The John Birch Society :: Truth Freedom Leadership

Why the term "civilian disarmament" instead of "gun control"?

In principle, every group that promotes what is called "gun control" is promoting the disarmament of civilians, which not only gives private criminals a tactical advantage over law-abiding innocent citizens, but is historically a necessary precursor to various forms of "democide" (the murder of civilians by the governments that rule them).
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What is the John Birch Society's position on "gun control"?

Click here for our position statement

Why is the protection of the right to keep and bear arms so important?

The basic premise of the Constitutional Republic created by the American Founders is this: The people get their respective individual rights from their Creator, and government gets its delegated powers from the people. While government's powers are defined, limited, and revocable, this is not true of rights – including that to armed self-defense against criminals, both public and private.

Protecting the right to keep and bear arms is thus foundational to the preservation of all individual liberty, since only a government determined to exceed its proper sphere of delegated power would seek to infringe on that right.

Wasn’t the Second Amendment originally passed to protect hunting or to arm the state militia?

As delightful as sport shooting, gun collection, and hunting may be as recreational pursuits, the "right of the people to keep and bear arms" has nothing to do with such worthwhile hobbies, nor with the history of the Second Amendment.
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Who are some examples of opponents to the right of armed self-defense?

On the domestic front, key groups promoting civilian disarmament include The Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center. Internationally, the United Nations has become the focal point of a global effort to consolidate power through the disarmament of all civilians, and the creation of a global system in which only national governments would be permitted to own and use firearms of any sort. No "gun control" group of significant size calls for complete disarmament of both civilians and government officials; this means, in principle, that all of them promote the Leninist premise that government should enjoy "power without limit, resting directly on force."

What is the United Nations' position on "gun control"?

In a 2000 manifesto entitled We the Peoples, Secretary General Kofi Annan asserted: "Controlling the proliferation of illicit weapons is a necessary first step towards the non-proliferation of small arms.
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Has "gun control" been effective?

That depends on who you ask.