Hunting Sense

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard and/or read the phrase, ‘The Second Amendment is not about hunting’ recently. Of course it isn’t, it is about our constitutional Right to Keep and Bear Arms. No place in it does it once mention the word hunting, but hunting is inherently linked to it. Without the Second Amendment, there would be no hunting.

I know that the phrase is being used as a wake up call to those hunters who haven’t grasped this concept yet. Those few so blind that they aren’t able to see that once one gun is taken away, it opens the way for all guns to be taken away, right down to their hunting rifles and shotguns. The reality of the situation is something that each and every hunter needs to realize, and many of them do.

The thing I have noticed, though, is that even when a hunter does get it, if they continue to speak of gun rights in the venue they are use to using guns in, they still get the phrase shoved down their throats by the non-hunting gun advocates. I have written before, does a hunter have to give up hunting as their method of using firearms for non-hunters to get that we (hunters) understand that the Second Amendment is about gun rights, not hunting? It seems more and more that this is the case, as I continue to see the phrase used all over the net.

Very true, the Second Amendment never once mentions the word hunting, but you have to think about the time that it was written. The weapons that those brave men used during that time to fight for the freedoms we now enjoy were not just weapons of war. Those same rifles were used not only used to fight, but also to hunt. There wasn’t a separation between the two. So even though hunting is never mentioned, it is hard to believe that it wasn’t even a consideration when the Second Amendment was written.

Let’s consider, for a moment, that for some reason, we needed our arms to fight for our country. If that happened, that very well could mean that we couldn’t just run to the grocery store to pick up supper for the night. No, not only would the weapons be being used to fight for our freedoms, but they would be used to put food on the table for our families as well.

To me, screaming ‘The Second Amendment isn’t about hunting!’ to those hunters who realize that but still talk about hunting and guns is just one more way to show divisions in our ranks to those against the Second Amendment. I can guarantee that hunters, just like the non-hunting gun owners, would be using their weapons to fight for our freedom. And that everyone would be using their weapons to hunt if they needed to supply food for their families. In the end, we are all the same. Now we just need to appear to be on the same side, instead of creating divisions in our own ranks that weaken our stance against those who wish to take away our guns.

Yes, those people who don’t get it need to be informed, no doubt, but let’s not get so caught up in it that we fail to see that we may be doing more harm than good, that we are giving the enemy more fuel for their fire.

Second Amendment, hunting, firearms, guns, non-hunting, anti-gun movement, anti-gun legislation, controversy, hunters, Constitution