'Neil and I are supporters of the real Second Amendment, not the imaginary Second Amendment....And this idea that the Second Amendment was put in there in order to allow citizens to fight their government is insane....'
- United States Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), 39.5 years-old
THE ONE, ONLY AND REAL SECOND AMENDMENT:
Now, let's look at the argument that you and Senators Leahy, Feinstein and Durbin made that rights are not absolute. First, no one has argued that the Second Amendment stands for the proposition that people can have any type of arm on the planet. "Bear arms" had a specific meaning in English common law before the founding of the United States and the drafting/ratification of the Bill of Rights, namely, it referred to a firearm that could be carried easily by one individual. So, no one, except those lacking historical knowledge of the term and the reasons the Second Amendment was drafted, would conceivably argue, however implausibly, that private citizens or organisations have an unqualified right to own tanks, cannons, biological weapons, or nuclear weapons. We recognise that, like the First Amendment (human sacrifice, snuff films, incitement to riot, defamation, obscene materials, threats, etc), the Second Amendment can reasonably be read not to confer the "right to bear" an armed drone or weaponised botulinum toxin.
Secondly,
although the Second Amendment may seem to be the one amendment that
specifically envisions some sort of regulation on its face, it is
actually the opposite.
While common law has long maintained the position that "punctuation is no part of statute," Hammock v. Farmers Loan & Trust Co, 105 U.S. 77, (1881), citing references from the late 18th and early 19th century), it does help us in two ways: 1) It helps divine intent; and 2) it shows how those with agendas are willing to even change the actual punctuation of the Constitution to further their agenda. It is important to pay attention to punctuation because the version that was ratified wis not actually the version frequently quoted today.
The Second Amendment, as oft-stated today:
'A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'
This formulation makes it appear that only those people in a "well-regulated" Militia (you'll also notice that milita is capitalised meaning that it must be a state-sponsored "Militia" like the National Guard) have the right to keep and bear arms - a right, which shall not be infringed. With regard to "the people," "shall not be infringed" almost becomes an afterthought in this version. But, about whom are we talking? Who would infringe upon the "right" of the people in the "Militia"?
Since it would be state-sponsored, that would have to be the Federal government. Yet, such an answer only raises another question. Why would the Framers have given the states a specific right in the Second when they intended that the states have all "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States...reserved...by the people"? Nowhere in the Bill of Rights are the states given specific rights. Indeed, states are given no rights in the first nine whatsoever. In the first nine amendments to the Constitution- even if we ignore the Second for the sake of argument - the rights recognised belong not to a government, but to citizens or people.
Apart from being grammatically incorrect, this version simply doesn't make any sense. Either people have a right, which shall not be infringed, or they do not.
According
to both the Library of Congress and the Government Printing Office, the
Second Amendment, as ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas
Jefferson, Secretary of State, only had one comma and reads as follows:
'A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'
'Well-regulated' modifies the word 'militia.' It doesn’t apply to arms. The 'right' of people to keep and bear arms 'shall not be infringed.'
The
Framers were giving a reason why people should have a right to bear
arms, i.e., the security of a free state relied on a 'well-regulated
militia.' If they had wanted to do so – and, perhaps, they should have –
they could have easily have dropped the modifying clause 'a
well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state.'
Now, I do understand why the states or even corporate (not necessarily
in the way that the word is defined today) entities may have wanted a
defined right to bear arms and have a well-regulated - meaning
well-equipped, well-disciplined, well-organised - militia considering
the recent history at the time of the Second Amendment's drafting. So,
the incorporation of the 'well-regulated militia' clause in the
amendment certainly has a solid legal and historical basis, but it has
no bearing on the right of people, as individuals, to bear arms. The
Tenth Amendment could certainly have protected the states' rights to
have 'well-regulated militias' and the Second
Amendment would have still protected the rights of "corporate entities"
to bear arms, along with the assemblage protection of the First.
Nevertheless, the intent of the Founders was clear, if one reads the
Federalist Papers, the Anti-Federalist Papers, and the correspondence
and other writings of the Framers. They intended for a free people's
natural right to bear arms to not be infringed upon by government.
The Heller decision said that 'dangerous and unusual weapons which are not in the common usage' can be regulated or banned by the government. It said that there was an individual right to bear arms; the Second Amendment 'extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding,' (p 8); the handgun bans 'amounted to a prohibition of an ENTIRE CLASS OF ‘ARMS’ that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society for that lawful purpose.'
The Heller decision said that 'dangerous and unusual weapons which are not in the common usage' can be regulated or banned by the government. It said that there was an individual right to bear arms; the Second Amendment 'extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding,' (p 8); the handgun bans 'amounted to a prohibition of an ENTIRE CLASS OF ‘ARMS’ that is overwhelmingly chosen by American society for that lawful purpose.'
