THE WASHINGTON UNION PAPERS: NO. 36

SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS & RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERSHIP

To the People of the United States,

The right to bear arms is not a privilege granted by the benevolence of government, nor is it a relic of a bygone era. It is a fundamental, inalienable right, enshrined in the very foundation of this Republic, a safeguard against tyranny, a bulwark of individual liberty, and a testament to the sacred principle that a free people must never be rendered defenseless. Those who seek to strip this right from the American citizen do so not out of concern for safety, nor out of ignorance of history, but out of a deep-seated desire to render the people dependent, compliant, and ultimately powerless. A government that fears an armed populace is a government that has designs upon its subjugation.

The enemies of the Second Amendment do not argue in good faith. They are not interested in debate, in compromise, or in the pursuit of truth. Their mission is singular: control. They dress their intentions in the language of safety, speaking of common sense and responsibility, but their end goal is always the same—the disarmament of the American people. They tell us that the Founders could not have foreseen modern weaponry, as if the principles of liberty expire with technological progress. By their logic, the First Amendment must not apply to the internet, to radio, to television, for the Founders could not have imagined such advancements. They claim that only militias were meant to be armed, as if the people themselves do not constitute the militia, as if a right enshrined in the Bill of Rights was meant to be conditional, dependent upon the good graces of the state.

The Washington Union Party will not allow these lies to stand. We know the truth of the Second Amendment, and we will defend it without hesitation, without apology, without compromise. The Founders understood that government, by its very nature, tends toward tyranny. They understood that power, once consolidated, is never surrendered willingly. They did not craft the Second Amendment as an idle suggestion, but as a safeguard against those who would seek to rule, not govern. George Mason warned us that "to disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them." Thomas Jefferson stated plainly that "the strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." These were not the words of men who intended for the people to be disarmed and defenseless. These were the words of men who knew, with absolute certainty, that a free people must never rely on the goodwill of their rulers to remain free.

Yet today, we are told that times have changed, that a standing military, a professional police force, and a bureaucratic state have rendered the armed citizen obsolete. They claim that those who cherish the right to bear arms are living in the past, that private gun ownership is a relic in a modern world. But let us ask: have governments ceased to seek power? Have criminals been eradicated? Have tyrants abandoned their thirst for control? If the answer to these questions is no, then the need for an armed citizenry is as pressing today as it was in 1776. The Washington Union Party does not believe in blind faith in government. We do not believe in entrusting our safety, our liberty, and our destiny to the benevolence of the state. We believe in the sovereignty of the individual, in the unshakable right of the people to defend themselves, their families, and their nation from all threats, foreign and domestic.

They conflate criminal violence with lawful gun ownership, ignoring the truth that an armed citizenry is the first and most effective deterrent against both crime and despotism. They twist statistics, manipulating data to convince the public that gun ownership breeds violence, when in reality, the opposite is true. Cities with the strictest gun control laws suffer the worst crime. Countries that have disarmed their populations have seen skyrocketing rates of violent assault, for criminals do not obey disarmament orders. The Washington Union Party stands on the side of fact, of reason, of reality. We recognize that the right to self-defense is not granted by government; it is an inherent, God-given right, one that no legislature, no court, no bureaucrat has the authority to strip away.

We do not mistake regulation for safety. We do not mistake restriction for order. We do not mistake disarmament for peace. The forces that seek to dismantle the Second Amendment are not seeking to make us safer; they are seeking to make us weaker. They are seeking to render us dependent upon the state for our protection, to condition the people to view their rights as privileges to be granted, rather than liberties to be defended. This will not stand. Not in this country. Not under the watch of the Washington Union Party. We will fight for constitutional carry nationwide. We will fight against red-flag laws that strip citizens of their rights without due process. We will fight against registries that serve only as roadmaps for future confiscation. We will fight against any and all encroachments upon the right of the people to keep and bear arms. And we will win.

