I know a lot of passionate conservatives, and this article is going to anger most of you. I’m okay with that. George Orwell wrote that “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

We all have what I call “pet issues.”  Some of you are anti-abortion to the point that it’s all you talk about politically. Every political issue in the nation is abortion related.  Every blog post you write is about abortion.  All your resources, all your energy, all your passion goes into fighting abortion.   I have other friends who want to abolish the Federal Reserve.  You can (and do) rail all day about taxes and representation and economics.  You talk fair tax, flat tax, no tax.  To you, the greatest evil in this country is the government taking your hard earned money.  Others hate Obamacare.  You guys can spout any statistic you want about what it is and how it will change the country forever.  I know someone who claims that the War on Drugs(tm) is the source of all problems in America, and that if all states just legalized everything it would help so much stuff.   I even have a few friends who would technically fall into the “truther” category, where every single thing is a government conspiracy, perpetrated by the New World Order.  All of you are absolutely hardcore about what you believe, and almost all of you have one major thing in common.

You don’t really give a flying rip about the Second Amendment.

Some of you like guns.  Some of you own a few, and even shoot them.  A few of you even have your concealed carry permit.  But I know very few of you who are as passionate about the Second Amendment as you are about abortion or taxes or pot or “statism” or anything else.  It’s just not that important to you.  If someone asked you, you’d say you were pro-Second Amendment, but you’d never loudly tout the constitutionality of open, legal carry for all. You believe that people “have the right to have a gun but don’t really need an ‘assault rifle.'” You waffle on the whole “mentally ill” thing.  “Well, maybe the government SHOULD limit guns for mentally ill people.  Maybe unstable people shouldn’t have guns.  Maybe the government needs common sense regulations to limit gun violence and keep them out of the hands of criminals.”  Sadly, a lot of you, who I’ve heard go on and on about the things I just mentioned, don’t even own a gun—or you haven’t fired it in so long that you’re probably a worthless shot. Every single time I hear someone who calls themselves a limited government, America-loving conservative talking about their pet issue when I know for a fact they don’t give a rat’s rear end about gun rights, I want to kick them in the shins with my size 9 1/2 boot.

Here’s a basic, unalienable truth for you:  If you do not have a gun, you cannot fight for anything.

“But that’s not true,” you one-trick ponies yell.  “We can Raise Awareness.  We can Stand Outside Clinics.  We can Hold Up Signs.  We can Educate People.  We can Win Elections.”  Really?  Do you know why you can do all those things right now?  Because people like me own guns and are willing to fire them in defense of your right to do the things you just listed. That’s it.  That is the only thing standing between you and total government domination and suppression of every right you have, and trust me when I tell you that it is Priority One for this administration to take care of that little obstacle.  You think that we all have our own pet issues, and it’s okay if all you care about is abortion or taxes or Obamacare, because “someone else” cares about guns.  It all evens out, right?  Wrong.  I will go on record, right now, and say that the Second Amendment is the single most important, most critical right you have.  Without it, you have nothing.  It’s not good enough to leave “someone else” to fight for your right to bear arms.  You need to stand up for that yourself, because it ensures you have the freedom to worry about the other issues you care about.

As for the “winning elections” part of it, I’ll just help you out and tell you up front that no, we will not win elections, because conservatives in this country have no balls.  They won’t vote for people with balls, because we’ve been trained to vote for whatever the party tells us to vote for.  The party is overrun with corruption and cooperation with the very people destroying the country.  Whether you want to admit it or not, voting is a big fat load of crap now.  That’s a topic for another day—this article is about guns.  The guns you claim to support, as long as the government has decided in its infinite wisdom that the person wanting the gun has been deemed ‘fit’ to carry it. So let’s recap: you, the “conservative patriot,” think that guns are all fine and good, and the government has the right to dictate who gets to own one. News flash: they don’t think you should own one.  Now what?

Do you know what happens when there are no more guns in the hands of citizens?  Auschwitz.  What will you do when the government says “sorry, folks, it’s not safe for any of you to have guns.” Will you still be able to stand outside clinics and rail against the Fed and yell about Obamacare?  Here’s a hint:  No, you will not.  You will be hiding like rats in a cellar.

Even with all this, for some reason you don’t care about the gun issue.  You cannot seem to wrap your head around the simple fact that the Second Amendment was designed so that you can rise up and CHANGE things.  I saw someone say the other day that any government which supports the murder of children should be overthrown.  All right, buddy.  What’s the plan?  I take it you’re leading this charge with guns.  Or were you not really serious?  It’s a valid question because the Second Amendment gives you the right to do just that if you honestly feel that strongly.  And what about you, Mr. “THE FED MUST BE ABOLISHED”?  Go abolish it then.  Yes, you abolish it. All of you.

The founding fathers did not sit around waiting for “someone” to liberate them, to change their situation, to change what they believed was wrong. When England came to take their guns, those colonists rose up and beat the ever living daylights out of them. Unfortunately, England didn’t get the message, so the colonists beat the ever living daylights out of them again a few years later. The American founders knew that without the right to bear arms, there were no other rights at all.  Had they given up their guns at Concord, there would not be a United States of America.

Standing outside abortion clinics, holding up signs on street corners, educating people, even trying to win elections; these are not bad things. In fact, these are awesome things, and things that a lot more of us should be doing.  But until you understand the relationship of the Second Amendment to all of your other rights, all of that is pointless. It can be taken away at any time by a government that is already so far overreaching that it defies all sections of the Constitution. Really, how are you going to stop what is happening with the guns you don’t see a need to own or use?

Until you are willing to fight and die—today, if it came to that—for the things that you say you believe, then it is nothing but lipservice. Unless you are willing to take up the Second Amendment for the purpose it was designed for, do not go around talking about how “We” are going to take back Congress. We are going to abolish abortion. We are going to end the Fed. We are going to impeach Obama. We are going to end Obamacare. You know what you sound like, with all your big words and lofty aspirations? A bunch of loud old Code Pink activists, standing around in a group banging on drums and talking about how they’re going to bring peace to the world. No one takes them seriously, and no American patriot who actually owns a firearm and is willing to die with it in their hand takes you seriously either.

Freemen use their liberty. They exercise it, they train in it, they live it. They teach their children its importance. And above all they protect the means by which it is defended.  Liberty is not a big, comfy pillow that you can pick up at Walmart. It is a calling; it is a lifestyle, a belief system. It is bigger than abortion, bigger than taxes. It is the absolute foundation of everything that you should be if you reside in this nation as a citizen and partake of its freedoms.  It is what sets apart a free man from a slave.  I know a great number of free men, and I rest assured knowing that if and when the day comes, my foxhole will be far from empty.  I also know a lot of cowards who are all talk, who ‘defend liberty’ but think the Second Amendment can be someone else’s pet issue. Which group are you in?

This isn’t a call for you to start shooting people over your pet issue.  But it IS a call for you to examine your own heart and soul.  If you do not own a gun, or if you are not willing to use it if necessary for its intended purpose under the Second Amendment, then you are every bit as much a freeloader as those who live off the welfare state, for you are partaking of the benefits of freedom without any contribution.  You are allowing those who carry, those who fight for gun rights, to protect your right to do what you do.  All of your posturing, all of your picketing and marching and letterwriting means nothing.  Without a gun, you’re just walking around waiting for the noose to tighten around your neck.   Without a gun, nothing else you believe matters.

So…how much do you really care about your pet issue?  Enough to die in a pile of empty brass before you’ll give up the means to fight for it?

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it.”  –Thomas Paine