National reciprocity for concealed carry is really about one thing: bearing the arms we keep.
We have the right to keep arms, per our Creator, and we have a right to bear them, per our Creator. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison made this clear.
Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The gist of his declaration was to remind King George III that colonists had certain rights that were theirs by birth and could not be taken or even diminished by government. This was not to say government did not wrongly shackle the exercise of such rights. In fact, it was such shackling that led the colonists to break free and declare their independence from tyranny.
After the American Revolution, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” were fleshed out in the Bill of Rights, where an enumeration of specific protections for specific rights was set forth. This included the right to freedom of speech and religion (First Amendment), the right to be secure in one’s property (Third and Fourth Amendments), the right to be secure in one’s person (Fourth Amendment), the right to keep and bear arms (Second Amendment), and many other rights. In fact, the enumeration of God-given rights included a protection on rights not enumerated, yet possessed by the people.
by Awr Hawkins
