Backwater Farming Community Forced to �Keep and Bear Arms� to Battle Deadly Crime Wave

Our Founding Fathers insisted upon including the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights because they recognized the fundamental human right of self-defense, whether against government tyranny or individual criminal aggression.

Those on the Left, however, conveniently deny the Second Amendment�s terms while simultaneously concocting imaginary Constitutional �rights� � access by foreign enemy combatants to domestic federal courts comes immediately to mind � and dismiss the right to keep and bear arms as a mere anachronism.

To these left-wing activists, the notion that individual citizens might employ arms to protect against governmental or private aggression is a quaint remnant of a long-bygone era. In their perfect world, government would possess an absolute monopoly over firearms and use of force.

Such ideologues ignore events as recent as the 1992 Los Angeles riots, when Korean shopowners defended themselves against rioting thugs bent on murder and mayhem amid the absence of police protection. During those riots, Reginald Denny could certainly have benefited from a firearm when he was instead savagely dragged from his truck and beaten nearly to death. Such activists also ignore the fact that law-abiding citizens defend themselves against home invasion on a daily basis, providing further illustration that the Second Amendment is still vital.

Now, the tiny isolated town of Aguila, Arizona provides the latest evidence that the right to keep and bear arms remains critical. Even in today�s Internet age.

The unincorporated farming community of 1,064 along the outer edge of Maricopa County has found itself victim to a methamphetamine-related crime surge, with police protection almost nonexistent since a sheriff�s substation 25 miles away closed. Today, the nearest substation is some 60 miles away in the distant Phoenix suburb of Sun City.

This crime wave has already left two residents dead, when a local couple�s charred and reportedly gunshot bodies were discovered along with several helpless dead pets. In addition, literally every single business owner in the vicinity reported multiple burglaries during the past year, according to the Arizona Republic. The paper reports that community residents don�t even bother reporting crime or calling 911 anymore, because they consider it a waste of time.

�We�ve called 911 for assaults, and 24 hours later, they showed up,� said Aguila Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bob Edwards.

Even Aguila Elementary School found itself victimized, as a series of thefts claimed a school pickup truck, mechanical equipment and other necessary items. In fact, students were recently stranded when burglars siphoned gasoline from school buses.

Faced with no other option, residents have done what human beings have done since the dawn of time: exercise their fundamental right to arm themselves for self-protection.

At a packed community meeting to address the crisis at the Aguila Community Center this month, one attendee shouted, �I say it�s time to lock and load.� And Jim Ross, owner of the local Coyote Flats Caf�, exclaimed, �I�m not going to be a victim without somebody having a bullet in their [posterior region]. We�re going to take this town back.�

It is difficult to imagine a more appropriate illustration that the Second Amendment remains a critical, not to mention increasingly-unique, aspect of our individual liberties.

Our Founding Fathers clearly recognized that the right to self-preservation and to defend oneself against attacks by lawless individuals or tyrannical government was not created by government, but is rather preserved by a just government. As noted by the federal appeals court that recently overturned Washington, D.C.�s firearms ban, �the importance of the private right of self-defense is hardly surprising when one remembers that most Americans lacked a professional police force until the middle of the nineteenth century, and that many Americans lived in backcountry such as the Northwest Territory.�

Accordingly, they insisted upon inclusion of the Second Amendment in order to acknowledge that the right to keep and bear arms pre-existed the Constitution, and to guarantee that the right �shall not be infringed.�

Today, the tenacious residents of Aguila demonstrate that many Americans who lack effective police protection or live �in backcountry such as the Northwest Territory� still must rely upon the Second Amendment�s protections for their very survival.

So remember them the next time someone dismisses the individual right to keep and bear arms as outdated.