For the briefest of moments, the world is unified in a single solitary goal to stop a disease of questionable origin and unknown severity from ravaging the population. However, it is easy to forget that this world is a dark place. Governments across the world have seen an influential pandemic arise and begin ravaging portions of their population and so begin seizing this opportunity. They begin stripping every one of their basic civil liberties as well as any semblance of bodily autonomy they have in favor of “stopping the spread”. Every country has crumbled under the pressure, revealing authoritarian nightmare realms that they had been trying to pretend they weren't becoming for decades using their bought-and-paid-for media apparatuses to convince their subjects that it is all necessary.
As suddenly as the arrival of this disease, the mask of peaceful benevolence worn by world leaders slips, revealing the monstrous nightmare beneath to all those who would see it. As quickly as they are unmasked, they lash out, silencing the truth as best they can and, for a moment, they were successful. They believed they were beyond reproach and continued brazenly violating the rights of their citizenry. However, this mask they wear hides more than the malice of their actions. Hidden behind that mask is the insecurity of weakly-held power, and the mask slipping has left a wound. The tyrants' blood is in the water and they can see the sharks circling. The only hope for the drowning, injured tyrants is to wrest control of the last bastion of freedom as a symbolic victory that will demoralize their opposition and lend them enough strength to fight off the sharks.
This may sound like a fanciful tale, dreamt up by Michael Crichton or Tom Clancy in one of their in depth works of fiction that create or utilize realistic worlds and political issues. Unfortunately, however, reality is not only stranger than fiction but, often, more terrible than any fiction can describe. This is no fictional story. This is a plot synopsis from March 2020 to the current day and the battlefield is right beneath your feet. The worst part? There are no non-combatants in this war.
You may ask yourself how you got conscripted into this and the answer is the American Revolution. Prior to this, the world saw empires rise and fall, but territory rarely gained independence from an empire without being taken by another empire. The revolution would mark a new trend in the evolution of human civilization. Gone were the days of massive sprawling empires in favor of smaller independent nations that could better represent their populace. This domino effect was launched by one seemingly small uprising that lead to a larger war, eventually freeing us from the British Empire and casting the tiny colonies into the treacherous waters of being an independent nation.
Many hurdles needed to be overcome, and it was decided from the inception of this great experiment that the rights of the individual were paramount. To achieve this, years were spent drafting and redrafting a functional constitution. This document, rather than listing government authorities, gave important rules that the government could not break. This massive departure from the norm culminated in what humanity was gradually working towards since the era we still needed to be in massive groups to survive: independence.
Thus, with the creation of the United States and the finalization of the Constitution, a landmark was set for human civilization, and a historic lesson has begun to show; once a massive change occurs, things can never return to the way they were in human societies. Just as the return of the empires of old will never truly happen again, the return of authoritarian dictatorships where sole power lies in the monarch will never truly happen again. The power once greedily controlled by the leaders of empires has now been dispersed to the individual and the battle to take it back is impossible to win.
However, as stated in the introduction, this battle is far from over. They had an advantage as they moved in the shadows for decades around the world, stripping the rights from people or denying them their rights. It can be seen in the decades of gun control through the National Firearms Act (NFA) and the formation of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms office (ATF). These efforts, while strong and defiant, reaching farther than they ever should have, are finally beginning to fail. The pendulum is swinging in the other direction and people are craving liberty as they should.
But remember, there is nothing more deadly than a wounded animal sensing its end, and the political entities aren't going to go down without a fight. The leaders of the rest of the world, where freedom hasn't fully gained a foothold, are going to help them all they can. They already are, especially in regard to the second amendment and its destruction.
As Dave Chapelle once said, “The first amendment is first for a reason, the second is just in case the first doesn't work out”. With this one quote, it is necessary to remind you that the constitutionally protected right of the people to keep and bear arms not only shall not be infringed but must be upheld at all costs. This is the battle. We are the warriors.
Much as in the ancient Greek myths, you, reading this, now bear a heavy burden. As Atlas carried the world on his shoulders, so too must you bear the burden of carrying the future of the your civil rights as an American citizen, and, by extension, the future of freedom for the world; for if we fail here, while it may not mark the end of freedom altogether, it will be a massive setback for it.
Welcome to the war, Atlas. Stand Tall and, whatever you do, Don't Shrug.
Stand Tall Atlas, Don't Shrug