Unprecedented efforts at every level are being made by state and federal governments to neuter America’s Second Amendment, and disarm American citizens, depriving them of the ability to defend against tyrannical governments and criminals. The clear intent of the liberal Left is to diminish gun ownership to a point as close as possible to confiscation without triggering an armed rebellion.

Not wishing to waste what they see as an opportunity flowing from the horrific tragedy of Sandy Hook, the usual ill-informed firearms-phobic politicians seek to impose draconian restrictions not only on so-called “assault weapons” and high capacity magazines, but on many handguns and ammunition as well. These gun-grabbers have one thing in common (aside from an irrational fear and loathing of firearms), and that is a psychological impediment to logical thinking. Typically, they reject obvious facts and refuse to apply logical thinking.

These people cannot understand that there is no silver bullet for defending against this world’s evil actors and the criminally insane. They can’t grasp that simple truth so often repeated, that is, guns do not kill people - people kill people. For example, Scientists can observe a firearm placed on a table for years without ever witnessing a threatening motion of any kind. This is because it is an inanimate object; it cannot think or move. This is true of every inanimate object in the world. This seems simple enough, yet members of the liberal Left can’t manage to understand this fact – which leads me to believe that members of the liberal Left should be watched carefully for other signs of instability. They should not be trusted with law-making.

Further efforts should be made by normal people to penetrate what appears to be a sort of invincible ignorance in liberals. They need to understand that the only thing capable of stopping an evil, deranged person from perpetrating a heinous act of murder with a firearm is a good person with equal firepower.

The Sandy Hook elementary school had in place every reasonable measure to avoid such an attack, except a human trained in defensive firearms tactics to react when the usual defensive measures have been defeated. Since even the quickest response by the police couldn’t have helped here, an armed guard, teacher or custodian would have been a quicker defense, lessening the carnage. Had the perpetrator known that he would confront armed resistance he would likely not have attempted this attack. Prohibiting large magazines would have solved nothing. Semi-automatic pistol magazines can be quickly and easily changed-out, and fire just as fast. To eliminate semi-automatic firearms would mean taking away the vast majority of firearms in American hands.

About 90 percent of firearms crime is committed by criminal gangs (more than a million members) and they will always have guns. With the huge drug cartels raking-in $35 billion in Mexico alone, they can buy anything they want in a worldwide market. If the war on drugs, after decades of strong effort, catches only 15 percent of the trade (liberal estimate) a nationwide ban on all guns would be fruitless. Gun bans are a mere inconvenience for criminals, but they devastate the 99 percent of honest, law-abiding, God-fearing American citizens in their attempts to defend themselves from criminals and tyranny.

Another fact seldom voiced: Up to three million crimes are deterred and criminals defeated in America by firearms every year. (John R. Lott, Jr. PhD, More Guns Less Crime, 3rd edition).

Infringing on our Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms” by restricting ammunition, magazines, and particular firearms for foolish reasons and by unreasonable means (taxation) will spark a serious reaction from the 250 million holders of these guns. This would not bode well for domestic tranquility.