Both sides claim victory in Venezuela elections, but only one side has guns By: Lee Williams

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Venezuela is the latest example of the need to protect and defend our Second Amendment rights

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Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. (Photo from licensed Shutterstock account).

by according to news reports.

Making matters worse for the Venezuelan people, Vice President Kamala Harris issued a statement supporting Maduro’s claims.

“The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous, and secure future for the people of Venezuela,” Harris said in a social media post.

In other words, Harris said we should accept the election results and move on, despite the cheating.

Lessons learned

Recent events have shown that the right to keep and bear arms is not universal, unfortunately, and that those who depend upon the government to protect them do so at their own peril.

Prior to the October 7th terrorist attacks, Israelis had to serve two years in the Israeli Defense Forces before they could apply for a firearm permit. Today, they can apply after serving one year in the IDF or other national service. In addition, those who work or live in a “qualified dangerous area” can also apply for a firearm permit. Israeli civilians who have no firearms training can also apply. As a result, more than 300,000 Israelis have applied for firearm permits since the Hamas massacres.

“When the war started, we knew that we were right when we said that every person that has a weapon can save a life,” Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s National Security Minister, told the Times of Israel. “We need to enable as many people as possible to carry a weapon.”

Israel was not the only country to regret restricting civilian access to firearms.

As Russian motorized rifle brigades streamed across the Ukrainian border, the world watched in horror as Ukrainian soldiers uncrated cases of AKs as quickly as possible and passed them out to mostly untrained recruits. Ukraine tried to mitigate the damage by opening government-owned ranges to the public, but for many it was too little, too late. 

Many of their frontline forces had minimal firearm training, which led to thousands of needless battlefield deaths.

Takeaways

Venezuela should be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is literally floating on a sea of oil. However, decades of government corruption have forced most of the population into poverty — corruption that was enabled by disarming the people.

Everyone except our Vice President seems to recognize that Maduro cheated — by force of arms — and will now serve another six-year term, his third. There is little the Venezuelan people can do to contest Monday’s election results. They have nothing to fight back with. All of their guns were confiscated and destroyed.

Venezuela is the latest example of the need to protect and defend our Second Amendment rights. Rather than focusing solely on how they intend to disarm us, we should focus on why our politicians — including Harris — want a disarmed populace. It is certainly a question worthy of a response.

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