The following was contributed by African Students For Liberty Executive Board Chair Emeka Ezeugo

“A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government” – George Washington

 Recently, I have been engaged in discussions with a lot of people on gun ownership in Africa, in respect to one of the basic human rights – right to life, liberty and security. Unfortunately, this right has been taken away from us by the barrel of a gun, with which the state holds its citizens captive, in Africa. From the East to the West, North and South of the continent, conflicts have been recorded and are still a cause for concern in recent times. These are mostly armed conflicts and if they are not state-sponsored, they are carried out by people who have acquired weapons “illegally”.

The Nigerian government is in a fierce battle with Boko Haram insurgents in West Africa, while Al-shabab fighters keep terrorizing countries in the Horn of Africa. With a population of 173 million and counting, Human Rights Watch reported in July that over 2000 lives were lost to the Boko Haram menace in Nigeria. The numbers have continued to rise with over 1.5 million people displaced from their homes. Authorities in neighboring Chad have cried out that they can no longer harbor refugees from Nigeria, if the international community does not come to their aid.

In the wake of all these, reports that local vigilantes were taking on Boko Haram insurgents became widely circulated in both local and international media. At this time, The Nigerian Army (formerly regarded as the best in West Africa with several peace-keeping achievements), was losing to insurgents on their own turf, and had to enlist the help of these vigilantes who are assigned to troops, more or less armed with locally made weapons inferior to what their new-found allies and sworn enemies possess. Sadly, on the 18th of December 2014, Boko Haram invaded another town in Borno State, killed about 33 men and kidnapped another set of girls and women with their numbers put at about 185.

While some people think it is not a good idea for citizens to bear arms in Africa, I believe it is important. We will continue to be “a nation of victims”, according to Senator Leyonhjelm of Australia, if we do not put in place laws that will ensure that every citizen has the right to life and to protect himself. Picture these insurgents driving into a village and they are greeted with equal or superior fire-power; surely they will think twice before they go attacking civilians. Army posts are usually far from these remote villages and therefore troops from the Nigerian Army get there after the atrocities have been committed. If the quarry workers killed in Kenya were allowed their right to bear arms, they would have probably defended their right to life, liberty and security, saving mothers and loved ones from grief and untold hardship.

I remember growing up in a neighborhood where most houses were never robbed because the owners were armed, and would always fire warning shots when there were robberies going on within the neighbourhood. Cases have been reported of some members of the police force renting out guns for armed robbery, or even being directly involved in the operations. Nigerians are very afraid of meeting a police checkpoint in the dead of the night and at an isolated place, because there is a possibility that they would be robbed. A Kenyan police officer recently shared on social media that he was in the “mood of killing someone”, and in other parts of the continent we hear of extra-judicial killings by law enforcement agents. All because the state has brainwashed citizens not to trust themselves, but look up to the state for everything, including security. A young man argued that Nigerian youths are stupid and cannot be trusted with guns…I wished him good luck in his stupidity, and excused myself from such ‘stupid’ youth.

While we do not wish to be in some situations, we should all be able to protect ourselves and the ones we love from people with evil intentions. And because such people exist, does not mean that everyone is evil, and cannot be trusted with guns. Besides, there is no African house without a machete, and yet we have not killed ourselves into extinction. African nations need to do the right thing and once again recognize the right to bear arms. And if you do not want to own a gun, do not stand in the way of anyone who wants to: he may save your life one day.