By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – November 7, 2021 If it is one thing that has been brought to public attention during these last twenty months of the Pandemic is the increasing feeling of lack of personal safety brought on by riots, "Black lives Matter", Antifa, and the concept that policing is unnecessary. In response, the general public many of which had never considered gun ownership in their entire lives, have made the decision to purchase a firearm. Aside from the self protection factor, most citizens did not view 2020's summer of love as a good thing and taken action. On that front, the State of California is not a particularly friendly State when it come to the ownership of any kind of firearm. From the days of Ronald Reagan as California's governor, the steadily restrictions on firearm ownership has piled up to the point that currently on the books are over 110 laws covering the topic. The maze of restrictions has reached a point that even reasonable and responsible citizens of the State find the task of purchasing said weapons overwhelming. Likely not so for those with nefarious purposes in mind. While gun control advocates continue to point to California's middle of the road position on murders, and suicides, it apparently hasn't resonated with the current rush to purchase guns. First of all, gun violence as a cause of death is relatively rare in this Country in spite of efforts to make comparisons with other countries notorious with that sort of violence. Mass shootings, which inevitably become national news and rallying cries for ever more gun control are equally rare. The very idea that most mass shooting by crazy people are to be legislated out of existence is foolish beyond words. It has been pointed out numerous times that those events would not have been changed by any of California's current legislative efforts. While mass killings are horrific, gun control is not the answer. More importantly, firearm possession while currently guaranteed by the US Constitution in the second amendment, is not about what most people assume it to be. It is not about target shooting, hunting, or personal protection. It is about a check on over zealous and corrupt government. For the most part it is meant to be a metaphor that does not signal active insurrection against government, but a clear message to government that the possibility exists should government over step. The failure to have such a provision as a guaranteed right in our Constitution is what insures that basic freedoms cannot be erased and the citizens of this Country remain self governing should existing government revert to central government dictates and whims. It is unfortunate that this kind of education has been stripped from most educational platforms and relegated to talking about the Constitution as a "living document" easily "adjusted" to suit those in power. The founders of this Country recognized the power of free speech and an armed population as critical opposition to any movement towards what is being promoted in our educational communities, the media, and government circles. California may say it is about gun violence and the need to protect with its 100 plus laws, but the reality is that it is meant to control and nothing else. As much as citizens wish to feel safe in their own Country from "gun violence", gun control will never be the answer when your government comes knocking at your door to tell you, "you must comply to something that is beyond their authority in a free Country"…