Robert Card, the subject of a dayslong manhunt after allegedly killing 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, was thankfully found dead from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound. Unfortunately, he won’t stand trial for his cowardly crimes, as he took the easy way out, as cowards typically do.
As expected, this tragic mass shooting has once again sparked demands for an "assault weapons ban," with calls coming from various corners of the liberal media and, of course, President Biden himself.
Shortly after the news of this tragedy became public, Biden issued a statement calling for bipartisan legislation to prohibit the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, along with the implementation of universal background checks, enforcement of safe gun storage measures, and the elimination of immunity from liability for gun manufacturers.
Fortunately for Americans, our legal system has successfully pushed back on attempts to curtail the right to keep and bear arms and, surprisingly, even expanded the right. And yet, President Biden has been clear about his feelings around the Second Amendment, openly mocking those who view it as a bulwark against government tyranny.
“I love my right-wing friends who talk about the tree of liberty is water of the blood of patriots. If you need to work about taking on the federal government, you need some F-15s. You don't need an AR-15."
Of course, Biden butchered the paraphrased quote, as the “tree of liberty” line stems from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, the son-in-law of John Adams.
“What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms,” Jefferson wrote. “The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Unsurprisingly, Biden left out the “tyrants” part in his original talking point.
But Biden is not alone. There are many, both within and outside government, on the left and the right, who echo his calls for a strict curtailment of the right to keep and bear arms.
Sadly, one reason why the Second Amendment doesn't make a lot of sense to people in today's world is that the philosophy behind it has been lost…