To those who seek to take our rights, to those who cloak their authoritarian impulses in the language of safety, to those who believe the people should be disarmed and docile, let this be our answer: We will not comply. We will not surrender. We will not be disarmed. The Second Amendment is not up for negotiation. It is not up for revision. It is not up for debate. It is the last, most unbreakable safeguard of our liberty, and as long as we stand, it will remain untouched, unbowed, and undefeated.

The Founders understood what so many today fail to grasp—that the greatest threat to liberty has never been the armed citizen, but the unaccountable state. They had seen the boot of tyranny firsthand. They knew that an unarmed people were a conquered people, that without the means to defend themselves, their freedoms would be written not in stone, but in sand, waiting to be washed away by the first wave of oppression. James Madison warned that "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed—unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." It was not a right given for sport, nor for hunting, nor for mere tradition, but for the preservation of freedom itself.

Let us be clear: the disarming of the American people has never been about safety. It has always been about power. The regimes of history have proven this time and again. The disarmed are not citizens; they are subjects. Hitler disarmed the Jews. Stalin disarmed the Soviets. Mao disarmed the Chinese. The pattern is unmistakable, the lesson undeniable. An unarmed people are at the mercy of their rulers, and history has never been kind to those who surrendered their right to self-defense in the name of false security.

And yet, despite the unshakable clarity of history, the modern enemies of freedom push tirelessly for disarmament. They demand bans, confiscations, restrictions, and registrations—not for criminals, not for those who break the law, but for the law-abiding. They tell us that gun-free zones will stop mass shootings, ignoring the fact that every madman seeking to inflict terror prefers a defenseless target. They argue that law enforcement alone should be armed, forgetting that the Second Amendment was written precisely because the people should never be at the mercy of an all-powerful state.

The Washington Union Party will not stand for the erosion of this fundamental right. We believe in the right of every law-abiding American to own and bear arms without undue government interference. We believe that the Second Amendment is not a suggestion, but a guarantee. We believe that self-defense is the first and most sacred of natural rights, and that any government that seeks to strip its people of that right is a government unworthy of trust.

But let us also be clear: with rights come responsibilities. Just as free speech does not permit incitement to violence, and just as freedom of the press does not grant immunity to libel, the right to bear arms carries with it the duty of responsible ownership. A well-armed citizen is not a reckless citizen. He is trained. He is disciplined. He understands the weight of his right and the gravity of his responsibility. He does not wield his weapon in anger, but in defense. He does not brandish it to threaten, but to deter.

The Washington Union Party calls for a national standard of firearms education, ensuring that every American who chooses to exercise this right does so with the highest level of competence and care. We will push for constitutional carry, ensuring that law-abiding citizens are not forced to seek government permission to exercise a right they already possess. We will stand against universal registries, against unconstitutional red-flag laws that strip citizens of their rights without due process, against any attempt—subtle or overt—to weaken the Second Amendment.

To those who seek to disarm the Republic, let this serve as an unambiguous declaration: you will fail. You will fail because the American people remember why this right exists. You will fail because history has shown us the cost of surrender. You will fail because a free nation does not bow to the edicts of those who would make it weak. We will not be disarmed. We will not be rendered defenseless. We will not surrender our ability to stand as the last line between liberty and tyranny. The Second Amendment will not be negotiated. It will not be compromised. It will be defended.

The enemies of liberty may continue their crusade, may slander the righteous, may twist facts and falsify history to suit their agenda. But when the dust settles, when the smoke clears, when the forces of disarmament have exhausted their lies and propaganda, one truth will remain standing: the American citizen will still be armed, still be free, and still be unwilling to kneel. This is the line that will not be crossed. This is the right that will not be surrendered. This is the fight that will not be lost.

