April 19, 1775 | The Second Amendment’s Date of Birth

2nd Amendment iStock-1003133414
Friday, April 19 marks the 249th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the real birthdate of the Second Amendment. IMG iStock-1003133414

OPINION — Regardless what historians might otherwise suggest, this Friday, April 19, marks the real 249th birthday of the Second Amendment because it was on that date in 1775—more than a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed—the existing government at the time attempted to seize the arms and ammunition of the Colonial militia, igniting the American Revolution and forever altering the course of history.

Like it or not, taxes and tyranny were major issues, but the attempt to seize the arms and ammunition of the good citizens of Massachusetts really lit the fuse. One would think government might learn something from that.

In Massachusetts, they celebrated “Patriot’s Day” on Monday. It is one of history’s biggest ironies that the place where the shooting started—where liberty was born thanks to an armed citizenry—is now one of the most restrictive states in the nation when it comes to gun ownership and, more importantly, gun rights.

People like anti-gun Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey evidently cannot grasp the notion that it was armed private citizens who set the gears of change in motion. Nor do they seem to understand the Second Amendment was eventually included in the Constitution not to allow hunting but to prevent government from ever again trying to disarm the people.

Today, groups including the Second Amendment Foundation, National Rifle Association, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Gun Owners of America, Firearms Policy Coalition, National Shooting Sports Foundation, National Association for Gun Right and others stand in the way of those disarmament efforts.

April 19, 1775, was a mild Wednesday, barely one month into Spring. Word reached the colonials in Lexington and Concord that British Regulars had been marching through the night to disarm the militia. About 80 members of the Lexington militia under the command of Capt. John Parker had been waiting through the night at Buckman Tavern and emerged just before 5 a.m. to assemble on Lexington Common. Legend has it that Parker, who suffered from tuberculosis, told his men, “Stand your ground; don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”

Historians still debate who fired the first shot and even whether it was deliberate or a negligent discharge, but within minutes, eight militiamen lay dead, and a new nation had been born. While the Second Amendment may have been enshrined in 1791, it came out kicking and screaming on that day in April 1775.

The Regulars marched on toward Concord, and by the time they arrived, some three hours later, every man with every gun was either waiting for them, or converging on the area. It was here, at the North Bridge, where the fabled “Shot Heard Round the World” was fired.

“By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

   Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

“Here once the embattled farmers stood

   And fired the shot heard round the world…”—Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Biden administration is pushing more gun control—which a media drowning in political correctness and woke ideology incessantly mislabels as “gun reform”—and his political party has gone from being once identified as the “party of gun control to being now considered the “party of gun prohibition.” Today, virtually every gun control proposal from Congress down to state legislatures and even county and city councils, is the product of a Democrat.

Perhaps one of the best, and easily read, accounts of the fighting at Lexington and Concord can be found at Wikipedia. It’s the stuff too many history teachers overlook because it reminds the reader what this was all about. The British government at the time was led by Gen. Thomas Gage, appointed “Royal Governor of Massachusetts” in 1774.

According to Battlefields.org, Gage “inflamed tensions between the colonies and the mother country and practiced harsh enforcement of British law.” Evidently, bureaucrats and politicians haven’t really changed much over the past 250 years.

The events of that day have been immortalized, romanticized, analyzed and occasionally criticized, and from it all emerges one indisputable conclusion. Had it not been for the attempt to disarm those “embattled farmers” and their determination to not be disarmed, there might not be a “United States,” and there most assuredly would not be a Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms that “shall not be infringed.”

Looking around the American landscape, one can spot too many people who are committed to turning the constitutionally-enumerated right into a government-regulated privilege, or erasing it altogether. These are the people who describe themselves—and are thus described by the establishment media—as “gun safety advocates,” as if they had a plausible notion of genuine gun safety.

Later this year, their dogma will be on the line. The November election could be “make-or-break” for the Second Amendment; the chance to act as did those “embattled farmers” of generations long ago and fight back. This time, not with bullets but with ballots.

The November elections are barely 6 ½ months away. Don’t sit this one out. Celebrate the birth of the Second Amendment on Friday. Protect it by voting on Tuesday, Nov. 5.


About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

Dave Workman

17 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
CaptainKerosene

A slihh disagreement on the date or terminology. Boston had become wr1760. King George had his army occupied Boston. The people formed. Militia art from the organized militia as part of the british Army. In 1768 thebritish Army occupied boson. The Patriots had spy networks. April 19, 1775 is the date of the battle. Patrick Henry eded a long speech with ” Give me Liberty or give me death.” July 4, )776 the Colonies diclared war. Declaration of Independence. The colonies did not form the United States of zamerica unti1authorised States to have militia in Article One, Section 8. Patrick… Read more »

Dean Weingarten

Excellent article, Dave.

GAMtns

Same event to disarm the people also happened in Virginia, in Williamsburg where the governor stole the gun powder from the armory which resulted in the public demonstrations.

Arizona

Jan 7, 2021 the republic fell, when betrayed from within, CORRUPT congress validated what they knew was a rigged election. All those traitors deserve a traitors end. And scotus wouldn’t even display the courage to hear the case.

Fyathyrio

This date also marks the 31st anniversary of the ATF family cook out at Waco. Don’t ever forget your government hates you and will end your life if you become inconvenient. Just ask Bryan Malinowski, the Little Rock airport executive “visited” by ATF agents in a pre-dawn raid of his home, just how ATF intends to enforce Biden’s new rules. Oh, wait . . . you can’t.

Last edited 1 year ago by Fyathyrio
swmft

when I was young we (families) would fire various cannon into nantuket sound on the 4th and armistice day the newest was a ww2 howitzer now they are nutz over black powder arms that predate country they need to be sent back wherever they came from MY ancestors are turning in their respective graves