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Gun Control, Patriotism & Civil Disobedience
by Jacob G. Hornberger
The State of California recently enacted a law which requires owners of
semiautomatic weapons to register their guns with the state. But when the law went into effect, thousands of
California gun owners, although risking a felony conviction, refused to comply with its requirements.
These gun owners were immediately showered with harsh criticism, not
only from their public officials, but from their fellow citizens as well. The critics implied, among
other things, that since the law had been passed by the duly elected representatives of the people,
the gun owners, as members of society, had a duty to comply with its terms.
The controversy raised important issues concerning liberty, property,
government, patriotism, and civil disobedience.
By adopting the welfare-state, planned-economy way of life in the
20th Century, the American people of our time have abandoned the principles of individual freedom and
limited government upon which our nation was founded. But they have also rejected and abandoned something
of equal importance: the concept of patriotism which characterized America's Founding Fathers.
Two Different Notions Of Patriotism
There have been two different notions of patriotism in American
history. The one which characterizes the American people of the 20th Century – the one which is
taught in our public schools – is this: patriotism means the support of one's own government and
the actions which the government takes on behalf of the citizenry. The idea is that since we live in a
democratic society, the majority should have the political power to take any action it desires. And
although those in the minority may not like the laws, they are duty-bound as "good" citizens to obey
and support them.
The distinguishing characteristic of this type of patriotism is that
citizens don't make independent, personal judgments of the rightness or wrongness of a law. Instead,
he does what he has been taught since the first grade of his government-approved schools: they place
unwavering faith and trust in the judgment of their popularly-elected public officials.
The other concept of patriotism was the type which characterized the
British colonists during the late 1700s. They believed that patriotism meant a devotion to certain
principles of rightness and morality. They believed that the good citizen had the duty to make an
independent judgment as to whether or not his own government's laws violated these principles. And so,
unlike their counterparts in America today, these individuals refused to automatically accept the
legitimacy of the actions of their public officials.
Let us examine how "real world" applications of these two concepts of
patriotism differ dramatically.
In The Eighteenth Century . . .
In the late 1700s, the British colonists suffered under the same type
of oppressive regulations and tax system that present-day Americans are suffering. What was the reaction
of the colonists to this regulatory and tax tyranny? They deliberately chose to ignore and disobey
their government's regulations and tax acts. Smuggling and tax evasion were the order of the day! And
the more that their government tried to enforce the restrictions, the more it met with disregard and
disobedience from the citizenry.
Sometimes smugglers or tax evaders would be caught and brought to
trial. The result? Despite conclusive evidence of guilt and the judges' instructions to convict, the
defendants' fellow citizens on the juries regularly voted verdicts of acquittal.
And civil disobedience was not limited to economic regulations and
taxation. There was also widespread resistance to conscription, especially during the French and Indian
War. Those who were conscripted deserted the army in large numbers. And those who had not been
conscripted hid the deserters in their homes.
This was what it once meant to be a patriot – the devotion to a
certain set of principles regarding rightness, morality, individualism, liberty, and property; and it
meant a firm stand against one's own government when it violated these principles.
. . . And Today
If an American of today were magically transported back to colonial
America of the late 1700s, he would immediately find himself at odds with the colonists who were
resisting the tyranny of their government. How do we know this? By the way which Americans of today
respond to what is a much more oppressive and tyrannical economic system: with either meekness or,
even worse, with ardent, "flag-waving" support for the actions of their rulers.
And what is their attitude toward their fellow citizens who are
caught violating the rules and regulations? Again, either meekness or fervent support of the rulers.
After all, what was the reaction to the Internal Revenue Service's seizure of Willie Nelson's property?
"I'll make a small donation but otherwise don't get me involved – I don't want them coming after
me!" And to the conviction of Michael Milken for violating such ridiculous economic regulations that
were so ridiculous that even King George would have been embarrassed? "He got what's coming to him –
he shouldn't have made so much money anyway!" And to Leona Helmsley's conviction for having taken
improper deductions on her income tax return? "She's obnoxious – she should go to jail." The
thought of rising to the defense of these victims of political tyranny is anathema to the present-day
American "patriot."
