The "palladium of liberty"
During recent hearings dealing with criminal violence, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas points to the importance of the 2nd Amendment in safeguarding liberty. We see from experience that liberty, and/or security, does not exist for citizens when an inalienable right is forcibly stripped away by the government. He uses the examples of Washington, D.C. and Chicago, IL to illustrate the increased vulnerability of citizens, as evidenced by crime rates, when they are stripped of their right to bear arms. In comparison, most jurisdictions that support the citizen's right to bear arms have shown a reduction in violent crime.