If the Framers' purpose had been what is known as a "collective right," they would have been satisfied with Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which gives Congress the power to "call forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrection and repel invasions."

Instead, to ensure that gun ownership was recognized as an individual right, they included it in the Bill of Rights, a compilation of such other individual rights as freedom of speech, freedom of religion and a fair trial. The location of these words provides strong evidence for the Founders' vision.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." In debate on the Bill of Rights, James Madison wanted the American people to have the right to be armed in order to prevent the kind of tyranny that dominated the rest of the world, especially Europe.

In the last century, totalitarian regimes such as the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany successfully confiscated weapons from their citizens in order to force them to submit more easily. Today, dictators in Burma and Cuba confiscate privately owned guns, and their people continue to suffer.

The Second Amendment ensures that Americans have the ability to secure their rights and defend them from government suppression, if necessary. It is that right that a government of the people, by the people and for the people must never extinguish.

In the case of D.C. v. Heller, the Supreme Court affirmed Second Amendment rights for the first time in almost seven decades. This is a welcome outcome for those who love liberty in our great nation. Because of the high court's decision on Washington, D.C., every American will have this precious right.