let’s not be naïve enough to believe that Hamas and Hezbollah are not in the United States. They pop up at Palestinian rallies all over the United States and they are terrorist organizations. They hate everything about Israel, the United States, and our way of life. They are forcing their ideals on Israelis and other Palestinians alike. The reason why they will plan an attack in a place like Israel and not a place like Georgia, is the reaction of its citizens would be very different. If they attacked near me in Georgia, I may put my wife and kids in the basement, armed, with a way to escape. While myself, and a few of my neighbors will gear up with means to repel any invader. They may get me, but I’m going out in a hail of gunfire with the ringing of shell casing hitting the pavement and the overwhelming smell of gunpowder in the air.

    I pray that the Israeli government and its citizens learn a valuable lesson from this, and that is that an unarmed citizen can still die at the hands of an invader that is. Our 2nd Amendment is not to protect our right to hunt, but to protect our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Continue to pray for the people over there and may a version of our 2nd Amendment find it’s way to the Israeli people.

Stay free and stay armed my friends. 

 Aaron from Georgia