Years back, I was a staunch gun control advocate. Last week, I joined the NRA and the Gun Owners of America, and I’m looking to join more Second Amendment advocacy groups. How did this evolution take place?

In 2014, I wrote articles for “The Huffington Post” titled “If ISIS Had Committed the 11 School Shootings Since Sandy Hook, Congress Would Have Declared War” and “What Gun Advocates Should Remember: You’ll Never Overthrow The Government and It Isn’t Scared of You.“

Rebuttals from numerous publications resulted from the latter piece, especially since it highlighted my disdain (at the time) for gun owners. “The American Conservative” published a 2017 piece by Grayson Quay titled “The Left Has the Stronger Case for Gun Ownership,” explaining my tunnel vision:

“The article, written by H. A. Goodman, contains some truly puzzling arguments about how the failure of the Whisky Rebellion proves the impossibility of a successful uprising … Since he never mentions it, I can only assume Mr. Goodman hasn’t heard of the successful American Revolution, which just a few years earlier had succeeded in throwing off British rule and establishing the very nation against which the Whisky rebels revolted.”

Interestingly, it took me until 2018 to realize that Mr. Quay was correct about the benefits of an armed populace.

After witnessing the union of the Democratic Party and former spy chiefs James Clapper, James Comey and John Brennan, I slowly realized my trust in the federal government had been naive. Of course, I’d never advocate an armed rebellion, but the fact 37 percent of American families own some type of firearm ensures that unelected officials think twice about the extent of their schemes.

If intelligence chiefs like Brennan and Clapper can lie under oath without perjury charges, or James Comey can overlook Clinton’s private server (storing SAP intelligence) because of “intent,” imagine the extent of their chicanery with a disarmed population.

The Second Amendment isn’t necessarily a call to arms — it’s an inconvenient reality for unelected officials who continually act with impunity and without government oversight.

As for mass shootings, the propaganda of the Left will not save lives.

Dianne Feinstein admitted that no legislation could have prevented the Vegas shooting. The FBI botched the Charleston massacre and according to The New York Times, “Dylann Roof, 21, was allowed to buy the .45-caliber handgun because of mistakes by F.B.I. agents.” The FBI knew about the recent Florida shooter before he killed 17 people. The FBI also knew about the Orlando Pulse shooter years before he murdered 49 human beings. As for the Virginia Tech shooter who killed 32 people, he roamed the university for 15 minutes using a .22 and a 9 millimeter; two smaller caliber handguns that have never been the targets of a ban by liberals.

Without an armed guard or officer protecting schools, in the manner armed security protects a synagogue in Los Angeles I’ve attended during Jewish holidays, active shooters don’t need powerful firearms. Adam Lanza used 11 minutes to murder 27 people, including 18 children and didn’t need an AR-15 style rifle. Eleven minutes is enough time to reload the same handguns used during the Virginia Tech shooting that killed 32 people. The NRA is correct; schools need armed guards, like the heroic resource officers in Illinois and Florida, who prevented massacres and stopped armed killers before they reached innocent lives.

I joined the NRA and Gun Owners of America because the groupthink that I once spewed hurts law-abiding citizens and does nothing to prevent the next deranged copycat criminal. I now have a firearms channel on YouTube promoting the Second Amendment safely and responsibly; something I never imagined in 2014.

Since a 2008 study showed that 80 percent of crimes are committed with illegally obtained guns, “gun control” is a euphemism that won’t stop deranged people intent on killing. It took me a while, but I realize now that murders aren’t stopped by controlling an inanimate object. They’re stopped by heroic people like Dixon Police Officer Mark Dallas and Deputy Jim Long, and the many others who prevented active shooters from reaching potential victims.

H.A. Goodman is the author of “But Her Top Secret Emails” and “Debunking The Trump Russia Myth.”

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.