The Ukrainian People’s Struggle Reminds Us Why We Need the Second Amendment

By now, there are few Americans who haven’t sat riveted by the news coming out of Ukraine amid the Russian invasion. The media narrative, likely influenced by a healthy dose of propaganda, has nonetheless demonstrated plucky Ukrainians putting guns in the hands of everyone they can and giving one of the world’s largest militaries all it can handle. In fact, some of the most stirring images aren’t brave Ukrainian troops standing against the Russian juggernaut. What’s truly remarkable are the pictures of ordinary civilians taking up arms against the invaders. It’s a reminder of why we’re blessed to have a Second Amendment here in the US. When our Founding Fathers first penned the Constitution, they had just come out of the Revolution. They were fearful of standing armies because they’d seen how such an army could become an instrument of tyranny. They crafted the Second Amendment, in part, as a hedge against invasion, something the fledgling nation had to consider quite seriously. After all, the US wasn’t always the superpower it is today. By preserving the right to keep and bear arms for every American citizen, our Founding Fathers were trying to do precisely what the Ukraine government did this week by passing out 18,000 military weapons to civilians attempting to mount a defense of their homeland.  It’s a stark reminder that our Founding Fathers were wise to preserve that right, so it need not be hastily restored and guns passed out by the government much too little too late. You see, while it’s Ukraine being invaded today, it could be us at some point in the future. Some might argue that such concerns are nothing more than paranoia, that it’s unlikely anyone would invade the United States. As things currently stand, they’re not wrong.  We’re a superpower that can project force anywhere on the planet in a matter of days. It’s unlikely anyone would try to invade the United States. The only military that likely could try–China–is unlikely to be willing to take the economic hit of cutting off one of its largest markets or the enormous casualties invading would entail. But that’s today. Today’s status quo isn’t necessarily eternal. Just because we’re the only real superpower today doesn’t mean we’ll still be in the future. Powers rise and fall all the time. We might either lose power internationally or someone else may gain it. There’s no guarantee we won’t one day find ourselves in the same boat as Ukraine. However, while Ukraine had to try and rush weapons training in at the last minute, the United States already has a robust history of not just firearms ownership but individuals taking training at their own expense. Without the Second Amendment, it’s unlikely that would happen. Even now, some who are celebrating the feisty nature of Ukraine and its decision to arm civilians are also working to take away our ability to purchase similar appearing firearms that actually lack capabilities present in what Ukrainian authorities are handing out. https://twitter.com/DefiantLs/status/1497216168137936896?s=20&t=NPA7FmwE4Vu94OXrvtETfg Somehow, they don’t get the inconsistency in that. Luckily, they don’t have to.  The Second Amendment preserves our right to be armed in such a way to make the invasion of the United States untenable, even if we didn’t have as powerful a military as we do. While the Japanese Imperial Admiral Yamamoto likely never actually said the apocryphal quote that invading the United States would be a mistake because “there will be a rifle behind every blade of grass,” the Second Amendment means that the statement is true regardless of its origins. That’s something Ukraine is trying to emulate, but thankfully, we’re well ahead of the game on it.

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