You should sit down for this; it can be discombobulating when everything you knew to be true is revealed to not be so. With that disclaimer, here we go. We are not a democracy and never have been. Our founders were certain of two things: They despised tyranny and risked their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to throw off British rule. Equally, they feared democracy because throughout history every democracy slowly led back to tyranny; typically a bloody and violent plunge where the sheer might of the military is needed to restore order amongst the subjects. As such, our forefathers gifted the world with our great American republic where the rule of the people’s law reigns supreme. We are a constitutional, representative republic where our eternal Constitution is the supreme law protecting the rights of the minority from the whims of the majority. It’s actually that simple. Unfortunately, beginning in the early 1900’s, our nation’s universities became home to Marxist philosophy and America began the dangerous and progressive descent from a republic into a democracy. Let me explain.

America’s birth certificate dated July 4th, 1776, declares certain truths to be self-evident; so obvious they need no explanation. “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” By definition, “inalienable” rights cannot be taken away, but they can be surrendered; a dangerous phenomenon which occurs more frequently the further time distances us from the blood spilled by our founders. The willful surrender of constitutional rights has occurred at every level of our republic—even in Montana. Here is proof.

The Second Amendment clearly states the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Yet, infringe it we have done. Look at the 20th century crime of carrying a conceal weapon. The state of Vermont has never declared the carrying of concealed weapons to be a crime, and they have peacefully existed since America’s founding. Montana caught in the tangled web of Marxist philosophy where the central government reigns supreme, eliminated this fundamental right of self-defense in 1919. Freedom was dangerously swapped for security; a trade which so easy to do, yet so difficult to undo.

In 1991, Montana’s legislature re-established the right for citizens to carry concealed weapons without a permit in areas “outside the official boundaries of a city or town or the confines of a logging, lumbering, mining, or railroad camp.” It was a compromise to protect city folks. Opponents argued there would be shoot-outs on every corner and blood would run in the streets—time proved them wrong on both accounts.

On February 2, 2011 I introduced HB 271 an “Act establishing the permit-less conceal-carry of weapons” in said cities and towns—just like in Vermont, Alaska, recently Arizona, and all of rural Montana. Predictably, opponents argued there would be shoot-outs on every corner and blood in the streets. Due to the composition of the House Judiciary Committee it took much arm twisting and a little parliamentary sleight-of-hand, to get HB 271 voted to the House floor. On Monday, HB271 passed Second Reading in the House on a vote of 55-45. We are one step closer to re-establishing an inalienable right.

Sadly, some ex-law enforcement representatives have been indoctrinated it is the powerful police state which secures liberty; certainly not a well armed free citizen. Instinctively they divide Americans into two categories: Those who have committed a crime and those who are about to. Every person on the street is a suspect until their personal documents prove otherwise; hence their justification requiring conceal-carry permits. The concept a law-abiding Montanan could safely conceal a weapon without the blessing of a government permit, while walking his wife and kids to Dairy Queen is incomprehensible.

By the time you read these words, HB271 may have passed Montana’s House. If I am successful I have the honor of repeating the entire process in the Senate. The bottom line is this: It is much, much easier to give up your constitutional freedoms, than it is to win them back. Don’t surrender unalienable rights in the first place! This concludes Freedom 101; if you will excuse me, I have work to do.