Peace on Earth, now buy a gun

As you've doubtless gathered, I normally don't care for Black Friday shopping binges. I dislike the animalistic behavior people exhibit as they trample other shoppers on their way to grab cheap electronics or other unnecessary junk.

But there was one statistic that came out of this year's Black Friday that pleased me immensely: gun sales were up. Way up. Crazily up.

FBI background checks for that day smashed all previous one-day sales by 32 percent. Background checks totaled 129,166 on this year's Black Friday, compared to the next closest record of 97,848 on Black Friday of 2008. And the actual number of firearms sold, let it be known, was even higher for two reasons: one, background checks are not performed during transactions between individuals (i.e. someone buying a surplus gun from a friend); and two, a buyer can purchase multiple firearms under the clearance of a single background check. So altogether as many as a quarter to a half million MORE guns may now be in the hands of private citizens. Whoo-hoo!

These kinds of statistics always bring about a spate of excuses from those who wish people weren't armed. It couldn't possibly be that Americans are awakening to the possibility of anything from higher crime threats to an economic collapse. No, increased gun sales must be due to … lying.

Yes, really. According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, there is "no significance" to this surge in gun sales. Acting president Dennis Henigan is "skeptical" of the numbers and postulated that "… gun companies are just catching on to creating a Black Friday frenzy for themselves." The scum.

High-powered self-defense for women: "Stayin' Alive: Armed and Female in an Unsafe World"

As for the large number of first-time women buying guns, well, it must be due to a (cough) sudden and unprecedented interest in "sport shooting" or "hunting." It certainly couldn't be due to an interest in women protecting themselves. No indeedy.

Speaking from a gun-owning woman's perspective, I can testify that most women don't "suddenly" develop an interest in hunting. Women who hunt usually do so from an early age, not as an abrupt mid-life event. But many, many women develop a "sudden" interest in personal and familial protection, as well as defending their Second Amendment rights. At any age.

What progressive analysts like the Brady Center are reluctant to admit is the Second Amendment is deeply ingrained in the American psyche. Progressives have tried to discourage the relevance of gun ownership, believing that in our civilized age, we don't "need" guns. But when the chips are down, people know what's important. They know they need to protect themselves – not just from the threat of crime, but more importantly from the threat of an unconstitutional government determined to disarm its citizens by whatever means possible.

America has been watching Europe implode. We all know what happened the last time Europe had a financial meltdown. If the euro collapses, it will plunge that continent into an economic depression of massive proportions – with dire consequences here in the United States as well. And what happened during the last time an economic depression hit Europe, specifically Germany?

Economic instability makes governments do funny things. Hitlers aren't hatched under normal and prosperous circumstances.

Most governments can't resist taking advantage of crises to do things they normally wouldn't (or couldn't) do. If an economic crisis hits this nation, what will happen if citizens are not armed?

Repression of our God-given and constitutional right to self-protection is among those things I wouldn't put past federal goons who long for unarmed and compliant citizens. If America is plunged into another economic depression, our government would love to ride to the rescue and "save" us. But saving us will come with a price. I predict we'll be told that as long as we turn over our pesky and unneeded guns, we can get all the food and housing and medical help we need. Won't that be nice?

Americans have been dumbed down for a long time, but as a whole we're not stupid. When the chips are down – and when our own government becomes a threat and a danger – people recall the whole purpose of the Second Amendment. They remember that the Founding Fathers put that critical clause into the very fiber of our nation for a reason – because once a people are disarmed, they are vulnerable to any and every atrocity a government can conceive. We need only look at the genocide statistics of the last hundred years to understand what happens to an unarmed society.

That's why I find it hilarious (in a grim sort of way) that certain sectors of our population will not recognize the advantages of gun ownership. Generally those who won't admit to the benefits of an armed society have the most to gain from disarming that society. They're the ones who hope to be our leaders once we're too defenseless to fight. Followed to its logical conclusion, the unarmed people become slaves to a master state.

So our government looks for ways to disarm us. They can't move too fast or we'll dig in our heels and resist. Instead, they look for subtle, back-door ways to get us to lay down our arms. They teach our children in schools about how bad guns are. They harass and burden gun dealers with endless bureaucracy. They set up sting operations. They lay down so many laws and regulations that ordinary law-abiding citizens are classified as domestic terrorists.

So when firearms sales spike in anticipation of our annual celebration of peace on earth and goodwill toward men, I find nothing in the slightest bit contradictory in that concept. An armed society, as they say, is a polite society. But more than that, an armed society is a peaceful society. A nation whose citizens are armed stays relatively peaceful. It will never turn into a tyranny.

Remember, a free man cannot be defeated. He can only be killed. That becomes much easier if you've disarmed him first.

So to maintain peace on earth and goodwill toward men, I urge you to buy a firearm this Christmas and learn how to use it. Support the Second Amendment. Keep peace on earth … or at least in our country.