Why do my rights have to suffer?

With the news of the terrible mass murder in Las Vegas on Sunday, October 1, law-abiding gun owners knew the inevitable would happen: The irrational attacks from the left equating the actions of a deranged killer with the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

When do our rights come into play? When do the rights of my wife, sons, and daughter come into play? Why is it that whenever unspeakable evil occurs, my constitutional rights come under attack? What about my ability to protect myself under just such an attack?

Over the course of history, every time there is a criminal shooting, the anti-gun forces always attack the firearm. The target villains in the case of the Las Vegas shooting will, no doubt, be the bump stock, rifles, magazines - anything but the deranged killer himself. Any of these items are just tools, millions of which are owned by law-abiding gun owners.

No piece of legislation will ever exist to solve the issue of evil people killing innocents. Every single time a mentally-ill, evil individual commits a monstrous act, the anti-gun forces huddle together and attempt to solve the problem by stripping away the civil rights from law-abiding citizens. What's worse is that every single time, what they propose would not have prevented the incident. Yet they attempt to strip law-abiding citizens of our civil rights.

They do this time and time again. Isn't that the definition of insanity?

But they aren't actually trying to stop or solve a problem. They are once again using unimaginable tragedy in an attempt to strip us of our civil rights. They are trying to effectively eliminate our right to protect ourselves, our ability to resist the tyranny of government. The progressive collective of the legislature wants the power. They want us to be dependent upon the government for life itself.

Take the emotion out of the issue, and look beyond the rhetoric. They don't want to ban your bump stock, your semi-automatic sporting rifle, or your magazines. Their true goal is eventual confiscation. Don't let them convince you otherwise. Every time they make it harder to purchase the firearm of your choice, every time they restrict your right to carry a firearm to protect yourself, every time they pass another licensing fee, every time they require another permit, every time they create another victim zone, that is gun control. Every time we are left with no way to protect ourselves, we are forced to turn to a government who offers us dependency, not safety.

We live in the freest society in history of the world. The blood of our ancestors paid for, and continues to pay for, that freedom. Unfortunately, sometimes bad things happen. Terrible, unimaginable things. Just because bad things happen, does not automatically mean that there is a law that can be passed to prevent it from happening again. Sadly, not all evil can be prevented, not all lives can be saved. I am a father, I am a husband, and I love my family. I would most certainly suffer unimaginable sorrow if anything ever happened to them. If I could possibly imagine a way to have prevented the needless loss of life that occurred in Las Vegas, I would stop at nothing to make it so. The actions of all those who responded to the horror in Las Vegas demonstrated the depth of love we all have for our fellow man. Stripping law-abiding gun owners of their God-given rights will not prevent similar events from occurring again. The loss of our rights will not make us safer.

You cannot legislate the evil out of a person's heart. We all agree that we need to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of the mentally ill, and violent criminals. We should also keep dangerous weapons out the hands of irresponsible fools. So let's start with keeping pens from the members of Congress, who will try to use that tool to strip us of our civil rights.

There is nothing in the Constitution, or subsequent Supreme Court decisions, that can be construed as preventing peaceful, law-abiding citizens from keeping their own arms to protect themselves. Which part of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are we, as members of a free society, willing to surrender because of the acts of a deranged madman? How will disarming law-abiding gun owners, prevent the actions of madman from occurring again?

Over and over again, the liberal media and members of politically progressive factions, make the wrong choice. Every time a firearm is used to kill an innocent person the left pushes to make sure all individuals cannot own guns.

Wouldn't it make more sense that, when a firearm is used indiscriminately to kill an innocent person, we find out what's making these deranged individuals want to kill? Then we can fix that? Which makes more sense?

Step back and look at the real purpose of the call for gun bans. It's about power - their power. It's not about making us safer, or preventing the next senseless act of violence. The progressives and liberal media are simply once again using the acts of the mentally ill to push their agenda; to talk us into believing that giving up our rights is the best course of action, while at the same time further advancing their interests and dividing our country.

Sean Maloney is an attorney specializing in gun law and serves as legal counsel for Buckeye Firearms Association, Board Member with both BFA and NRA, and is a Certified NRA Firearm Instructor. His efforts have led to his induction into the NRA-ILA EVC Hall of Fame.