If you want my guns, you’ll have to take my bullets first

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If you want my guns, you’ll have to take my bullets first

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

September 25, 2009

Maine is a special state, my home state, and the greatest state in the Union. Some may detest the slow-paced life style and the folksy feel, but all can admire the independence of Mainers. For outsiders, Maine's independence is made evident by the two lovely ladies representing the state in the United States Senate. Although Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe hold traditionaly conservative views towards such issues as national defense, taxes and gun rights, they have also voted consistently in support of abortion and gay rights. While many people would see this deviation from mainstream Republican positions as a sign of Maine's progressivism, it is actually a reflection of libertarian thinking.

While opinions regarding the pressing issues of the day may vary among Vacationland's residents, no one in Maine wants someone else telling them what to do. For this reason I characterize Mainers as leave-me-the-hell-alone conservatives, and no issue is more intimately connected to Maine libertarianism than gun rights and the ever encroaching threat of gun control.

Known for the ubiquity of firearm related activity, the Pine Tree State is home to some of the most devoted fans of the Second Amendment. With over 14,000 members, the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine is the biggest political action committee in the state; its members actively fight to preserve gun ownership not just to protect themselves from the government, but to preserve Maine's hunting and target shooting tradition. While target ranges abound in the countryside, most Mainers are concerned with their right to hunt. Hunting brings tourism dollars to the state, unites rural communities, and feeds local families. For Maine's sportsmen, firearms are an essential part of their culture. But some people just don't understand.

My brother works security at a health care mall in Bangor. One of his co-workers came in one day with a picture of a magnificent white-tailed buck he had shot. While my brother admired the photo, a doctor strutted past. The MD stopped to view the magnificent specimen as my brother's co-worker gazed up at him, proud as all get out. As the doctor walked away he mumbled, "And the poor thing's probably rotting right where you left him."

Folks...this was an educated man—a doctor—who believed that hunting involves killing an animal, taking a picture with it, and then leaving it to decompose. If that doesn't strike you as absurd, you've probably never been hunting before. When an animal is killed in a legal hunt, it is taken to a butcher and then to a taxidermist. So not only is hunting a great recreational activity, it feeds Maine families and stimulates the local economy.

Throughout my gun-related conversations with Bowdoin students, a pattern has emerged. Though very few are exceptionally prejudiced against firearms, most have never fired a gun. Many who've fired a gun have only fired a handgun, and very few students have taken a course in firearm safety. By the very nature of their homelands, city slickers and suburbanites rarely have the opportunity to enjoy activities like hunting. For this reason they tend to associate guns with gang violence or school shootings. While nothing can be done to change a life of negative experience with guns, the existence of gun-related crime does not necessitate the banning or over-regulation of firearms.

The oft-repeated mantra of the National Rifle Association folk is "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." While bumper stickers are rarely taken seriously, this statement is pretty logical, although I prefer "If guns kill people, then spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat." Just like cars, alcohol and fast food, guns are potentially dangerous goods that require certain safety precautions. Unlike those goods, gun ownership is a constitutionally guaranteed right.

The Second Amendment was written to guarantee citizens the ability to form a well-armed militia and throw off a foreign oppressor. Eventually the supremacy of our national military relegated the militia into the annals of history, but the Second Amendment still allows citizens to carry firearms for personal safety. However, in addition to defense from "the other," there lurked the idea that one day oppression would come from within, that the government itself would become tyrannical. Should this one day be the case, Thomas Jefferson believed it would be the moral imperative of all Americans to throw off the chains of oppression, with violence if necessary. But the Second Amendment is more than a safeguard against tyrannical government. It is a symbol, a symbol of power and where it ultimately lies in the United States: with the people and not the government.

Steve Robinson is a member of the Class of 2011.

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