Which Choice Will We Make?
We are each responsible for our own self-defense. It is illusory to think that governments have the capacity to always protect us. When they try to do so, they often adopt tactics that only create more of a police state.
There is another approach that I believe will both protect freedom and provide safety, but it means taking responsibility instead of “outsourcing” all of our security needs to “professionals.” If families are armed, criminals and potential tyrants will hesitate before trying to take advantage of or oppress them. The fact that all Swiss men were armed was an important reason why Hitler feared to invade that country. Up until now, satanic kings have been the ones who monopolized force. It is time for God’s sons and daughters, who have no desire to oppress anyone, to defend their own families, communities and “kingdoms.”
As followers of Christ, we are commanded to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus clarified what this means when he said: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)
Aaron Feiss, the football coach at Stoneman Douglas high school demonstrated this kind of love when he shielded students with his own body. My question is this: Would you trust this kind of person to not just shield two students, but to have the means to save more lives? I would. Had Feiss been armed, he would have had the means to prevent many more lives from being taken.
The “professional” government-appointed deputy sheriff who had a weapon and was wearing body armor chose not to enter the school until the danger was gone. Jesus does not say “the greatest love is to call 911 and wait for someone else to do something.” When good people have the ability to defend themselves, people with evil intent must re-evaluate their desires and their way of life.
Evil preys on weakness. We should seek to master the Way of the Rod of Iron, not to oppress others, but rather to protect others. The Rod of Iron is the greatest equalizer and force multiplier against actual corporate evil and tyranny. For materialists, this may be hard to understand because for them, a gun is just a violent weapon.
But, from a spiritual perspective, the person (not the gun) is the issue. Is the person holding the Rod of Iron, responsible, honorable, chivalrous and sacrificial like Christ? Is the person willing to lay his life down for his friends and to love God and love his neighbor? Is the Kingdom that is ruled by the Rod of Iron, honoring and protecting the freedoms and liberty God has given all His children?
The age when government centralizes and dominates all aspects of life is over. Families should no longer delegate control over their health, education and survival to bureaucracies whose agendas do not align with, or tolerate Godly values. As Christ’s co-kings and queens, we must claim the sovereignty given to us by God, not to oppress others as satanic leaders do, but to empower and protect all of the peoples of this world.
God Bless, Godspeed and may His Kingdom come!
By Theresa Inacker
on Jul 11, 2022 at 4:30 pm
(please use the right menu, the select function, on your mouse to open the following links in a separate window)
This article is part of a symposium on the court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
Theresa Inacker, an attorney, is the New Jersey state director for The DC Project, a coalition of female gun owners dedicated to protecting and preserving Second Amendment rights.
After more than a decade of unsuccessful challenges post-Heller and McDonald, gun owners finally rejoice that the Second Amendment is no longer the “constitutional orphan” of the Supreme Court, as once lamented by Justice Clarence Thomas. In the 6-3 Bruen decision written by Thomas, the Second Amendment vaulted from “constitutional orphan” to what could be argued is that of a fortified — perhaps bulletproof — treasured heirloom.
On June 23, the court held that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution protect the right to carry firearms outside the home, and that government licensing authorities cannot require an applicant to articulate a subjective, special need to exercise that right. This subjective requirement, and the case-by-case determinations it entailed, are wholly improper, leaving room for abuse and inconsistent results. Therefore, Bruen has the broadest impact in what are known as “may-issue” states — the outlier states when it comes to gun rights. These are New York, New Jersey, California, Hawaii, Maryland, and arguably, the District of Columbia, which restrict or ban the carrying of firearms in public. These states are outliers because, as Thomas noted, 43 other states are “shall-issue” states.
While the Second Amendment itself has been the marginalized “constitutional orphan,” the outlier states’ oppressive carry bans likewise impacted marginalized groups. The DC Project Foundation (along with organizations representing LGBTQ and Jewish gun owners) filed an amicus brief to highlight the perspectives of these marginalized groups, whose members wish to carry a firearm outside the home for the lawful purpose of self-defense. Women, religious minorities, and members of the LGBTQ community often find themselves disproportionately victims of violent crime. In his concurrence, Justice Samuel Alito referenced these concerns, nothing that “[s]ome briefs were filed by members of groups whose members feel that they have special reasons to fear attacks.”
As The DC Project Foundation argued in its brief, “The threat of violence women face when they go out in public is very real and quite substantial. No amount of gun control legislation can change that. … Indeed, the ability to carry a firearm is a vital means for women to protect themselves from violent male assailants.” And “[w]omen are especially vulnerable to violent attacks from men because of typical size and strength disparities. Over a third of women in the U.S. have ‘experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime.’”
Women are the largest growing segment of new gun owners over the past few years. The outlier states have hampered the ability of women to defend themselves in public. In recounting the extensive history in Bruen, Thomas recognized how state impediments to the exercise of this fundamental right by disenfranchised groups is also part of postbellum history: “After the Civil War, of course, the exercise of this fundamental right by freed slaves was systematically thwarted. This Court has already recounted some of the Southern abuses violating blacks’ right to keep and bear arms.”
Bruen was not the first carry challenge brought to the court from an outlier state. New Jersey residents have filed many carry challenges against the state, asserting that lower courts have wrongly applied Heller. Petitioners were disappointed time and again when the Supreme Court failed to grant cert. However, these misapplications by lower courts did not go unnoticed, as Thomas admonished lower courts in Bruen, taking them to task for muddling the Heller decision.
Thomas makes clear that the text, history, and tradition test is to be applied to Second Amendment challenges going forward. Interest-balancing tests are out. A bright line test for subsequent Second Amendment cases is here: Lower courts must apply the “text, as informed by history” and reject any analysis via tiered scrutiny.
So, what does this mean for existing laws, and even future gun control? What does this mean for magazine capacity limits? Age limits? The right to self-manufacture firearms? Courts will soon analyze these and other measures under the Second Amendment’s text, as informed by history.
Posted in Symposium on the court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, Merits Cases
Cases: New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen
Recommended Citation: Theresa Inacker, From constitutional orphan to treasured heirloom: The Second Amendment is no longer a second-class right, SCOTUSblog (Jul. 11, 2022, 4:30 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/07/from-constitutional-orphan-to-treasured-heirloom-the-second-amendment-is-no-longer-a-second-class-right/
In light of the invasion of President Trump’s home and the seizure of his passport, this interview is more important than ever.
Sam Faddis’s video about DOJ excesses
See the interview by using the select function on your mouse to open this link:
https://rumble.com/v1foh03-sam-faddis-on-the-actions-of-fbi-doj-these-are-not-one-off-events.html
Register in the largest open carry even and Pro-Second Amendment Conference in the country by using the select function on your mouse to open this link:
https://roiff.ticketleap.com/4th-roi-freedom-festival/
.jpg)
To register use the select function on your mouse to open this link:
https://www.FreedomFaithandFamily.org
or call Lourdes at 570 - 249 - 1357
