Speech on Guns Why Everyone Should Support Gun Rights

In the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting -- a tragedy, in which George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain gunned down the unarmed, 17-year-old student -- the country has put gun rights and gun ownership on trial.

Questions are being asked, such as: should we allow people to carry a concealed firearm? Should we pass gun control that limits the number of firearms one can own?

Well, I'm here to tell you that all attacks on gun ownership are patently specious -- not because I have a personal affinity for firearms, but because the facts paint a very clear picture: responsible gun ownership is good for America.

Gun ownership is a quintessential part of American life. As such, it's explicitly articulated in our country's most hallowed document: the U.S. Constitution.

The Second Amendment clearly states: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

To put it another way, to keep the government in check, to keep despotic regimes from taking control of the White House, to ensure this country remains free at all costs, the right of the people to own firearms shall not be denied.

To be honest, I probably do not need to argue beyond this point. Our Founding Fathers and Framers knew that to keep their democratic experiment from going asunder, the right of the people to protect themselves was of paramount importance.

No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

-Thomas Jefferson: Draft Virginia Constitution, 1776

They that can give up essential...

There're roughly 90 guns per hundred residents in the U.S.
Moreover, since 1980, America has drastically expanded gun rights.

Currently, all but 1 state (Illinois) and the District of Columbia have legalized concealed carry. That is, 49 states now allow law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed handgun, provided they meet certain criteria (pass a background check, have no history of mental illness, etc.).

Given how overwhelming armed U.S. citizens are one would think that violent crime would be shooting through the roof.

But it's not. In fact, crime is at its lowest level since the 1960s.

"In 2009 America's crime rate was roughly the same as in 1968, with the homicide rate being at its lowest level since 1964. Overall, the national crime rate was 3466 crimes per 100,000 residents, down from 3680 crimes per 100,000 residents forty years earlier in 1969 (-9.4%)."

So, how does one explain this? We're more armed than ever before, we have the…