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Unit 10: The Right to Arms by Edward Abbey

initiative and referendum—direct democracy—and in some cantons by open-air meetings in Notes
which all voters participate. Every Swiss male serves a year in the Swiss Army and at the end
of the year takes his government rifle home with him—where he keeps it for the rest of his
life. One of my father’s grandfathers came from Canton Bern.
There must be a meaning in this. I don’t think I’m a gun fanatic. I own a couple of small-
caliber weapons, but seldom take them off the wall. I gave up deer hunting fifteen years ago,
when the hunters began to outnumber the deer. I am a member of the National Rifle Association,
but certainly no John Bircher. I’m a liberal—and proud of it. Nevertheless, I am opposed,
absolutely, to every move the state makes to restrict my right to buy, own, possess, and carry
a firearm. Whether shotgun, rifle, or handgun.

Of course, we can agree to a few commonsense limitations. Guns should not be sold to children,
to the certifiably insane, or to convicted criminals. Other than that, we must regard with
extreme suspicion any effort by the government—Iocal, state, or national—to control our right
to arms. The registration of firearms is the first step toward confiscation. The confiscation of
weapons would be a major and probably fatal step into authoritarian rule—the domination of
most of us by a new order of “gentlemen.” By a new and harder oligarchy.

The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and military are the weapons
of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of democracy. Not for nothing was the revolver called
an “equalizer.” Egalite implies liberte. And always will. Let us hope our weapons are never
needed—but do not forget what the common people of this nation knew when they demanded
the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final
defense against tyranny.

If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police,
the military. The hired servants of our rules. Only the government—and a few outlaws. I
intend to be among the outlaws.

Notes Edward Abbey lives in Wolf Hole, Arizona. A former ranger for the National Park
Service, Abbey now describes himself as an “Agrarian anarchist.” He writes frequently
about the beauty of the American west and the ways in which that beauty has been
spoiled by government, business, and tourism. His many books include such as
novels Fire on the Mountain (1963), The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), and Good News
(1980), and several collections of essays, such as Desert Solitaire (1968), Abbey’s Road
(1979), and, most recently, Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside (1984). As the
following 1979 essay reveals, Abbey values the importance of the individual in a
world in which individuals are at risk.

10.2 Analysis

The first thing to note about Abby’s essay is the introduction. He prefaces the text of his essay
with a well known saying (If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns)but then adds
his own questions (True? False? Maybe?). This is a provocative interest catcher. Then in the
first paragraph, he defines by example what the term “arms” has meant through history,
concluding that in our time the word refers to firearms. The quotation and the first paragraph
together constitute his introduction.
The second point to notice is that Abby provides ample evidence with historical examples to
support the idea that private ownership of arms has always been associated with personal
freedom and political liberty. He says that oppressive rules in medieval Europe, Nazi Germany,

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