Venezuela Is What You Get When The Government Bans Gun Ownership

Looking over some articles to draw inspiration from, I came across an article on the Daily Caller talking about what is currently happening in Venezuela and the fact that the Venezuelan government, under former dictator Hugo Chavez, banned private gun ownership less than a decade ago.
 
Perhaps the biggest reason I say this now is because Venezuela might face a military coup d’état in the near future, as Interim President Juan Guaido has called for a military uprising, dubbed Operacion Libertad, against the Maduro regime.
 
Ever since Maduro’s bogus “re-election”, where Maduro imprisoned opponents and overall made it harder for people to run against him and garnering more votes than were cast, the Venezuelan people have seen protest after protest, often turning into rioting with people throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at armed forces that shut these protesters down.
 
In June of 2012, the Chavez regime banned all private gun ownership, only allowing for the military, police and security contractors to purchase weapons from a state-owned gun manufacturer. The reason given for this sort of law? “Improve security and cut crime” according to a BBC story reporting on the new law.
 
Under the guise of curbing the country’s crime rates, the government banned guns. Does that sound familiar?
 
And anyone who is found to be disobeying this law faces 20 years in prison.
 
Of course, that gun ban did nothing to lower crime rates. Quite the opposite, as crime rates only soared since the gun ban went into effect.
 
Luis Farias, a Venezuelan citizen, told Fox News: “Now the criminal mother is unleashed. Trying to ban guns didn’t take guns off the streets. Nobody cares about the law; the criminals don’t care about the law.”
 
Javier Vanegas, a Venezuelan teacher forced into exile to Ecuador, told Fox News: “Guns would have served as a vital pillar to remaining a free people, or at least able to put up a fight. The government security forces, at the beginning of this debacle, knew they had no real opposition to their force. Once things were this bad, it was a clear declaration of war against an unarmed population… Venezuelans evolved to always hope that our government would be non-tyrannical, non-violator of human rights, and would always have a good enough control of criminality.”
 
But therein lies, the problem, Javier. When you leave your hopes upon the government’s shoulders to do something, or in this case, to not do something like becoming tyrannical, you know you’re in a terrible position.
 
Given the opportunity, given the chance, a government will always become tyrannical. Why? Well, the answer is similar to that of many questions: Man is evil by NATURE.
 
People want power. Once they have such power, they crave for more of it and will not give it up easily. The gun ban was advertised as being an effort to bring down crime. What an absolute joke. In reality, it was an effort to keep people from being able to rise up against the socialist government. And it worked like a charm.
 
Javier himself notes that guns would’ve helped the people to remain free or at least fight back. That was the point of the gun ban: to keep people from being able to fight back. Now, the people are left starving, thirsty, without electricity, gas and many, MANY other things and can hardly do a thing about it.
 
They have to rely on Guaido succeeding and not turning into a dictator himself. They have to rely on the military taking their side in order to be free. Both are massive “ifs”.
 
I don’t know much about Guaido. He certainly says the right things, but everyone does. After all, Chavez advertised the gun ban as being an effort against crimes and the like. He said the right things, didn’t he? There was no way he could’ve come out and said: “yeah, we’re going to take your guns so you can’t fight back against us in the event we become too tyrannical, which you honestly should see coming considering this gun ban is even being talked about.”
 
Latin America’s history is marred by civil wars and coups. And at the end of the day, each “new” government wound up being the same old tyrannical one the previous one was, but with a few changes here and there. Only time will tell whether or not Guaido is really anti-socialist or if he’s just trying to get power for himself. Certainly, the temptation would be there.
 
I mean, George Washington had the option of becoming King of the United States instead of becoming President of the United States. Thankfully, he was a Christian and was humble enough and wise enough to understand that there was no way this new country would survive if after fighting off a tyrannical king, they placed in his stead a different one. But the option was there at one time. Again, I don’t know much about Guaido, but I am not willing to bet that he’s a George Washington. He might be or he might not be, but Latin Americans have seen this song and dance before.
 
The Venezuelan people have no other option than to hope and pray that Guaido is who he says he is; that he is not going to be simply replacing the socialist Maduro regime with his own, changing just about nothing and enjoying basically unopposed power.
 
Again, he says the right things. He advertises himself as a free-market capitalist, if his “Venezuela To Come” plan is anything to go by. So there is at least SOME hope he might do the right thing. But again, time will tell.
 
As it is now, Guaido has called for a military uprising against Maduro. For that he needs military support, which he might have at least to some extent. In a recent article where I at least somewhat briefly discussed the Mueller report, I mentioned that what is necessary for a successful coup is the military backing you up. If Guaido has such support from the military, Maduro’s days are almost certainly numbered.
 
So that’s an “if” question already taken care of, if there is enough support in the military for Guaido. But until it is proven otherwise, Guaido might not actually be any different from Maduro or any other socialist. He can say all the right things, but his actions as leader of Venezuela will show us his true colors.
 
Of course, I hope he will do the right things. But it is not a great situation to be in to have to rely on a military coup and a politician who knows how to say the right things (something they are often trained to do) to grant people their freedom. If Guaido succeeds in ousting Maduro, one of the tell-tale signs for his administration being capitalistic or socialistic will be whether or not he lifts the gun ban.
 
And as far as the United States goes, as the title says, the current state of Venezuela is what you get if we lose our guns. If we lose the 2nd Amendment, the rest will soon follow.
 
We have guns to protect ourselves, whether that means from a criminal or from a tyrannical government.
 
Isaiah 41:10
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
 
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