Jul 2, 2026 5 min read

Hard to believe the 4th of July is upon us, the time for picnics and family gatherings. It is time to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our Independence. That would include all our freedoms and all our rights as American citizens.

As often is the case with holidays, Santa and the Easter Bunny get top billing. Thanksgiving gets pushed to the side in order to usher in Black Friday and holidays like Veteran’s Day and the Fourth of July lose center focus to grilling and fireworks.

As sportsmen and women, let’s not let that happen again this year. As sportsmen and women we have a responsibility to protect our freedoms, maybe more so than any other group out there celebrating. We certainly have more skin in the game as hunters and shooters and practitioners of concealed carry.

As we recognize and showcase our independence after two-and-a-half centuries, let us not forget that the rights and freedoms that we enjoy can be taken from us in an instant and there are factions at work, daily, that would seek to limit just such freedoms. I deliberately try not to take a political stance in most of my writing but the second amendment is where it becomes difficult not to draw a line. The attack on gun ownership and firearms in general is one that never stops. In the fall, our U.S. supreme court will once again entertain arguments pertaining to the “assault weapons ban” stemming back to 1994. There are those well intended souls who constantly press for more and more “common sense” measures to restrict all things gun related. Magazine capacity bans and restrictions, automatic and semi-automatic “assault weapons” bans (which are really without a true definition) and oodles of other measures to limit concealed carry, firearms transfer, ammunition taxation and issues of liability to name just a few. Many of the big box stores have decided the moral issue for us already by simply refusing to carry certain types of ammunition that they have deemed “not necessary.” Father knows best.

When it comes to matters of “common sense” gun control measures or terms of “not necessary” I’m inclined to ask whose “common sense” will we be using? And whose “necessary” will be the measuring stick? I find it most interesting that these decisions are often left to the folks with the least knowledge and experience with firearms.

As a newspaper guy and an enjoyer of my first amendment rights, I would put this forward. If we are to truly possess and enjoy our right to free speech, who will decide what can be written, to whom it can be written and where our thoughts can be published. I realize that some find it silly to entertain the idea that a writer’s thoughts could be limited because some audience finds their point of view less than palatable. But is it not logical that if our individual thoughts can be censored before submission to the masses, then couldn’t limitations to the press be extended as well? Could religious freedom be far behind? At every opportunity another domino of liberty would tumble. Might we fall victim to outside forces telling us what to believe or what we can believe? Oh, that’s right, we are already there! Turn on the television. Log on to the Internet. Open a magazine. It is a veritable onslaught to our moral and ethical sensibilities. This path continues down a very slippery slope that may well take up rights of privacy, due process and all the other rights that we enjoy as American citizens.

At the risk of sounding like an old history teacher (I am, indeed) these freedoms are not singular but rather a package deal. That package, by the way, is our bill of rights. If one of these freedoms makes its way to the chopping block then all are at risk. That’s why we must not tinker with another’s liberties.

A right is not a privilege. It is not granted but rather guaranteed to our citizenry by virtue of being human. These God-given rights cannot be taken away, transferred nor surrendered to another person or authority. They are uniquely ours to possess without interference nor molestation from others.

So, this Fourth of July, our rights are not for sale nor are they negotiable. Our forefathers had the good sense to make certain of that with a constitution that is nothing short of miraculous.

I would remind every American that with that great lot of freedom comes awesome levels of responsibility. Vote in every election. Communicate with your representatives at the local, state and federal levels, regularly. Read, study and stay connected to current events, politics, technology, etc. Work within your churches to reach your fellow man. Stay active in your community and strive to make ours a better place.

Join with me in celebrating the 250th anniversary of the greatest nation in the world. May we share the bounty of our democratic republic with those both here and abroad. May we offer to them what many take for granted in our homeland. May the sportsman lead the way.

Dave Bates writes a weekly outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter. He can be reached at alphaomegashootingsolutions@gmail.com