Idiots with firearms are still idiots, and idiots without firearms are still dangerous.

I provide independent perspective because I love our country’s foundation and fear our citizens’ lack of awareness. 

Some illegitimately believe firearms are only for hunting or in connection to military service. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own a firearm for self-defense, unconnected to service in a militia. Furthermore, the court acknowledges the historical link between the English Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment regarding resisting tyranny: The Catholic James II suppressed Protestant dissidents by disarming them and George III tried to do the same to the colonists in the 1760s and 1770s before we secured our independence as the U.S.A.

Our president turns profound, patriotic principles into politics into a popularity contest. Four years after voting for President Obama and attending his first inauguration with optimism, I fear my fellow Americans as much as I fear him. Why fear a tyrant more than his subjects when both ignore our hard-earned rights?

— Dan Koepke

Anchorage