Thus it ruled invalid the District’s requirement 'that firearms in the
home be rendered and kept inoperable at all times,' noting that doing so 'makes it impossible for citizens to use them for the core lawful
purpose of self-defense and is hence unconstitutional.' (The holding in Heller was applied to the states in McDonald v City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 3025 (2010).)
DANGEROUS:
The AR-15 is the #1 rifle sold in the United States. It is no more dangerous than handguns. In fact, it kills FAR less. In 2011, 72.5% of all gun-related homicides were committed using handguns. In 2011, 3.8% (323) of ALL gun-related homicides in 2011 committed with rifles of ALL KINDS, INCLUDING 'ASSAULT RIFLES' LIKE AR-15s.
UNUSUAL:
There is NOTHING unusual about AR-15-style rifles…unless one is afraid of black, skeery, plastic thingies.
Don’t believe me? Then, look at the pictures of these two guns and ask yourself, 'Does one really look that much more ‘dangerous, unusual and uncommon’ than the other?
Not banned under the 1994 AWB
Banned under the 1994 AWB
Both are AR-15-pattern rifles that came off the same assembly line, fire the exact same ammunition, and use the same magazines....BUT the rifle on the bottom has a small bit of metal under the front sight to which a bayonet could attach and a small vented tube on the end of the barrel that redirects unburned gases.
UNCOMMON:
Really? AR-15s are uncommon? Since when?
In 2009, it was estimated that there were 3,261,725 of AR-15s – alone, not just AR-15-style – in the United States…and the homicide rate was 5.0.
In contrast, in 1994 when the original Assault Weapons Ban went into effect, there were approximately 1.5 million AR-15s in the United States and the homicide rate was 9.0.
Murphy, Feinstein, Scarborough, and Mitchell should really go back and read the Heller decision. Cruz knows it…since he was one of the attorneys that won it before the Supreme Court.
NOW, WHAT DID THE
FOUNDING FATHERS SAY:
'I ask, Sir, what is
the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most
effectual way to enslave them.'
- George Mason, co-author
of the Second Amendment during Virginia's
Convention to Ratify the Constitution, 1788
'A militia, when
properly formed, are in fact the people themselves …'
- Richard Henry Lee,
writing in Letters from the Federal
Farmer to the Republic, Letter XVIII, May, 1788.
'The
people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full
possession of them.'
- Zachariah Johnson,
Elliot's Debates, Vol. 3 ‘The Debates in
the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution.’
'… the people are confirmed by the next
article in their right to keep and bear their private arms'
- Philadelphia Federal
Gazette, 18 June 1789, Pg. 2, Col. 2 Article
on the Bill of Rights
‘And that the said
Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just
liberty of the Press, or the rights of Conscience; or to prevent the people
of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms;’
- Samuel Adams,
Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer, 20 August 1789, ‘Propositions submitted to the Convention of this State’
"Firearms stand
next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people's
liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims
landed to the present day, events, occurrences and tendencies prove that to
ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally
indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil
interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that's good.'
- George Washington,
First President of the United States
'To preserve liberty,
it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and
be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.'
- Richard Henry Lee,
American Statesman, 1788
'The great object is that
every man be armed' and 'Everyone who
is able may have a gun.'
- Patrick Henry, American
Patriot
'Are we at last brought
to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with
arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in
possession and under our direction and having them under the management of
Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose
hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our
own hands?'
- Patrick Henry, American
Patriot
'Those who hammer
their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do not.'
- Thomas Jefferson, Third
President of the United States
'The constitutions of
most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that … it
is their right and duty to be at all times armed;'
- Thomas Jefferson,
letter to Justice John Cartwright, 5 June 1824. ME 16:45
'The best we can help for
concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.'
- Alexander Hamilton, The
Federalist Papers at 184-8
‘A strong body makes the
mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives
moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence
to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too
violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore
be your constant companion of your walks.'
- Thomas Jefferson to
Peter Carr, 1785, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
'One loves to possess
arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.'
- Thomas Jefferson to
George Washington, 1796, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
'We established however
some, although not all its [self-government] important principles. The
constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in
the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which
they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive
and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, in all judiciary cases
in which any fact is involved,) or they may act by representatives, freely and
equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.'
- Thomas Jefferson to
John Cartwright, 1824
'No freeman shall ever
be debarred the use of arms.'
- Thomas Jefferson: Draft
Virginia Constitution, 1776
'The supposed
quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand arms, like
laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order
in the world as property. The same balance would be preserved were all the
world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not,
others dare not lay them aside … Horrid mischief would ensue were the
law-abiding deprived of the use of them.'
