Senator Tom Brewer
43rd District
7-26-2019

I was invited to speak this past week in Ireland at the 32nd Annual Gerald Manley Hopkins Festival in Dublin. It is a beautiful country and the people are very friendly.

While there I was disappointed to learn that the private ownership of firearms is illegal. It’s very difficult for a citizen to even possess a gun to just go to the range. When the government decides there should be hunting of wildlife, their agents do the hunting. Consequently, only the criminals and the police have guns. The Irish people do not have the basic human right of self-defense. A person cannot even own a knife longer than three inches. I thought “democratic” countries who are our close friends and allies had similar protections for their citizens in their constitutions. The “western democracies” of Europe are not as similar to the United States as I first thought.

In 1916 the Irish revolted against the King of England. They threw off over 700 years of English tyranny. If the current rules were in effect, they wouldn’t be enjoying the freedom they have now. I’m glad I don’t live in Ireland.

Our Constitution/our Government does not bestow rights upon American citizens. Our right to keep and bear arms isn’t “given” to us by the 2nd Amendment any more than the 1st Amendment gives us a right to free speech. These rights are ours by birth. They are “natural” rights. All our Constitution does is attempt to “protect” them from ever being infringed upon by government.

There are about 195 countries in the world today. Only three of them afford their citizens a constitutionally-protected right to own a gun: USA, Mexico, and Guatemala. I was stunned to learn that not even our Canadian neighbor guarantees a citizen’s right to own a gun. Our country is the only one with (almost) no restrictions on our 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms. I had no idea it was so rare. Almost half of all citizen-owned guns in the world are in the United States.

My trip reminded me why elected officials in the United States take an oath to “protect and defend” our Constitution and all the rights it safeguards. I will always fight any effort to “infringe” upon our 2nd Amendment rights. It’s the one right that protects all the others.

Please contact my office with any comments, questions or concerns. Email me at tbrewer@leg.ne.gov, mail a letter to Sen. Tom Brewer, Room #1423, P.O. Box 94604, Lincoln, NE 68509, or call us at (402) 471-2628.