Should every person be able to take advantage of the best means of self-defense available? Should the President be protected by assault weapons? Should soldiers have the best firepower at their disposal? Should the police be fully equipped to handle riots and heavily armed criminals? Is your life worth as much as the President's? As a soldier's? As a police officer's?

The Founding Fathers' answer to the question of "What is the worth of an individual life?" was to write the Second Amendment, guaranteeing that your right to self-defense would not be infringed.

Why does anybody need an assault weapon? Why do you need to protect your life and your family? The answer to either question answers them both: Because you have a right to, just as you have a right to exist.

A more informed question is: Does anyone own an assault weapon? The fact-based answer is that almost no one owns an assault weapon. Since the Machine Gun Act of 1934, private ownership of assault weapons has been almost completely eliminated because an assault weapon is a portable machine gun. A machine gun, as you probably know, fires as long as your finger is on the trigger, as does an assault weapon. However, the guns that the media refer to today as assault weapons cannot fire for as long as your finger is on the trigger. The so-called assault weapons the media refer to fire the same way a semi-automatic handgun does, one shot at a time, one trigger squeeze at a time. The belief that assault weapons have flooded the streets of America is a myth, the same kind of myth that claimed that if you kissed someone without using a mouth guard you could get AIDS, the same kind of idiocy that said cigarettes were healthier for you than candy because cigarettes helped you lose weight, and the same kind of absurdity that forced a raped woman to prove she hadn't asked for it.

A semi-automatic rifle is not an assault weapon just as a needle and thread is not a sewing machine. With needle and thread you sew one stitch at a time just as you fire one bullet at a time with a semi-automatic rifle. A sewing machine enables you to stitch automatically just as an assault weapon enables you to defend your life and your family's with one squeeze of the trigger. The real question is not who needs an assault weapon. The real question is why were you misinformed?

But first let's find out how misinformed you were. How often has the media told you that 99.4% of all guns are not used in crimes? Why hasn't the media told you that since 1934 there have been approximately 20,000 gun control laws passed and crime has gone up? Why did the media turn its back on the Lott study which proved conclusively that rape, murder, and assault occur more frequently in areas where the citizens are denied the right of self-defense than in areas where citizens are allowed to carry concealed weapons? Why hasn't the media compared the Los Angeles riots, in which 58 people were killed, and the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, which caused far more damage, but no one was killed by rioters or looters? Could it be that in Los Angeles it is almost impossible to get a concealed carry permit and the city's culture is anti-gun, whereas in Florida people are allowed to carry concealed weapons and citizens were able to protect their property and their lives by being heavily armed? Why doesn't the media tell you about the store owners and citizens who saved their lives, their families' lives and their property during the LA riots by using so-called assault weapons? Could it be a black out? Could it be the same kind of reporting that equates a needle and thread with a sewing machine?

You've been lied to for the same reason that people want you to believe that censorship will make America a better place to live. You've been lied to for the same reason that people want you to believe that it's perfectly OK for custom agents to strip search you anytime they want to. You've been lied to for the same reason that people want you to believe that your tax money isn't being wasted, and that Social Security will provide for your retirement.

You've been lied to because certain people in the media and the government want you to voluntarily give up your rights. These people know that if they tell you the truth about assault weapons, if they tell you the truth about your right to self-defense, you won't give up that right.

The question is not who needs an assault weapon.

The question is how many of your rights are you willing to surrender to people who have lied to you?