Despite the current trend toward concealed carry -- 37 states now have a shall-issue conceal carry program -- the attempt to dramatically infringe upon our natural right to keep and bear arms continues at an alarming rate.

Shall-issue laws have been passing one state at a time. And, while some object to requiring a license or permit to exercise a right that shall not be infringed, others feel that this is just the beginning of a positive trend in favor of gun-rights.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Just as shall-issue has been passing state by state, various gun-ban measures are being introduced at the city, county, state, and federal levels, concurrently. States are now being exposed to laws that have oppressed Californians for years. Bans on semi-automatic rifles, limits on firearm purchases, reduced magazine capacity, and the elimination of private party transfer are just a few of the measures that have been introduced all over the country. And it gets worse.

Our nation's teachers are not teaching the true meaning of the Second Amendment and the importance of its role. The subject is either ignored or miscontrued, not only in grammar and high schools, but at the collegiate level as well. Children have been suspended from school for playing with imaginary or toy guns as would be typical in a game of cops-and-robbers or cowboys-and-indians. School officials cite zero tolerance for firearms as an excuse to shame children into thinking firearms are bad.

City officials in gun-intolerant areas such as Chicago, Maryland, and New York have enacted policies that often leave their residents defenseless at the mercy of roving gangs and other violent criminals who don't obey the law in the first place. This is consistent with the results found in other gun-ban countries like Austrailia, Britain, and South Africa where rampant violent crime is spiraling out of the control. People are begging for relief, but their governments will not budge on their failed anti-self-defense policies.

The American media continues overreact and overdramatize any crime involving a firearm while simultaneously ignoring other serious, violent offenses that do not involve firearms. Further, the media gives almost no credence whatsoever to any story where a firearm is used to save someone's life and/or the lives of their loved ones. The media repeats the same old mantra of, "If it bleeds, it leads." They are apparently unable to create a fantastic news story about an average person rising to the occassion, achieving an act of heroism, and saving a life.

Politically active gun-banners capitalize on the media hype and demand the immediate banning of any firearm that was used in a high profile crime. For example, the Bushmaster AR-15 is being targeted for a nationwide ban because it was the type of firearm used by serial killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. (This rifle is already banned in California and heavily demonized as an "assault rifle," despite the fact that other non-banned rifles that use the same type of ammunition and perform in basically the same way can still be purchased legally.)

Gun-banners target, profile, and otherwise blame the firearm, rather than the individual. You never hear gun-banners talk about getting criminals off the street. They just want to get guns "off the street". Because in their in mind, the guns are the true criminals roaming around and influencing otherwise nice rapists, robbers, and murderers.

And while gun-banners refuse to target, profile, and learn from the criminals who have committed horrific acts of violence, with or without a firearm, they do not hesitate to stereotype honest people who believe in America and who have accepted responsibility for their own safety and that of their families. Firearm owners have been reduced to "gun nuts" possessing little or no education with poor oral hygiene and and a paranoid disposition.

Dehumanizing gun owners, inflicting shame about firearms among children, denying the true meaning of the Second Amendment, demonizing a tool that that signifies liberty and can save your life, and denying the existence of a conspiracy is what the gun-ban movement is all about -- in addition to banning firearms and other means of self-defense.

When raising the issue about the necessity of a nation to protect itself against tyranny and citing example after example of how firearm registration leads to confiscation, tyranny, and mass murder -- as was the case in Guatemala, Turkey, Uganda, the Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, and Nazi Germany -- the gun-banner's simple response is to laugh it off stating that it can't happen here.