The Greatest Forgotten Republican

Gun Control Advocates Wear KKK Sheets

Reading the Public Pulse letters of the Omaha “World” Herald advocating for gun control, even abolishing the Second Amendment, shows a great lack of intelligence about US History.

When the States formed the US Constitution, the States wanted an explicit declaration of Rights. The result was the Bill of Rights. However, most “pocket” Constitutions and other printings of the Constitution leave out the Preamble of the Bill of Rights which explicitly explains the dispute:

“Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

The Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution expressed a desire in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several states as Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution. viz.

Articles in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress and Ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.” (https://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/preamble-bill-of-rights.html)

The States, not the Federal Government, retained the power of the people as the States created the Federal Government and restrained it with the Bill of Rights. In the aftermath of the Civil War, a conundrum arose. The States are not allowed to leave the Union, but do we really want those Confederates back in?

In the South, a wide array of militias, most notably the Ku Klux Klan, went on the rampage. For the most part, the Ku Klux Klan, at the time, was mostly engaged in political violence but fell out of favor. The result was overtly racist militias such as the White Camelia and Red Shirts and so-called citizen patrols which would attack former slaves and confiscate their property and guns. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_League and https://en.wikipedia.org  and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_the_White_Camelia and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Shirts_(United_States)

So Congress, dominated by Republicans, sought to impose the Bill of Rights on the State Governments, not just the former Confederate States. This included the right to bear arms. (https://www.independent.org/store/book.asp?id=139)

Enter in Congressman John Bingham who provided the wording for the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution which includes:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/happy-birthday-john-bingham-one-of-americas-forgotten-second-founders and https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xiv)

The wording is covert, so subversive but stealth, so echoing the words of Thomas Jefferson, and eloquently functional, yet deceptive and misunderstood, all at the same time. Bingham made former slaves US Citizens, giving them the protection of the US Bill of Rights and also requiring the States to adhere to the Bill of Rights for all citizens of which the founding States demanded, including the Right to Bear Arms!

While the Amendment left out Native Americans, Republican President Calvin Coolidge would end such discrimination with the signing of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924 ( https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-in-1924-all-indians-made-united-states-citizens) Bingham had expanded freedom to all the States. He deserves great honor, respect, and remembrance. Coolidge just put cream on the top.

Nebraska State Senators Brewer, Wayne, and McKinney support Constitutional carry because they are minorities who know what the Fourteenth Amendment is. They understand: a good gun stops a bad gun.

All people advocating for gun control are basically white people (such as state senators Pansing-Brooks, Machaela Cavanaugh, and Megan Hunt) showing off their racist privilege and racial fragility. Yes, I can steal arguments from the left! The right to self-defense is inalienable and if you disagree, you are basically one sheet away from joining the Ku Klux Klan. US History would be a lot different if former slaves and Natives Americans had had AR 15s in the 1800s. As for women and abortion, do you think a woman with an AR 15 has to argue about who needs to wear a condom?