A government that respects its people does not seek to disarm them. A government that serves its people does not fear them. A government that upholds liberty does not conspire to weaken its foundation. Those who demand the disarmament of the citizen do not seek to protect him—they seek to control him. The Second Amendment is not up for debate. It is not a privilege to be regulated at the whims of bureaucrats. It is not a suggestion to be ignored when convenient. It is a fundamental pillar of a free society. But let us make one thing clear: our fight for the right to bear arms is not a fight for lawlessness, recklessness, or the senseless bloodshed that plagues our streets. The right to bear arms is not a justification for chaos. It is a demand for responsibility. It is a call for strength, not destruction.

We must acknowledge a truth that both sides of this battle refuse to face: America is armed, yet America bleeds. We live in a nation where parents send their children to school with fear in their hearts. Where families attending parades, young people dancing in nightclubs, and worshippers kneeling in prayer must look over their shoulders, wondering if today will be the day their lives are stolen by senseless violence. This is not the America the Founders envisioned. This is not the America the Second Amendment was meant to protect. It is a nation that has lost control—not because of lawful gun ownership, but because of a culture that has abandoned discipline, accountability, and a shared sense of duty.

The enemies of the Second Amendment tell us that the only way to stop the carnage is to disarm the innocent, to strip away rights, to make criminals of law-abiding citizens while the actual criminals roam free. They seek to punish those who follow the law rather than those who break it. This is not the answer. We do not end violence by rendering the good people of this country defenseless. We do not preserve freedom by surrendering our ability to defend it. But we must not turn a blind eye to the carnage that stains our streets, nor must we ignore the terror that grips communities that feel powerless against gun violence. We must not pretend that this crisis does not exist simply because we are afraid of how it will be used against us. The Washington Union Party believes that both things can be true: we can protect the right to bear arms while also ensuring that firearms do not fall into the hands of those who would abuse them.

We do not need blanket gun control; we need targeted measures that ensure responsibility while preserving the rights of law-abiding citizens. There is a difference between safeguarding the Second Amendment and allowing reckless endangerment. The Washington Union Party stands firm in protecting the right to bear arms, but we acknowledge that certain accessories—such as bump stocks and other modifications designed solely to convert firearms into instruments of mass slaughter—have no place in responsible gun ownership. We do not need indiscriminate bans; we need a culture that respects life. Sensible regulations, such as ensuring that military-grade modifications do not fall into civilian hands, can exist without infringing upon the fundamental right to bear arms. The goal is not disarmament; the goal is ensuring that the weapons in the hands of responsible Americans remain just that—responsible. We do not need the heavy hand of government to punish the innocent; we need a society that refuses to enable the guilty. The Washington Union Party calls for a new standard of firearm responsibility, one that does not infringe upon the rights of the people but demands that those who bear arms do so with the gravity that such power requires. This means real enforcement against those who commit violent crimes with firearms, not a revolving door of leniency that allows killers to walk free while stripping citizens of their means of defense. It means ensuring that those who own firearms know how to use them responsibly, securing their weapons, training in their use, and understanding the moral weight of their ownership. It means addressing the root causes of violence—mental illness, gang violence, broken communities, a culture that glorifies death rather than cherishing life—rather than blaming the rights that have defined this Republic.

We will not allow the enemies of freedom to use tragedy as a weapon to strip Americans of their rights. But neither will we allow the defenders of the Second Amendment to ignore the bloodshed that demands real solutions. A right must be exercised with wisdom, or it becomes reckless. A right must be defended with integrity, or it becomes indefensible. The Second Amendment is not a license for chaos—it is a shield against tyranny, a safeguard of liberty, a means by which the good and the just may defend themselves. Let us defend it, not as those who cling to an idea without thought, but as those who understand the profound duty that comes with such a right.

The fight for the Second Amendment is not just a fight against those who would take our guns—it is a fight for the kind of country we wish to live in. A nation where the people are armed, but responsible. Where children do not fear their schools, but where citizens are not powerless against threats. Where freedom and security are not enemies, but allies. This is the fight before us. And we will not lose.