You are forgetting one thing,
me.
I speak from the voice of experience. I say, that we have no right, because I got my CPL suspended for something that I did not do a couple years ago. It was at that time, that I came to the conclusion that what we don't have, is a "right" the right way. We have a privelidge. I realized that yesterday I could go to this place or that, and today I cannot. That realisation made me very angry, and instead of letting it fester, I became an activist. It was then, realising that our so called "right" is an illusion.
Because of that activism, I have been targeted. Open carry doesn't make you a target for the criminal, it makes you a target for the government. For the second time, because I wouldnt become a sheep, and shut up, I was targeted. My CPL this time revoked, again for something that I did not do. If you don't believe me, ask the girl who was hurt, ask her parents. Ask them how the police were going on and on about how I had a gun, and if it bothered her, and if she wanted something done about it. Ask her why she said no, that my gun doesnt bother her, and why it was that when she said that they should let it be, that the response was that there was nothing she could do about it, the investigation was already underway. Someone unrelated to her, whose child was only a witness, was pushing for prosecution, admitting that she was uncomfortable with me having a gun. (Now she is dating someone who carries one, but thats ok). This wasn't about a little girl who was hurt, it wasn't about a bad decision. Its about open carry. it;s about activism, about not being a sheep. WHy do you suppose they threatened me with a felony? Because I fight for your and my freedoms. They wanted to take me out. Mark my words, they will find a way to do so, and as it has been twice before, I will be innocent, and most won't believe it.
Once again, I realized through experience, that we do not have a second amendment right, any more than I had the right to walk freely, or the right to privacy last Friday. I do not have the right to protect my daughter at her school, I do not have a right to exercise my right to carry for defense in my car, I do not have the right to defend myself in most businesses in this state. I do have the right to speak about these things on this forum, but I do so knowing that there will be reprisal from those in power for doing so. I have a knot in my stomach when I click the Submit Reply button sometimes, because I know that something is going to happen to me someday as a result. Paranoid? Delusional? No. Experienced.
These experiences have made me into an activist because I realize that we do not have a right to keep and bear arms. Not the other way around. I practice strength through opposition.