It’s hard to believe that 10 years have passed since Michigan’s concealed pistol laws have been changed to allow law-abiding citizens the right to actually bear arms, as the Bill of Rights guaranteed over 235 years ago. It seems like only yesterday that, as president of the Looking Glass River Sportsmen’s Club, I met with Michigan Representative Larry Julian in a restaurant in Owosso to plan strategy to take back our most precious right to self defense. Leaders of Michigan Coalition of Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO) were on hand to urge Mr. Julian to carry the torch of freedom to the House of Representatives’ floor, which he sure did successfully.
I recall how the opposition had painted a picture of the future, if such rights were reinstated. Scare tactics and fear were their weapons of choice, as they predicted how the storm drains in the streets would be overcome by the blood of innocents at the hands of hot-tempered gun nuts. But, Mr. Julian never bought into the misguided rhetoric and stated how, as a member of the Michigan State Police for 27 years, he supported the grass-roots effort of the common citizen – this in spite of reports that certain police officials were openly opposed to restoring our Second Amendment rights.
To the uninformed, it may have seemed counter-intuitive. More guns, less crime. Baloney said they. Never mind that some 31 states at the time had already become “shall issue” states and that crime never increased, as a result. In fact, all the statistics pointed the other way, so why should Michigan have been any different? It wasn’t. Now ten years later with well over a quarter of a million concealed pistol licenses having been issued, we have “discovered” that honest citizens remained honest and predicted shoot-outs never happened.
Since then, state after state has gotten the message that the gun-control crowd is out of line. Oh, there are still holdouts in the elite circle of politicians that cannot seem to trust their constituents. Even after the U.S. Supreme Court held in year 2008 that the Second Amendment is an individual right, the fight for freedom rages in Illinois, one of the last bastions emotional nonsense. Our neighbors to the Left continue with their complete ban on carrying concealed firearms and with their backs against the wall aren’t going to let facts get in the way of their stranglehold on power.
For the time being, power is in their government’s hands, and understandably it isn’t something they want to relinquish. However, that doesn’t make it acceptable. The ultimate right to keep and bear arms is that of “the people.” When the Constitution grants powers to the states, it does so clearly and you won’t find such language in the Second Amendment. It is the same people – the citizens – that are the center of the Preamble and the First Amendment.
I thank God that we in Michigan have taken back our rights, and I for one, will celebrate this freedom on Independence Day in remembrance of what our Forefathers really had in mind and not what politicians have perverted.
