By Andrew Lepore | United States

“The 2018 student walkout movement will be one of the largest and widespread movements in favor of guns and coercion in recent years”

Since the recent tragedy in Parkland Florida, a series of student walkouts have sprung up across the country. These protests, intended as a call to action for state and federal lawmakers, have gained significant traction and support from mainstream media outlets. This 17-minute walkout will take place at my high school this week, and is likely to see widespread support among to student populace. Emma Mair, a co-organizer of this weeks walkout, told the School Committee last Wednesday, “Silently walking out to protest the country’s current gun policy is how Masconomet students would like to stand in solidarity with the Parkland victims and survivors, with all shooting victims and survivors.”

The end goal of “protesting the countries current gun policy” is different according to the opinion of each individual protester; although it ranges from stricter background checks, a national registry, banning bump stocks/ other accessories, and the full-on ban of “assault weapons.” Due to the fact that these protests hope to achieve stricter laws regarding guns, even full-on bans; this movement is, in fact, one of pro-gun, pro-violence, and pro-coercion.

“If you are for gun control, then you are not against guns, because the guns will be needed to disarm people. So it’s not that you are anti-gun. You’ll need the police’s guns to take away other people’s guns. So you’re very Pro-Gun, you just believe that only the Government (which is, of course, so reliable, honest, moral and virtuous…) should be allowed to have guns. There is no such thing as gun control. There is only centralizing gun ownership in the hands of a small, political elite and their minions.” -Stefan Molyneux

The very idea of laws making it harder for law-abiding citizens to protect their family, and the outright banning of certain firearms if passed into law would be enforced through the barrel of a gun. I don’t think these students have any idea what they’re really begging for. Do they think that Congress just signs a paper and at the stroke of a pen all guns are magically transported to some safe government vault? Do they think millions of Americans would just all come together and turn their firearms into the state? Considering the people who own these firearms do so precisely for protection against government tyranny (which is the main purpose of the second amendment), I don’t think that would be so easy.

Let’s pretend following the protest, Congress passes a bill making guns harder to get (for law-abiding citizens, of course, criminals will get guns regardless of laws), banning bump stocks/ other accessories, and banning assault weapons. Imagine this legislation is announced and the country is told that all tactical accessories and assault weapons should be turned into your local police station. Not only that but, they announce all people on any form of ADHD, depression, anxiety, or other mental health medication would no longer be allowed to purchase a gun of any sort; and that any with those conditions who currently own a gun would be required to turn theirs as well.

To those ignorant of gun culture and its distrust of government might think this is an easy task. Many think guy owners are some dying minority of rednecks that can easily be corralled and tamed. The truth is there are over 270 million privately held firearms, and America has the highest gun ownership per capita rate in the world, with an average of about nine guns for every 10 Americans. It would probably be safe to bet that almost every single one of these gun owners has a serious distrust of the government. Many Firearm owners think the state has been planning to disarm them since the 90’s, and they simply would not go down without a fight. This hardcore sentiment dates back to 1776, the War for Independence, and the signing of the Second Amendment to our constitution. It is reflected in the popular NRA slogan “I’ll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.”

This sentiment may not be unjustified. Considering Before the holocaust the Jews were disarmed, before Stalin’s great purges the people of the USSR were disarmed before Mao starved and murdered millions of his own people the Chinese were disarmed. While genocide may seem like a far-fetched scenario for America, all it takes is small steps to reach such great evil.

When the state makes a victimless action in and of itself a crime, resistance to that law becomes imminent (and to me, justified). When in resistance to the power of the state, even when justified, you will face the full force of the authoritarian iron fist of the state and its enforcers.

What happens when these stubborn, independent firearm owners refuse to hand over their guns to the first man with a shiny badge who knocks on the door? Waco, Texas 1993; members of the Branch Davidians religious group are suspected by the ATF to be converting semi-automatic rifles to fully automatic rifles in their isolated rural compound. After an initial failed ATF raid on the compound, the FBI took over the operation. The FBI surrounded the compound and began siege tactics as the Branch Davidians refused to surrender themselves or their firearms. On day 51 of this siege, the feds attempted a tactical assault with tanks armed with tear gas to flood the compound and “force the group out.” They used CS gas (2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile), which can be highly incendiary, yet the feds made no preparations to put out a fire had it occurred. The assault resulted in a fire ripping through the compound, killing 26 children, and 45 adult men and women.

This is the power of the state. This is the power of laws enforced through the barrel of a gun. The means to an end for a law is always violence. In other words, the goal which a law is aimed at achieving is always achieved by violence or the threat of violence. Sure there are FBI negotiators, but that does not change the nature of crime, punishment, and enforcement within the United States. The power of a law simply comes from the barrel of a gun.

This brings us back to the Stefan Molyneux quote:

“You’ll need the police’s guns to take away other people’s guns. So you’re very Pro-Gun, you just believe that only the Government should have guns (which is, of course, so reliable, honest, moral and virtuous…) should be allowed to have guns.”

The point of wanting to use guns to disarm law-abiding gun owners is hypocritical enough itself, but weren’t many of the people who are in favor of only allowing police and military to have guns just a few weeks ago protesting police for systematic racism and brutality? And also aren’t many are in opposition to wars of aggression in the Middle East? Why are they one week protesting against police and the next week they’re declaring only police should have guns? This makes very little. It proves to me that this is no movement against guns and violence. It is a movement to strip Americans of their right to self-preservation.

In conclusion, The 2018 student walkout movement will be one of the largest and most widespread movements in favor of guns and coercion in recent years. I will be staunchly advocating for the rights of the American people to keep their own weapons, and I will not tolerate any government steps to infringe upon those rights.

Image Source John Stuart