As a steadfast supporter of the Second Amendment and an advocate for the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, I can’t help but feel a sense of frustration and indignation every time new gun control measures are proposed. We had over twenty anti-2A bills this legislative session alone. Time and again, well-meaning but misguided lawmakers attempt to curtail our Constitutional freedoms under the guise of “preventing crime” and “keeping us safe.” Arizona Citizens Defense League President Michael Gibbs texted me yesterday and said, “Laws don’t prevent crime, they only define it.” He is 100% correct and the hard truth is, laws don’t actually prevent crime – they merely define what constitutes a crime.
At their core, gun control laws target the wrong people entirely. They place undue restrictions and burdens on responsible gun owners who have committed no crime, while doing little to nothing to deter those with criminal intent. The old adage rings true: “When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” It’s a harsh reality, but one we must confront head-on.
The recent push for stricter gun laws in Arizona and across the nation is a prime example of this flawed logic. Proponents claim that “common sense” regulations like universal background checks, assault weapon bans, and magazine capacity limits will somehow keep us safer. But what they fail to recognize is that criminals, by definition, do not follow the law. A convicted felon intent on obtaining an illegal firearm is not going to be deterred by more stringent background checks or weapon restrictions. All these measures do is make it more difficult and convoluted for upstanding citizens to exercise their Constitutionally protected rights.
Many of these proposed laws are based on emotion and misconception rather than facts and data. The term “assault weapon” itself is a politically charged misnomer designed to spread fear and justify infringement on our liberties. In reality, the firearms branded as such are functionally no different from other legal semi-automatic rifles–they are not fully automatic “machine guns” as the media often portrays. I listened to the recent Supreme Court argument in Garland v Cargill. A case in which the Court will decide whether a bump stock device is a “machine gun” as defined in 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b). The Principal Deputy Solicitor General and Justice Jackson actually discussed that a bump stock allows an AR-15 to fire 800 rounds per second. Similarly, magazine capacity limits do nothing to enhance safety, as even the deadliest mass murders have been carried out with ordinary 10-round magazines that would still be permissible under such laws.
At the end of the day, those who would do us harm will find ways to obtain weapons illegally, regardless of what laws are on the books. Criminals do not follow the rules–that’s what makes them criminals. No amount of regulation or restriction will change that fact. All it does is punish those of us who choose to bear arms responsibly and within the confines of the law.
The path forward, then, is not to pile on more ineffective and unconstitutional gun control measures. Rather, we must focus our efforts on stricter enforcement of existing laws, harsher penalties for those who use firearms in the commission of crimes, and addressing the root societal issues that drive people to violence in the first place. Solid education, strong families and communities, economic opportunity, and accessible mental health resources go much further in preventing crime than any gun law ever could.
For me, this battle is about more than just the Second Amendment – it’s about protecting all of our Constitutional freedoms from the incremental erosion of government overreach. Our natural rights to keep and bear arms, to free speech, to due process, to privacy, and more, are not conditionally granted but inherent and immutable. They do not come with asterisks or fine print. Any infringement on these rights, no matter how small or “common sense” it may seem, sets a dangerous precedent of diminishing our fundamental liberties as Americans.
Those who foolishly believe that giving up some freedoms will make us safer are missing the forest for the trees. Our rights and liberties are what keep us free–to sacrifice them in the name of temporary security is to lose what makes this nation great. Benjamin Franklin warned as much when he stated: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
I reject the notion that we must cower in fear and compromise our values in the face of those who would do us harm. We cannot let the actions of criminals and madmen shake our resolve and cause us to forfeit the freedoms our forefathers fought and died to secure. The founders of this nation trusted free people to bear arms and use them responsibly–those of us who legally own firearms today must steadfastly uphold that duty.
At a time when our rights and civil liberties are under constant assault from all sides, it is more important than ever for law-abiding gun owners and Second Amendment supporters to remain vigilant and resolute. We must demand that our elected leaders uphold their oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” We must call out the futility and unconstitutionality of gun control laws that do nothing to prevent crime while burdening the rights of the law-abiding. And we must stay engaged in the political process to ensure that our voices are heard over the shrill cries of those who would gladly chip away at our freedoms under the false promise of enhanced security.
The right to keep and bear arms is not negotiable. It is a natural right enshrined in our nation’s most sacred founding document, with the expressed intent of providing an ultimate check against tyranny and ensuring that free people have the ability to defend themselves, their families, and their liberties. To restrict or regulate that right is to open the door to further infringements until it exists in name only.
So to those who seek to disarm the American people under the pretense of “gun safety” and “crime prevention,” I say this: WE WILL NOT COMPLY! We will not surrender our freedoms so easily. And we will not be fooled by laws that cannot and will not achieve their stated goals–for as I stated at the outset, laws don’t prevent crime, they only define it. It is we the people, exercising our rights responsibly while holding fast to our founding principles, who are the true preservers of a free society.
Almost everything I do is for a reason. There is a method to my madness, I guess. Yes, I am a Life Member of AzCDL and support the organization above that also. I am also a member of the Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association, Gun Owners of America, Second Amendment Foundation, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership even though I am not Jewish, NRA/ILA supporter, among many other organizations. I also support Women for Gun Rights and the #tealfor2A movement.
The path of appeasement and preemptive capitulation may be the easy road, but it is not the American way. We did not earn our liberty through submission and compromise, nor will we maintain it as such. Our rights were paid for with the blood and sacrifice of patriots across the generations, and it falls to us to carry that torch forward undimmed. For any other path leads not to peace or security, but to the darkness and oppression our ancestors took up arms to cast off.
So let the gun grabbers huff and puff all they want, secure in the false belief that more rules and regulations are the answer. We who rightly revere the Second Amendment and its critical role in preserving all of our other cherished rights will remain unmoved. Come and take them, they chant? Very well–we’ll give them naught but a pottery barrel full of rammed earth, just as our forebears at Old Bethel Church did when confronted by the tyrant’s demand for their ammunition stores.
In the centuries-long fight for freedom, many battles have been won and lost. But the wider war for liberty is eternal and unending. And so, we who love liberty most must carry on that struggle without pause or surrender, confident that the judgment of posterity will favor the righteous resistance of free people over the impotent tyranny of misguided laws. Our natural rights are not stipulated or rationed, but inalienable and sacrosanct. And by God’s grace, so they shall forever remain.
Semper Fidelis.
Michael Infanzon
AzCDL Chief Lobbyist