Ollie North's Message At CPAC.

by
Julio Gonzalez, M.D., J.D.
 
It is natural to conclude that Colonel Oliver North would play a prominent role at CPAC 2019. After all, he is the latest and perhaps most powerful face of the NRA.  So when he took the stage at CPAC, the foregone conclusion was that he would be delivering a pro-Second-Amendment message.  
 
But then he stood behind the podium and began speaking.  He spoke of something bigger than the Second Amendment, something more important than guns and our rights to keep and bear them.  He spoke of our Constitution and of our inalienable rights.  He spoke of the amazing experiment that this, the United States of America, really is because it represents the first time in American history that man purposely built a system of government where power flowed directly from the people.  And he spoke of the prime, underlying reason for this relationship, and even its underlying purpose, the direct and immutable relationship each and every one of us has with our Creator. 

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It was an interesting strategy, and one that actually hit to the core of why the Second Amendment, and by extension, the NRA, exist.  As he appropriately pointed out, the true reason for gun rights and gun possession centers about the protection of our liberties.  Unlike the left's claims, the right to keep and bear arms has little to do with our freedom to hunt.  

Nor is it fundamentally about the right to arm oneself to avert a physical attack threatening serious bodily harm or even death.  
 
No. Although these two facets of gun ownership and their use are unquestionably important, the true reason for a protected right to keep and bear arms is one that deals with the direct relationship between government and man.  A government unencumbered by restraints from its citizens will inevitably oppress, suppress, and eventually silence all subject to its jurisdiction.  And the most effective defense against such an assault is a weapon.  
 
Truly, Ollie was correct in starting his promotion of gun rights and the organization intent on protecting them with a recitation of the relationship between man and God, and the role gun ownership plays towards its preservation.  It is also a wise angle for the NRA to take because, at a time when a concerted, well funded and coordinated assault on the Second Amendment is in full force, it is important that we keep at the forefront just what it is that we're fighting for, and it is important to recall that the NRA is, after all, the strongest and oldest civil rights organization in America.  
 
And ultimately, our civil rights, as Ollie North so astutely pointed out, are what this fight is all about.
 
Dr. Julio Gonzalez is an orthopaedic surgeon and lawyer living in Venice, Florida. He is the author of The Federalist Pages and served in the Florida House of Representatives. He can be reached through www.thefederalistpages.com to arrange a lecture or book signing.
 
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