ARGO for 2A Stakeholders:

• The 2nd Amendment is in our Constitution because our Founders recognized that individual self-preservation and defense is the first law of nature and therefore it was included as one of the immutable rights recognized and acknowledged by our government.
• The 2nd Amendment is not a recreational privilege, it is a defensive sacred right.
• Since the 2nd Amendment is for individual self-defense and the defense of our liberal democracy by the common citizenry, firearms under the 2nd Amendment are defense weapons, not assault weapons. Assault, by definition, is already unlawful as a violation against the dignity and natural rights of others. The 2nd Amendment is to defend life and our liberal democracy against assault. Therefore, no weapon possessed for the 2nd Amendment’s purpose of defense can be considered an “assault weapon”. Rather these weapons under the 2nd Amendment are “defense weapons”.
• The right to individual self-defense and self-preservation is the first law of nature and this right can never be taken away, it is inviolate. Everyone has a right to exist, therefore everyone has a right to protect their right to exist. If individuals are not empowered to defend against violations of their right to peacefully exist, then the institution meant to protect the individual’s rights (i.e. the government) is degraded and made ineffective against the very thing it is meant to protect against. This is why the 2nd Amendment was included in our Bill of Rights denying any notion that the People’s right to keep and bear arms is a derivative of any governmental power.
• As a fundamental natural right, the 2nd Amendment represents the largest and most socially and politically diverse stakeholder group in America. When politicians advocate against this right, they are advocating against their own individual natural rights and those of their constituents. They are arbitrarily limiting the defensive rights of law-abiding citizens and increasing potential harm from criminals or those with the ambition to obtain arbitrary power. Meanwhile, those with wicked and criminal intent to cause harm do not abide by laws.
• Policies that arbitrarily limit 2nd Amendment rights and access to arms that are in common use disregard the right and civic duty of ordinary citizens to protect sacred life and defend their liberal democracy. Passage of policies without a plurality of support shows these are partisan attempts to diminish the power of the People in exchange for political gamesmanship which further divides our communities, erodes our shared institutions, increases the burden of government, and wastes tax-payer dollars.
• The last 100 years of history shows the misery that follows when citizen access to common arms is restricted. Conversely, the 2nd Amendment recognizing the right of the people to defend their life and civil liberties provides a balance to help preclude the development of despotism and the accompanying degradation of our institutions.
• Efforts to reduce gun violence ought to focus on identifying unfortunate systemic failures that have allowed criminals to go unapprehended before they commit a heinous act and allowing defense for vulnerable target areas. (For 94% of mass public shootings the murderers pick targets where their victims are essentially defenseless – i.e. “gun free zones” – where firearms are not allowed for defense. Conversely, there are no school shootings where teachers are allowed to conceal carry.)
• The ability to defend one’s right to exist embodies the entire essence of our Constitution and the framing of the American system of civic society. The purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to defend the highest moral imperative – to do unto others as you would have done unto you and to love your neighbor as yourself. Defense against those who disregard this moral imperative is why we are given the 2nd Amendment.