We were raised at the OK Corral
Yosemite Sam, the Kid and Wild Bill
The figures that fired our imagination
Original founders of the gunpowder nation

We dynamited the political scribes
On the sacred rock of the original tribes
Hammered a plan to connect to the east
And built it on the broken backs of the Chinese

So if you wanna know why we're under the gun
It's how we were raised and it's where we come from
You might take a bullet for a better plan
But you can't take the gun from the American

The beginning of the forever hurt
Stealing black people to suffer our work
If I hear you say again, "That was so long ago
It's got nothing to do with the cops in Chicago."

Then you turn on your TV and you suck up Fox News
You hate all the Muslims but you're cool with the Jews
Until you sicken with the fervor of your stereotypes
Well here comes your party, cause the picking is ripe

And if you wanna know why we're under the gun
It's how we were raised and it's where we come from
You might take a bullet for a better plan
But you can't take the gun from the American

Slippery slope is how the party line goes
Background check, there go the dominoes
While you're holed up with your 47's
This isn't that century, it's not the British coming

Here's some advice and you might wanna try it
If you live by it, you die by it
You think those weapon makers love your liberty?
They're collecting the cash while they're watching you bleed

If you wanna know why we're under the gun
It's how we were raised and it's where we come from
And you might take a bullet for a better plan
But you can't take the gun from the American

If you wanna know why we're under the gun
It's how we were raised and it's where we come from
You might take a bullet for a better plan
But you can't take the gun from the American
The American's hand