By Nathan Barton

Today, there are thirteen states that require NO permit (other than “the Second Amendment” as people are wont to point out) for carrying concealed.  At least for people who are residents of that state, not convicted (or accused, in some cases) of any of thousands of crimes, not determined to be mentally unstable or deficit, and a few dozen other caveats.  These that do not require a permit to carry concealed: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, and West Virginia

Mostly (but not entirely) Western states, these states are generally smaller in population.  It has taken years of work by a lot of people to get these states to back off on a clearly unconstitutional as well as immoral limitation on the freedom of their citizens.  Many still infringe on the God-given, natural rights of people from other states and lands.

Still, it is a much better situation than even a decade ago.  But that is still less than one-quarter of the Fifty States, and probably (quick guestimate) include only about one-tenth of the population of the formerly united States.

Which means that it is yet another way in which the States are divided, fractured, and split apart.  For which I, for one, am grateful.

Many concerned with our God-given rights, both of self-defense and defense of  others, are assuming that the areas in which our basic Second Amendment rights have been restored will continue to expand, and that (as with legalization of cannabis), the federal government will come around, at least somewhat.

I caution all of us: this isn’t necessarily so.  Every time people are killed by a person using a gun, especially when it is a “mass shooting” (notice, NOT “mass murder” or “mass killing”) there are more and more appeals by politicians and celebrities and the media demanding that our Fifty States “become like all the rest of the nations around us” and disarm.  And there are always a few who claim to have “gotten the light” and switch from being neutral or even supporting of our rights to calling for a ban.

Mama’s Note: Please understand that these demands are being made, and publicized, by the mainstream media and a few politicians and “celebrities” who think they can and should speak for us all. If you look at the alternate media and talk to ordinary people outside the criminal elements in “government,” you don’t see any such push for disarming ordinary Americans. The fact is that, outside the dense idiot zones of both coasts, “gun control” isn’t going anywhere.

Or at least, a partial ban – few if any actually call for true universal disarmament: cops and soldiers, and even security guards (including bodyguards for the rich and famous), are virtually never identified as needing to give up their guns.

There are two major decision points (“hard forks”) which might happen.  The first is failing to continue to get our rights restored in more states, and in more ways. People have already pointed out that the Las Vegas Massacre probably ended this year’s opportunity to repeal the de-facto federal ban on gun noise suppressors.  The combined terror caused by the Columbine and Aurora Theatres in Colorado, now years ago, caused Colorado to roll back rights to buy and transfer weapons.  Even though none of the new laws passed after those massacres would have prevented either of them.

Mama’s Note: And none of those efforts to “control guns” resulted in much compliance anywhere, including some of the most “progressive” areas of NYC and California. The non-voluntary government can pass all the “laws” they want, but the compliance rate – for many years now – tells the real story.

We must consider whether or not Nevada (with its powerful Democratic faction in Las Vegas and Reno) will react to the concert murder spree by passing new restrictions, or even rolling back liberties.  The same question must be asked even of Texas after the Church Massacre – even though the story seems to point out that a civilian with a rifle ended the killing, and that a failure to have anyone in a worship assembly armed made the mass murder possible.

And we must consider the unexpected consequences as well – the swell of hatred for the Confederacy and its symbols after the South Carolina Church Massacre was and is impacting society far more than any actions by the South Carolina state government in panicked response to the murders.  And the impact is spread across many of the Fifty States.

The second decision point might be reached if enough people are foolishly stampeded into rejecting our rights – trading them for security (however false that security would be).  It is very unlikely that, at least in the short and middle term, enough states would ratify a repeal of the Second Amendment (or its significant modification).  But a majority, of the voting population becoming hoplophobic could lead to a situation similar to what exists in Mexico today.  Mexico (like the FedGov here) enshrines the right to keep and bear arms in its constitution but the Federales (and as near as I can tell, all state governments) in practice do not allow that right. At least not to honest, peaceful, and “law-abiding” people.

There is no need to panic – indeed, we must not be stampeded into intemperate action as is promoted by dozens of opportunistic websites and blogs and marketers.  They are going to hit hard and heavy on “the government is going to try and disarm us all after Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs” to sell their books, guns, survival gear, and even ammo.  We need to stay the course, and continue to teach ourselves and others how to defend ourselves and each other – both from violent killers and those who would take our freedoms and make us more vulnerable to the violent killers.

Mama’s Note: The continued decline of trust in government and politicians is significant, as is the ever growing number of people actively buying guns and learning how to use them. The massive increase in the number of women alone is probably the most positive part of that. I don’t see anything the politicians and their shills could do to change that, no matter how many “mass killings” there are, or who does the shooting.