Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota made some troubling remarks this Labor Day. At a picnic in Duluth, he told law-abiding gun owners that they don’t need to bring their firearms to church. He said this after a tragic shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis where two children were killed and 18 others hurt. The loss of life is heartbreaking, and no one disagrees that something must be done to make our communities safer. But blaming guns—and by extension, blaming gun owners—is not the answer.

Let’s be clear: the problem is not the gun. The problem is the person who pulls the trigger. Good people with guns are not the threat. In fact, they’re often the only thing standing between evil and innocent lives. Governor Walz is attacking the wrong group. Instead of going after criminals, he’s going after everyday Americans who follow the law, who train responsibly, and who carry firearms to protect themselves and their families.

The governor said people are trying to blame “everything” else instead of “addressing the issue.” But he’s the one refusing to look at the real cause. We need to ask why a criminal was able to get a gun in the first place. We need to ask why churches, schools, and other public places are still soft targets. We need to ask why so many people today are broken inside, turning to violence instead of getting help.

The truth is, evil exists in this world. And no law, no speech, no feel-good policy is going to stop all of it. What will stop it is a good person, prepared and armed, ready to defend life. That’s the truth our Founding Fathers understood when they wrote the Second Amendment. The right to bear arms isn’t just about hunting or sport shooting. It’s about self-defense. It’s about protecting your family, your home, and yes, even your church.

Governor Walz says we don’t need guns in churches. Tell that to the worshippers in Texas in 2019, when a gunman opened fire in a church and was stopped in seconds by a concealed carry holder. Lives were saved that day because a brave man was armed and ready. That’s not a fluke. That’s what happens when the Second Amendment is respected and people are allowed to defend themselves.

But the Left doesn’t want to talk about that. They want to disarm you. They want to make sure only the government and the criminals have guns. And when tragedy strikes, they use it as an excuse to push more gun control, even if it wouldn’t have stopped the crime in the first place.

When Walz says guns “aren’t needed in places of worship,” he’s not just making a suggestion. He’s laying the groundwork to ban them. First it’s churches. Then it’s schools. Then it’s everywhere. Pretty soon, your right to carry will only exist on paper. That’s not what our founders intended. That’s not freedom.

We as Americans must stand firm. We must speak out when politicians try to chip away at our rights. And we must remember that the Second Amendment is not up for debate. It is a God-given right, secured by the Constitution, and defended by patriots for generations.

Shame on Governor Walz for using a tragedy to push a political agenda. Instead of uniting people in mourning and finding real solutions, he’s using fear to divide us and weaken our freedoms.

Now more than ever, we must hold the line. We must protect the rights that make America free. And we must never forget: the answer to evil is not less freedom—it’s more courage, more responsibility, and more armed citizens ready to defend what is right.