For nearly five years of our existence, this blog was known as Snowflakes in Hell. Seems like an awfully strange name for a blog about firearms policy and Second Amendment advocacy doesn’t it? Well, we agree. Sometimes when starting a blog, one doesn’t always think too hard about the name. Such was the case with this blog. The original name came about because I used to say that hell would freeze over before I would start blogging. That day came, and hence the name.
But as the blogging wore on, the name got old. More importantly, I was convinced the silly name was holding the blog back from being taken to the next level. I wanted to do some advertising to help cover the cost of running it, as well as to have a name that would be familiar to the people in the gun rights community, and that would give a hint to newcomers exactly what the blog is about.
Opponents of the Second Amendment often contend that it was intended to protect state militia’s from federal interference, or to protect state militia members (today the National Guard) from being disarmed by the federal government. The idea that the right to keep and bear arms was never understood to be an individual guarantee is refuted by a contemporary guarantee found in the Pennsylvania Constitution:
The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.
This is unambiguously an individual guarantee, and has changed little since the late 18th century, despite numerous revisions to the Pennsylvania Constitution. This is the title we have chosen for continuing our blog, and taking it into what hopefully will be another successful five years. Please stick around. I sincerely hope you enjoy what you read, become better informed about the topic, and get more involved in an issue that is so very important to so many Pennsylvanians and Americans.