A professor offered an ethical dilemma to his class. Imagine that he comes into class, pulls out a pistol and shoots a student. Another student in the class has her own pistol packed away in her purse. The professor is getting ready to kill another student, is it ethical for this woman with the gun to take it out and shoot the professor?

There were several answers which I don’t really care about. What I worry about is the questions that came up asking why the woman had a gun in the first place. One person said that the authority, the police, are the ones with guns and are the only ones authorized to use them. The police. An extension of the government.

My question: Why doesn’t everyone have a gun? I don’t have one. But I’ve been thinking about getting one.

This nation was established 230 years ago and cemented its independence after overthrowing its government, the British Crown. The writers of the Constitution thought it was awfully important to maintain an armed citizenry to combat any future tyrannical governments. They thought it was so important they made it the 2nd amendment to the Bill of Rights. So why do people think it’s so unusual for a person to be armed? If we look to our first president, we should be very well armed. George Washington maintained that, “A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” And our government is very well armed indeed. And abusing us.