While the importance of technology to the development of Western Civilization is usually recognized, the significance of one technological development is generally underestimated—firearms.

Before there were guns, personal defence depended on one's individual skill and strength. A brute, however stupid, could easily overpower a smaller or weaker individual, however intelligent or clever they might be. Before the advent of firearms, the weak and unskilled were continuously at the mercy of those who could and would use their greater physical strength to rob, harm, or otherwise victimize them.

"Civilization is the process of setting man free from men," Ayn Rand said. [The Fountainhead, Part Four—18.] The men that individuals need to be freed from are any variety of thug who would use force against them. The development of firearms, especially handguns, was greatly instrumental in providing that freedom. The firearm, particularly the hand gun, is a great equalizer. By providing the physically weaker or inept the means of defending themselves against the physically stronger, it removes that element of injustice from the relationships between men that exists when physical strength is the sole means of individual defence.

One would expect the egalitarian collectivist/altruist/statists to embrace guns as one of the greatest of benefits to mankind because they provide a level of equality among men that almost no other single thing can. In fact, they loath everything about guns. The firearm is, to the collectivist, the ultimate symbol of individual independence.

Why Guns are Hated

The advocates of gun control, which really means, preventing people from owning and using guns, cover their hatred for guns in rhetoric designed to convince you they are only interested in people's safety and welfare.

The collectivist and statist see government as the solution to all problems, but even the most radical of minimalist libertarians agree it is government's job to protect the individual from the use of force by other individuals or groups of individuals, and the means of doing that, domestically is, of course, the police.

In my article, "Social Chaos—Part III," I explained why police do not protect individuals. In fact, "the courts have consistently ruled that the police do not have an obligation to protect individuals ...."

I could make all the arguments about the virtues of guns, how wherever gun control is successful, the use of guns in violent crime, and violent crime itself, always increases, as it has in Britain, Australia, and Canada, as documented here, here, and here.

The quesion is why do so many so vehemently oppose the possession of firearms by free individuals? If individual's are provided with a more, "equal playing field," and are less likely to be subjected to violent crime when they are free to own and carry firearms, why would anyone be opposed to them? The fact is, guns are hated for the same reason individualists are hated.

"Notice how they'll accept anything except a man who stands alone. They recognize him at once .... There's a special, insidious kind of hatred for him. ... Notice the malignant kind of resentment against any idea that propounds independence. Notice the malice toward an independent man.... [Ayn Rand, For the New Intellectual, The Fountainhead, "The Nature Of The Second-Hander"]

It is because firearms are symbolic of the individual empowered to defend himself, without reliance on the government or any agency (the police, for example), that gun's are hated. The armed individual says symbolically, "I don't need you or any of your social plans to protect me. I am self-sufficient and can protect myself.

Without Guns, You Are Not Free

Above all others, the individualist understands the importance of firearms and their relationship to individual liberty. The Second Amendment to The Constitution of The United States was specifically written to guarantee the right to own and bear arms as the means by which every individual could defend himself against all threats of violence, but especially against the government. When a government intends of oppress it's citizens, the first thing it will do is disarm them.

Whether you own a gun or not, or ever intend to, it is the freedom to own one that is the ultimate test of your liberty. So long as a people are armed, or can arm themselves if they choose, they have the means to defend themselves againt government oppression. They may choose to submit to an oppressive government, as the American people are doing, but at any time, they can refuse to bow to that oppression, and rise in armed resistance against it.

Since liberty pertains to individuals, and the firearm is the ultimate symbol of the individual's right to defend himself against any threat to that freedom, as L. Neil Smith says, "the issue of guns and gun ownership as the clearest and most unmistakable demonstration of what any given politician -- or political philosophy -- is really made of."

The Last Stand

The citizens of Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and most of Europe are essentially disarmed. America is the last industrially advanced country in the world where individuals are free to arm themselves--it is no accident that it it remians the most free nation in the world.

I've written about the danger to American's freedom the gun haters and those clamoring for more control of guns are to that freedom, and will write more, because it is truly an individualist issue.

I receive several submissions each week from various gun-right's organizations providing good information about the latest issues and events related to firearms freedom. I will be posting the best of those each week. I also suggest anyone who wants to learn more about this issue, use any (or all) the following links.

—CCRKBA (Citizens Committee ... Right to Keep and Bear Arms)
—KABA (KeepAndBearArms.com)
—Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership
—Gun Owners of America
—Guns Save Life (Illinois)
—JPFO (Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership)
—KC3 (Kentucky Coalition to Carry Concealed)
—LARGO (Lawful and Responsible Gun Owners)
—Mothers Arms
—SCOPE (Shooters' Committee On Political Education—NY)
—SAF (Second Amendment Foundation)
—Seniors United Support 2nd Amendment
—Women Against Gun Control
—Women's Firearm Network
—Women to Arms

For general information about firearms and Second Amendment rights, please use The Autonomist's, Firearms and Gun Rights links.