America has an addiction to guns. So much so, we have the largest gun lobby in the world- the NRA -with members serving in our government. This heavily skews gun rights advocacy and regulation, often stunting bipartisan ties during critical legislation opportunities. How did our constitutional right to be armed if our government needs us, or oppresses us, turn into such a polarizing issue?

Why, our second biggest addiction, of course. Fear.

In case you didn’t realize it, America loves its drama. We seriously can’t get through a day without a pot being stirred somewhere. If it isn’t a Senator suggesting we judge gays by biblical standards, you’re sure to hear about a governor somewhere else telling his constituency that America is heading towards civil war. Are you ready to kill your own brother if that happens? Because it’s the lack of Almighty God in our schools that’s causing all of our problems.

It’s a constant societal fear mongering campaign, and the politicians greedily accepting super PAC endorsements to do so, that keeps our addiction to firearms running so hot. I did something time-consuming for this article. I went through the media history of all forty-four presidents, looking for specific activity regarding firearm rights. Going into this semi-loosely, I was only looking for comments regarding gun rights, gun violence, and gun legislation.

As always, I came across the massive pools of misused, oft abused, gun quotations. I had to double check a ton of them, but one in particular was by our first president, George Washington, and he clearly understood the purpose for having armed communities. He was all for America’s citizenry to have independent access to their own guns and supplies, but to what end?

“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.”

Essentially, if you lock up the armaments, and we get invaded, how can our citizens defend their country? For me personally, this view further cements what our second amendment rights to bear arms are all about. Freedom to defend our nation’s purpose and mission- even if from our own government. And to do so in a regulated fashion. Now I don’t want to just focus on Washington here, and prior to scanning through presidential histories regarding the gun issue, I already had a sneaking suspicion that a lot of this so-called “personal right to protect oneself” type of social attitudes began just after the Civil War. In particular, I have always thought it probably came up more as an issue as our nation began its expansion to the West.

Sure enough, as soon as I got to the 1870’s and President Grant? The NRA is formed, the West is rapidly becoming lawless in the 1880’s, and the gun industry begins to boom in a whole new fashion. Guns became more than just an American household necessity, but an accessory. Everywhere, you start to see new promotions pop up that promote not just craftsmanship and accuracy, but improvised situational necessity. This accessorizing continued on into the turn of the century, further embedding firearms into family life, though.. readm more here at my blog http://thebluegrassskeptic.com/2015/06/24/the-safety-of-the-grave//