As a senior at Eagle River High School, I have been asked to read “Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes and have decided to see what he would think of our current gun regulation issue.

In his work, Hobbes says the purpose for which government is instituted by the people is to “defend them from the invasion of foreigners, and the injuries of one another,” or, in other words, provide security. Our government has achieved this, thanks in great part to our Second Amendment granting us the right to bear arms as necessary to defend one’s own life and liberty.

Hobbes states that every man is susceptible to abuse from his fellow man, his own government, or governments of foreign nations, and it is for this reason we have created the Second Amendment, to give the people the power to defend themselves from fellow violent citizens, to overthrow an unjust government — as the Declaration of Independence advocates so strongly — and to defend their nation from invasion of foreigners. To Hobbes, the purpose of security is most important.

— Devin Boling

Eagle River