28-Feb-13 – 14:09 by ToddG

My wife is a nationally recognized expert in her professional community, a community in which liberals are substantially more prevalent than conservatives. She travels the country quite a bit attending conferences and seminars, and many of her peers know she is a gun owner. She came home from one such conference recently, where someone asked her why anyone needed so-called “assault rifles” and high capacity magazines.

The problem isn’t coming up with an answer to the question, the problem is the question itself. Need is not the deciding factor when it comes to a Constitutionally protected natural right. I don’t have to list reasons why I need a firearm, or a certain type of firearm, or a certain number of firearms. As soon as we fall into the trap of arguing why we need something, we’ve already capitulated.



Who needs a backyard pool? More children die in drowning accidents each year than are killed by firearms. Yet in most states there is no license needed to have a backyard pool. There are no training requirements. There are no pool capacity limits… think how many children’s lives could be saved if we limited all personally owned pools to no more than 10 gallons! Sure, people enjoy swimming (recreation) and some even participate in athletic events (competition), but is that worth the lives of more than 700 children a year? And there’s no Constitutional right to own a swimming pool.

Who needs alcohol? According to the Centers for Disease Control, more people are killed in vehicular accidents than all gun-related deaths (accidental, felonious, and justified) combined. CDC also tells us that five times more children were killed in drunk driving accidents than drowned (so that’s seven times more children killed by drunk drivers than firearms). Furthermore, CDC reports that 1.4 million people are arrested each year for violating drunk driving laws in the U.S., and that almost one hundred times more people violate the law but are not caught. That’s almost as many drunk drivers as lawful gun owners! But what state would tell its citizens they can only buy one six-pack of beer a month, and outlaw dangerous high-octane “assault liquors” for the children?

Not convinced? OK, how many people among us need the protections of the Fourth Amendment? Are you hiding illegal contraband in your house? If not, then you don’t need the 4th. You’ve got nothing to hide, so you don’t need any protection against random house to house searches.

Don’t fall into the trap of debating need. The government doesn’t have the authority to restrict a Constitutional right based solely on need.

Train hard & stay safe! ToddG