When politicians pass laws reducing our right to keep and bear arms they do so citing safety, crime, or the disutility of the arms themselves. Yet, the United States government has no problem selling large numbers of heavy weapons to foreign countries, terrorists, and dictators, while erecting barriers to our natural right of self-defense.

Hands out for hand-outs

The United States is responsible for 33 percent of worldwide arms exports –easily the top arms exporter on the planet.

The top ten purchasers of weapons sold by the U.S. government is a murderer’s row of Third World nations, repressive theocracies, and countries toted as strategic allies but really do nothing to ensure America’s safety. In descending order, they are:

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

Turkey

South Korea

Australia

Taiwan

India

Singapore

Iraq

Egypt

All of these countries are either (1) fighting active insurgencies, (2) holdovers from the Cold War network of alliances, or (3) used to project American military power abroad. Selling them weapons only further entangles this country into their civil disorders.

Many of these countries purchase weapons through a State Department program called Foreign Military Financing. Under Foreign Military Financing, American taxpayers gave away $5.9 billion dollars in 2014 alone – with 75 percent of grants and loans going to Israel and Egypt. The top country in the above list – the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – is using weapons purchased from the United States government through the Foreign Military Financing program to murder thousands of civilians in Yemen. This is being done as you read this article.

Recently, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky tried to block a billion dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia, which includes:

One hundred fifty-three Abrams tanks

One hundred fifty-three .50 caliber Machine guns

One hundred fifty-three smoke grenade launchers

One hundred thirty-three night vision devices

Four thousand two hundred fifty-six rounds of training ammunition

This is not an exhaustive list of the weapons that Senator Paul attempted to block from the sale, nor an exhaustive list of all the military and logistical support the United States provides Saudi Arabia. Despite the condemnation from American’s media outlets, only 27 Senators voted to block the sale of American weapons to Saudi Arabia.

Hypocrisy at Home

The numbers of weapons sold and the recipients of those weapons is as shocking as it is immoral. While Congress continues to sell more military assistance and weapons to countries like Ukraine, the same Congress consistently attempts to curb our right to protect ourselves, e.g. curb the 2nd Amendment.

In other words: the United States government, through the politicians and bureaucratic class, quietly and calmly sells weapons – often very big ones – to foreign dictators and active war zones, but clamor and shout to make you defenseless and call it protection.

How to Protect the Second Amendment

It would be nearly impossible for the federal government to enforce most federal laws without help from state agencies.

The Tenth Amendment Center has a step-by-step approach to nullify federal gun control legislation. The first step is a state law that “prohibits a state from taking any action, or providing any resources, to enforce or assist in the enforcement of future federal gun measures.” Next, a state will ban the enforcement of current federal gun laws. Once a “line in the sand” is drawn the state will start rolling back the enforcement of the federal laws on the books.

Despite the amoral quality of many politicians – or, perhaps because of it – states have the tools to enact and enforce laws that are 1) completely within the Constitution’s boundaries, 2) necessary to check federal power and the concentration of that power, and 3) as relevant today as they were when the founding generations wrote them into law.