In District of Columbia v. Heller 554 U. S. 570 (2008) the Supreme Court ruled that a person has the right to use a legally registered firearm to defend his home within a federal enclave. This principle was further extended to apply to the states under the 14^th Amendment in McDonald v. Chicago 561 U. S. 3025 (2010).

Recent events at Columbine, Sandy Hook and Virginia Tech have led to an outcry for increased gun control. I would argue that the right to bear arms is not only protected by the Second Amendment and the recent U. S. Supreme Court decisions, but that it is ingrained in American culture.

I happen to live in a “blue” state. If you closely examine this “red” state “blue” state debate you will find that even in blue states advocates for more gun control live in coastal, metropolitan areas. Those who live inland in the more rural areas are more likely to have firearms themselves for hunting and defense of their property and person.

I have a good friend who lives in Thomasville, North Carolina in the Piedmont area and not far from the edge of Appalachia. He tells me of a time when he went to high school that the students would check their rifles and shotguns in a gun rack at school before classes and pick them up at the end of the day. It would seem to be a perfect logical thing to do for that time and place.

Considering the times in which we live not only with school shootings but with home invasions, why should people of good will fall prey to those who would cause us bodily harm? Should not the criminal be more fearful of us than we of him?  A criminal who contemplates a home invasion is more or less certain that the homeowner does not possess a firearm in many parts of our country. Maybe we just might have it backwards, in that if the criminal was fearful of his life in contemplating a home invasion because he thought that the owner had a firearm the crime would not occur in the first place.

The photographic evidence presented in this essay supports the right of the people to defend themselves and their property as well as for hunting purposes. The firearm is simply a tool until a person uses it for good or evil purposes. But the Second Amendment is now clear on the issue according to the recent Supreme Court decisions. No longer is the right to self defense simply instituted in a well regulated Militia, the right of the people themselves to keep and bear arms is clear.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”
– probably Edmund Burke