This has been some past week. Almost everyone has been focused on two events, the Russian attempt
to seize the Ukraine and fuel prices climbing by the hour. I'll briefly discuss my thoughts on the cost of fuel; Democrat over-regulation, Biden's interference with production and both the Democrats and Biden's obsession with unproven Global Warming are to blame. Americans already produce the cleanest forms of petroleum based fuels, we lead the world in alternative energy and the reduction of green house gasses. The Democrats and Biden are now crippling America with the ever growing cost of fuel and consumer goods that are grown, fertilized, transported or packaged using petroleum products. Enough said on inflation and the cost of living. Democrats, You own this!!!
Now about the Ukraine. Last week, I watch the news as the Ukraine government handed out automatic AK-47's to all wishing to fight and resist Russia's invasion of the sovereign Ukrainian nation. Oddly, the Ukraine has no 2nd Amendment but is somewhat similar to America on gun laws. The Ukraine is the only country in Europe where firearms are not regulated by law but rather by the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Order 622.
Citizens are permitted to own non-fully automatic rifles and shotguns. Handguns are illegal except for target shooting, concealed carry permits and for military and law enforcement. To obtain a permit, one must be 25 for rifles, 21 for shotguns and 18 for airguns with no criminal record or history of domestic violence or mental illness. Under a State of Emergency order, dated Feb. 23, 2022 the Ukrainian Parliament approved the carrying of firearms outside the home for self defense and defense of Country. Within three days, over 25,000 automatic weapons and 10 million rounds of ammunition were handed out to citizens by the Ukraine government.
Here in America, a number of groups are working to allow donations of privately owned American
firearms to be donated to the Ukraine. An Arizona ammo manufacturer has offered one million rounds of ammo, the story did not specify caliber but I would think 7.62x39 to feed the AK-47s.
As odd as this all sounds, the events in the Ukraine are the very reason our founding fathers penned the 2nd Amendment, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
My memory goes back to old favorite movies like Red Dawn, where rural youths defended against an invasion of Russians, Cubans and Nicaraguans. Another old favorite was the series named “Jericho” about a mid-America town's survival after a nuclear attack on large American cities by our own citizens/government and the chaos that ensued. BTW, Texas saved the day in that series.
Though never proven, a famous line has often been credited to Japanese Admiral Yamamoto of Pearl Harbor fame who was American educated at Harvard for several years and fluently spoke English. The quote stated, “you cannot invade the mainland US, there would be a rifle behind every blade of grass. Rather Yamamoto made the comment or not, Americans have owned lots of guns since the signing of the Declaration, Mainland America has not been attacked since the 19 th century and then only by the British in 1812 and in 1846 sparking the Mexican American War.
A few interesting stats about American and World firearm ownership: In a 2018 report issued by the Swiss Government, it was estimated that Americans owned just under 400 million firearms while the remainder of the world owned an additional 450 million firearms. Other reports estimate American ownership at closer to 600 million firearms with 8.7 billion rounds of ammo. The US military has 4.5 million firearms while US law enforcement owns 1.1 million. India comes in a distant 2nd with a combined 70 million firearms. Russian police and military have about 10 times their American counterparts. A firearm behind every blade of American grass may be why our homeland is safe from invasion (not including the illegal alien invasion Democrats have allowed).
Terry Harper State Republican Executive Committee Chairman for Senate District 21