With widespread civil unrest and protestors marching in the streets of many large cities in Iran, that country’s oppressive government is doing what oppressive governments do best—trying to make sure their “subjects” remain disarmed.
Several people have reportedly been killed in the unrest, according to various news agencies, and Ayatollah Khamenei allegedly already has a plan to “flee the country” and seek refuge in Moscow if his security forces are unable to suppress the protests. The civil unrest in Iran, according to Reuters, has resulted in the arrest of “an unspecified number of people,” of whom were allegedly building homemade pistols.
And according to the gun-rights organizations Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), the desire of Iranian citizens to have firearms to protect themselves is an important part of freedom.
“The strife now reported in Iran has probably been inevitable as that nation’s economy is in trouble, Iran’s nuclear development was smashed last year, and the Khamenei regime has essentially turned the country into a dictatorship,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb said in a news release detailing the situation. “People who want to be free will always find ways to fight back, even if it means manufacturing their own guns to get the job done. We have seen this throughout history.”
The difference problem Iranian freedom seekers have, however, is a near dictatorial governor, combined with no codified right to keep and bear arms.
“Tyrannical governments invariably act to disarm their populations, which enables them to maintain a chokehold on power,” Gottlieb continued. “Thankfully, here in the U.S., we have the Second Amendment to prevent that.
“The alarming reports of people being killed by forces made up of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, police, the army and at least one militia group, underscore the dire situation. Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that pro-democracy Iranians fighting back against the Ayatollah’s goons would arm themselves any way possible, even with homemade guns.”
The foreign-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said that at least 36 people have been killed during the last 10 days of protests across Iran, according to a BBC report. About 60 other protesters had been injured, and 2,076 have been arrested during the unrest.
In videos from a protest in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, a large crowd gathered on a covered street can be heard chanting, “Death to the dictator.” Additionally, Kurdish human rights group Hengaw reported that protesters being treated at the hospital there were wounded when security forces opened fire on a demonstration outside a government compound in Malekshahi on Saturday.
Ultimately, CCRKBA’s Gottlieb hopes the Iranian people’s will to be free will win them liberty, despite having no protections for keeping and bearing arms.
“Remember how our forefathers, many armed with rifles and pistols built by village gunsmiths, fought back against tyranny, against taxation without representation, and against the most powerful army and navy in the world 250 years ago,” Gottlieb concluded. “There is no Second Amendment in the Middle East, but there obviously is a will to be free. It’s the difference between individualism and what some people call ‘collectivism,’ which is another way of describing a dictatorship.”