And what about jury trials involving economic crimes? Like the good,
little citizens they have been taught to be, especially in their public schools, American "patriots"
dutifully comply with the judge's instructions to convict fellow citizens of violating this regulatory
and tax tyranny. Although they have the same power as their ancestors to disregard the judge's
instructions and to acquit their fellow citizens, the thought of doing so is repugnant to present-day
"patriots." They choose instead to do their "duty" and thereby become "patriotic" agents of their own
government's tyranny.
Therefore, there is no doubt that the American of today would feel
very uncomfortable if, all of a sudden, he found himself in the British colonies in 1776 in the midst
of smugglers, tax evaders, draft resisters, and other patriots of the time.
This brings us back to the individuals in California who are refusing
to register their guns.
The Importance Of The Unfettered
Right To Own Weapons
As our American ancestors understood so well, the bedrock of a free
society is private ownership of property. And there are few rights of private ownership more important
than the unfettered right to own weapons.
Why is ownership of weapons so vitally important? Not for hunting.
And not even to resist aggression by domestic criminals or foreign invaders. No, as history has
repeatedly shown, the vital importance of the fundamental right to own arms is to resist tyranny by
one's own government, should such tyranny ever become unendurably evil and oppressive.
The lesson that Americans today have forgotten or never learned –
the lesson which our ancestors tried so hard to teach us – is that the greatest threat to our
lives, liberty, property, and security is not some foreign government, as our rulers so often tell us;
instead, the greatest threat to the well-being of all of us lies with our own government!
Of course, there are those who suggest that democratically-elected
public officials would never do anything seriously harmful to the American people. But let's look at
just a few 20th Century examples: They confiscated people's gold. They repudiated gold clauses in
government debts. They provoked the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor and then acted like they were
surprised. They incarcerated Japanese-Americans for no crime at all. They injected dangerous,
mind-altering drugs into American servicemen without their knowledge. They radiated the American people
in the Pacific Northwest and then deliberately hid it from them. They have surreptitiously confiscated
and plundered people's income and savings through the Federal Reserve System. They have plundered and
terrorized the citizenry through the IRS. And, most recently, they have sent our fellow citizens to
their deaths thousands of miles away in the pursuit of a relatively insignificant cause.
Those who believe that democratically-elected rulers lack the
potential and inclination for destructive conduct against their citizenry are living in la-la land.
Liberty Or Slavery
Of course, the proponents of political tyranny are usually
well-motivated. Those who enacted the gun-registration law in California point to criminals who have
used semiautomatic weapons to commit horrible, murderous acts. But the illusion – the pipe-dream
– is that bad acts can be prevented by the deprivation of liberty. They cannot be! Life is
insecure – whether under liberty or enslavement. The only choice is between liberty and insecurity,
on the one hand, and insecurity and enslavement on the other.
The true patriot scrutinizes the actions of his own government with
unceasing vigilance. And when his government violates the morality and rightness associated with
principles of individual freedom and private property, he immediately rises in opposition to his
government. This is why the gun owners of California might ultimately go down in history as among the
greatest and most courageous patriots of our time.
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Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of the
Future of Freedom Foundation. He
is co-editor with Richard W. Ebeling of the FFF books The Tyranny of Gun Control (which
includes this essay), The Failure of America's Foreign Wars, The Case for Free Trade and Open
Immigration, and The Dangers of Socialized Medicine.
The Future of Freedom Foundation
11350 Random Hills Road, Suite 800
Fairfax, Virginia 22030 USA
Tel.: (703) 934-6101 - Fax: (703) 803-1480
E-mail: FFFVA@compuserve.com
Website: www.fff.org
This pamphlet was originally published in May 1991.
It is part of ISIL's educational pamphlet series. Click here for the full index of pamphlets online.
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