#OpinionPost
When I was a kid at
elementary stage, while going to school, I always stared at the
"Gun-building" as I called it then for various guns were drawn all
over the front view of the blue-colored apartment situated at the left Junction
of Azikiwe road by west.
I had always imagined
walking into the building & acquiring my own gun which I would use to do my
"war start" with other street kids coz I was tired of my plastic guns
with rubber bullets.
I had fantasized
taking shooting lessons and marksman training at the building soon enough.
The fact that many men
in my hood had guns and primarily two of my neighbours also had and also fired
it occasionally to scare robbers or celebrate had put me in a position of keen
interest to the acquisition & use of rifles.
Sadly enough, in my
high school days, when kidnapping became the to-do-list & business of the
day in my city, the FG had to clamp down on the acquisition & use of rifles
by private citizens.
I can firmly beat my
chest and say that there is no legal privately owned gun market or shooting
range school in Nigeria.
That policy has still
not been reversed till date.
In fact, the policy
was quite a dubious & deliberate attempt by the FG to totally disarm the
masses and prevent a futuristic revolution or forceful accountability.
Adolfus Hitler, the
greatest military dictator ever to live once said; "To totally conquer a
nation and consolidate rule, first disarm its citizens". This was exactly
the first thing Hitler did before he began his campaign of domination and its
proves extremely successful.
The second amendment
of the constitution of the United States of America confers its citizens the
sovereign & inalienable right to bear arms on the basis of survival,
self-defense, natural right of resistance and
self-preservation and
when the sanctions
of society and laws
are found
insufficient to
restrain the violence of
oppression.
The American, Swedish &
swiss gun scholars has stated that the acquisitions, use & keeping of guns
of guns by private citizens is in fact a positive impact on the growth &
sustenance of democratic rule and ensures the prevention of tyranny &
dictatorship.
Meaning that fear of
private ownership of guns by the government keeps them in track &
accountable to the people. That fear & knowledge strikes a balance of
social contract & accord between the government & the governed and
further ensures no breach of trust.
Is private ownership
of guns the real problem in Nigeria ? Has placing embargo on private
importation, ownership & use of guns solved any of Nigeria's terrorism
problem, or kidnapping problem, or militancy problems, or armed robbery
problems ??? The answer is NO !
Where do these
renegades acquire their assault rifles & machine guns from ? Shouldn't that
be the focus of the government !
No amount of amnesty
programs will or arms embargo will solve these persisting problems we face as a
nation.
-A new approach is
needed !
A learned colleague of
mine in Enugu once said to me; "Charles, the only way or probably one
effective way to put corruption to an abrupt end is to " legalise
corruption". At first, I didn't really get it or even concurred with her
reasoning. But after much thinking & research on her assertion, I've come
to accept her views but not necessarily accepting that all forms of corruption
ought to be legalized.
However, my main focus
here is the issue of guns, just like the 2nd amendment of the USA constitution
stipulates, don't you think the citizens of Nigerians of full age &
eligibility has the sovereign right to acquire & bear arms(with license)
for their natural right to resistance against oppression, self-preservation,
self-defense and so forth.
The CEO of the
national Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre has always stated that; "the
only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is another good guy with a
gun".
Since the Nigerian
criminal law(substantive/procedural) empowers private citizens to effect arrests
of suspected criminals at the spot. How then can such be effected if these
citizens are extremely vulnerable and have no weapon of self-defense or
survival.
Legalized but
regulated ownership of guns will go a long way to reduce drastically, the criminal
rate and criminal tendencies in this nation. More good than harm will be
effected. The current situation of the country is a manifest reference to my
perspective.
The right to survival
is not granted by the state. It is an inherent/inalienable right given by God
and to be expressed forthwith in accordance with the rules of the
state/morality.
Every citizen is a
police officer by morality an has the mandate by law to act in parameters of an
officer by law in such absence and to had over the case & suspect to the
nearest police man by law or station. This is a democracy not an autocracy !
The thousand
innocent/vulnerable people that have died as a result of the gun-fire by Fulani
herdsmen, armed-robbers, kidnappers, boko-haram and so forth could have been
reasonably averted if these victims had their weapons of self defense &
survival.
Considering the fact
that the security agencies & government is not doing enough or absolutely
nothing to guarantee the safety of its citizens.
I strongly believe in
the reformation of the FIREARMS ACT and the expansion on the legality of the
kinds of guns to be acquired & used by all eligible private citizens for
the sake of humanity, survival, preservation of lives & properties. Thank
you !
-UCHE Charles E.
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