It is with these three words, spoken to the sounds of thunderous applause, that soon-to-be Prime Minister Fidel Castro began his authoritarian regime over the people of Cuba. In a speech made by the revolution’s leader just after successfully seizing control of the country, Castro questioned the crowd before him, “Guns? What for?” The question seemed perfectly reasonable to the Cuban people in 1959.
Today, the applause and deafening cries of assent paint a much more somber picture when held against the atrocities of Castro and the still-authoritarian Cuban government against its own people.
We at St. Bonaventure, as young adults newly entering the political arena, are faced with a very important decision — a decision that could shape the course of America’s political landscape for years to come. It is now our responsibility to answer the same question posed to the cheering Cuban crowd in January of 1959. Guns? What for?
The rise of media coverage surrounding large-scale shootings has caused many presidential hopefuls to propose unprecedented gun control laws, such as former Vice President Joe Biden, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and California Senator Kamala Harris. These plans have placed a heavy burden of responsibility on voters, particularly we young voters, in the upcoming 2020 election.
Having owned a firearm for three years, and having lived my entire life around guns, I feel it has become necessary to give my perspective on the purpose and the need to protect the private ownership of a firearm. As so many seem to forget or disregard their original purpose, which I believe holds a more important role today than it ever has in American history.
The Second Amendment has always been in pursuit of keeping power in the hands of the people. The founding fathers witnessed their colonies’ deprivation of power and wanted to preserve the means for the people to protect themselves from tyranny. Disarming the population has always been the first step of tyrannical regimes taking power. Castro set disarmament in motion immediately, as did Nazi Germany and almost every dictatorial or authoritarian regime in recent history.
Governments will always want to disarm their populace as it has no reason to fear a disarmed population. It takes only a small sample of gun-owning citizens to pose a legitimate security risk to a nation. A government must fear an armed population as it is ultimately self- governed, abiding by strictures of law they either consider to be morally correct or not in interference of being morally correct.
Even today, we can see the struggle of a people without arms against an authoritarian force. Those protesting for their freedom in Hong Kong, though still managing to pose a legitimate threat to the authorities, have been making little to no progress in enforcing policy change, as riot police easily quell protesting mobs.
It’s easy enough to point at the 10,000 gun homicides in the U.S. each year as the cost of the Second Amendment and declare that no freedom could be worth such a price. However, it is important to closely examine the issue, where we find that according to the CDC, guns are used to stop crime between 500,000 and 3 million times per year. Many of these instances do not result in the discharging of a round– with only around 1,500 cases ending with a shot being fired. These are hundreds of thousands to millions of innocent lives saved annually.
Would-be victims of crime stand unharmed by their attacker as a direct result of their freedom to carry a gun. Guns are a safeguard against crime that I feel is being threatened. If these people had not been carrying a firearm, they would have been victims of their criminals, leading to injuries, deaths, and countless other injustices.
Today, and for the coming years, we are asked the question that was once directed to the Cuban people. Why would we need guns in today’s world? It is a question that, if we do not answer properly, can have serious political ramifications for years to come. It is a question that is now falling into the hands of young Americans, whose voting power increases with each election year. That is why I not only believe that we, as young voters, should never allow ourselves to be disarmed, but that everyone of able body and sound mind should purchase and dutifully carry a firearm: to protect ourselves, our families and our freedoms.
Dominic Gismondi is a contributing writer at The Bona Venture.
His email is
gismondm19@bonaventure.edu
