Who Should Prevent Genocide?


With the ongoing situation continuing in the Darfor region of Sudan, it looks as though both the U.S. and the U.N. are reluctant to step in to prevent the actions of the Janjaweed.

National Review Online has an article on the effect of gun control laws, and the creation of a nation of victims. It’s easy for those of us in “civilized” countries to look at nations like Sudan and think that nothing like that could ever happen to us. Yet, Sudan is clear evidence that the U.N. policy on strong gun control only serves to make a nations of people truly subject to their armed governments (or, in the case of the Sudan, those whom the government chooses to allow arms).

Of course, hand-in-hand with this gun control push is the implicit promise that the nations of the world will help if a government ever does choose to infringe on the rights of it’s citizens. But as we can see, that promise is beginning to ring rather hollow in the ears of the victims.

Ultimately, it is the role of the citizens to protect themselves from both petty criminals, and armed governments. The U.N. has no vested interest in protecting your family, and if your family must be sacrificed for the good of the U.N., then they are more than happy to do so.

As the NRO author writes, “It is time for formal international law to recognize the natural right of self-defense, and to acknowledge the universal human right of ‘having arms for their defense’ so that, as a last resort, victims can ‘restrain the violence of oppression’ As history has shown, as long as dictatorships exist, the only way to ensure the primary right to life is to guarantee the auxiliary right to arms.”