.... A WELL REGULATED MILITIA ---- AND THEN WHAT?

In 1776, a group of citizens armed with military-style weapons decided that they didn’t agree with the existing British government so they fought against that government and created the United States of America.   We remember them as patriots.  That was good.

After the American Civil War, groups of citizens armed with military style weapons and guerilla tactics decided that they so completely disagreed with the U.S. government’s new policies that they banded together to defy the new laws and take back the rights and privileges they and their forefathers had fought for.   We remember those groups collectively as the Ku Klux Klan.  That was/is bad.

In 1975, a group of citizens armed with military-style weapons decided that they didn’t like the existing government so they fought against the Cambodian government and formed Democratic Kampuchea.  That was the Khmer Rouge.  We remember them for xenophobia, genocide, and “The Killing Fields.”  That was bad.

In the mid 1990’s a group of citizens got so angry over the failings of the existing government that they acquired military-style weapons and overthrew the government of Afghanistan.  That was the Taliban. We remember them for atrocities against women, Christian, musicians, and pretty much everybody else.    That was bad.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s a group of deeply religious, ultra-conservative citizens with ties to some of the wealthiest people in their nation began accumulating military-style weapons, “prepping”  in privately built camps, and preaching about a vast liberal conspiracy to undermine the way of life their forefathers intended them to have.   These citizens believed that their philosophy was the only one that should exist in the world and that it was their destiny and duty to conquer, convert, or kill everyone who disagreed with them. 

That group was Al Qaeda.  We remember them for-------Well, we all know what we remember them for.

In the ongoing debate over the 2^nd Amendment and new gun regulations, we are finally facing the reality that the primary reason why citizens stockpile military-style weapons isn’t self-expression or sport; it’s  in case they decide to overthrow the existing government. 

Here is why I and the rest of America have a problem with that:  It isn’t that we really, totally agree with or trust the system we have now.  It’s just that we more really, totally distrust whatever system you guys would set up in its place.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.