Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- This picture, from the facebook page of MSG Firearms, shows a student with an anti-NRA sign while wearing a hoodie with the motto ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ and the date 480 B.C.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ is what the Spartan king, Leonidas I is said to have told the Persian Emperor Xerxes I, when Xerxes demanded that they lay down their arms.
It means, “Come and Take Them!”
The same motto was used by Texicans in the battle of Gonzales in the first battle of the Texas war for independence. That war started with the Mexican tyrant Santa Anna attempted to disarm the Texas citizens of Mexico. In response to the Mexican Army’s demand that the citizens of Gonzales return a cannon that had been lent to them for defense against Indian raids, the citizens defiantly said: “Come and Take It!”
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ has become a powerful symbol for activists fighting for the right to keep and bear arms. Many Second Amendment supporters, when faced with a new set of proposed infringements, simply say: No. Your Move. They say that if you attempt to disarm us, we will shoot you. Most supporters of disarming the population think it will be painless for them, and that only Second Amendment supporters risk anything in such a conflict.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ says that those who attempt disarmament by force will pay a heavy price.
Second Amendment supporters are filled with current and former military and police and have strong connections with current law enforcement and military forces. Recent attempts to require registration of rifles has met with massive civil disobedience. Over 90% of rifle owners refuse to register their guns.
It is unknown if the student in the picture was pressured into the anti-Second Amendment demonstration and decided to protest with the ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ hoodie. If so, she made a powerful statement that is resonating around the United States and the world.
If she was simply clueless about history and the meaning of ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ, she did the same.
We may never know what her motivation was, but the picture sends a powerful message that injects thought, history, and facts into the otherwise purely emotional push for knee-jerk restrictions on weapons that are seldom used in crime.
Those who know the meaning of ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ will be amused by the image. Those who do not know the meaning will be educated on social media, where the image is going viral.
The power of the image is that people who know nothing of the history of weapons and control will have to learn something of it to attempt to counter the point that free people have weapons and that tyrants always desire to disarm their victims. It also brings into doubt the “wisdom” of children to direct the countries policies.
The same movement that demands the country take direction from children for policy choices, also demands that weapons be denied them until they are 21 years old. The vote is a much more destructive and powerful weapon than mere rifles. If people under 21 are to be denied rifles, they clearly should not be allowed to vote.
But those who wish a disarmed population are not interested in logic, facts, or history. They lose the debate when those things are discussed.
Thus, the attempt to use childish emotion to force passage of laws that would never pass under cool consideration.
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.