What are your rights worth to you? What do you do every single day in order to guarantee and protect your rights? Do you sit there and complain every time Congress or the state legislature passes yet another law infringing on your rights?

Too many of us do exactly that. We read the newspaper, watch the television, and learn about some law that was passed that notches another chunk out of our rights as American and Colorado citizens. We gripe about it, we talk to our friends, and then we go about our business, forgetting entirely about what upset us just a few hours ago.

Since we don't put up a fight, our elected officials think to themselves, Well, that went over well. What else can we do to fix a problem? Then, they pass more restrictive laws, and the cycle continues: Learn, gripe, talk, do nothing.

Keeping up with both Congress and the legislature is a daunting proposition. Most of us have better things to do and we have lives to live. We have to somehow work, pay bills, do family functions and find time to have some semblance of a social life. The last thing most of us want to do after a hard day at the office is to start venting and pressuring our elected officials to stop trampling on our rights.

What are your rights worth to you? What do you do to protect them?

The Second Amendment is the cement that holds the entire Bill of Rights in place. Article II Section 16 of the Colorado Constitution does the same for us locally. Without them, all of our other rights fall by the wayside. Once the politicians pass legislation negating your right to keep and bear arms, there is nothing that would prevent those same politicians from determining what other rights are inconvenient or "dangerous" and pass legislation to eliminate or curtail those rights.

Even if you don't own a gun, it should disturb you that legislators go out of their way to trample on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. Gun ownership may not be for you, but what happens when the government restricts your right to protest? What happens when you can no longer worship as you please, or you're forced to swear allegiance to a deity you don't believe in? Take away one right and they're all up for grabs.

What are your rights worth to you? What do you do to protect them?

If you're like me, you don't have the time, energy, effort, knowledge, contacts, and most importantly, money, to constantly track, review, sue, defend and lobby our lawmakers. But, there are people who do. These people will fight on our behalf so that we can go along on our day-to-day business. Who are these people?

They're gun-rights advocates. There are plenty of good, decent groups out there. Some of the bigger and well-respected ones are the National Rifle Association (NRA), Gun Owners of America (GOA), Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), the Firearms Coalition, and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO). Annual memberships in any of these groups runs between $15 and $35 - and the benefits are tremendous. There are other groups out there that also do a fine job. Visit their websites, read their mission statements and see what they've accomplished. Find one that best suits your needs and buy yourself a membership in one of them.

For the price of less than $3 per month, you can help fund the fight to preserve your rights. You can do more than learn, gripe, talk and can actually do something. You can rest assure that these groups will keep you in the know, that they'll lobby on your behalf, that they'll sue if necessary to fight bad laws. It is a small step, but you'll do something to protect your rights.

What are your rights worth to you?

For more information:
National Rifle Association http://www.nra.org
Gun Owners of America http://www.gunowners.org
Second Amendment Foundation http://www.saf.org
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership http://www.jpfo.org
Firearms Coalition http://www.nealknox.com
Armed Females of America http://www.armedfemalesofamerica.org
Liberty Belles http://www.libertybelles.org
Citizen's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms http://www.ccrkba.org