- Thomas Paine
Gun
control advocates always point to the word "militia" in the Second
Amendment as proof that the Founders would support gun control laws. That
contention is not supported by the historical documents. As the Founders continually acknowledged, A MILITIA IS THE WHOLE OF THE PEOPLE.
In fact, in the Second MILITIA Act of 1792, ALL
able-bodied, white men over the age of 18 were required to possess a gun.
On
18 June 1789, Pg 2, Col 2, the Philadelphia Federal Gazette reported:
'… the people are confirmed
by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms.'
William
Rawle, authored "A View of the Constitution of the United States of
America" in 1829. His work was adopted as a constitutional law
textbook at West Point and other institutions. In Chapter 10, he describes the
scope of the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms:
'THE PROHIBITION IS
GENERAL. NO CLAUSE IN THE CONSTITUTION COULD BY ANY RULE OF CONSTRUCTION
BE CONCEIVED TO GIVE CONGRESS A POWER TO DISARM THE PEOPLE. Such a
flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretence by a state
legislature. BUT IF ANY BLIND PURSUIT OF INORDINATE POWER, EITHER SHOULD
ATTEMPT IT, THIS AMENDMENT MAY BE APPEALED TO AS A RESTRAINT ON BOTH.'
Chief
Justice Story (appointed to the Supreme Court as an Associate Justice by James
Madison in 1811), wrote a constitutional commentary in 1833 ("Commentaries
on the Constitution of the United States"). Regarding the Second
Amendment, he wrote:
'The
next amendment is: "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the
security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall
not be infringed."
The
importance of this article will scarcely be doubted by any persons, who have
duly reflected upon the subject. The militia is the natural defence of a free
country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic
usurpations of power by rulers. It is against sound policy for a free people to
keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time of peace,
both from the enormous expenses, with which they are attended, and the facile
means, which they afford to ambitious and unprincipled rulers, to subvert the
government, or trample upon the rights of the people. The right of the citizens
to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the
liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the
usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are
successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.'
THE PURPOSE OF THE
MILITIA CLAUSE:
'Collective
rights theorists argue that addition of the subordinate clause qualifies the
rest of the amendment by placing a limitation on the people's right to bear arms.
However, if the amendment truly meant what collective rights advocates propose,
then the text would read "[a] well-regulated Militia, being necessary to
the security of a free State, the right of the States to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed." However, that is not what the framers of the
amendment drafted. THE PLAIN LANGUAGE OF THE
AMENDMENT, WITHOUT ATTENUATE INFERENCES THEREFROM, SHOWS THAT THE FUNCTION OF
THE SUBORDINATE CLAUSE WAS NOT TO QUALIFY THE RIGHT, BUT INSTEAD TO SHOW WHY IT
MUST BE PROTECTED. The right exists independent of the existence
of the militia. If this right were not protected, the existence of the militia,
and consequently the security of the state, would be jeopardized.' (U.S. v
Emerson, 46 F.Supp.2d 598 (N.D.Tex. 1999)).
THE FOUNDING FATHERS ON
MAINTAINING FREEDOM
'The greatest danger to
American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution.'
- Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States
'There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.'
- Noah Webster, American
Lexicographer
'The people never give up
their liberties but under some delusion.'
- Edmund Burke, British Statesman, 1784
'What country can
preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that
their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.'
- Thomas Jefferson, to
James Madison
'They that give up
essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty
nor safety.'
- Ben Franklin, American
Statesman
BECAUSE WE DIDN'T GET
ENOUGH JEFFERSON:
'My reading of history
convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'The tree of liberty must
be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'Do you want to
know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'When a man assumes a
public trust he should consider himself a public property.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'Nothing can stop the man
with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can
help the man with the wrong mental attitude.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'Whenever a man has cast
a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'I tremble for my country
when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'A strong body makes the
mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives
moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence
to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too
violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore
be your constant companion of your walks.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'Experience hath shewn,
that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have,
in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'Question with boldness
even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of
the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'Educate and inform the
whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the
preservation of our liberty.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'The
constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the
people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'To compel a man to
furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful
and tyrannical.'
- Thomas Jefferson
‘In matters of style,
swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organised and armed militia is their best security.'
'For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organised and armed militia is their best security.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'A coward is much more
exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'Timid men prefer the
calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'Every government
degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people
themselves are its only safe depositories.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'If a nation expects to
be ignorant and free, in a state of civilisation, it expects what never was and
never will be.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'None but an armed nation
can dispense with a standing army. To keep ours armed and disciplined is
therefore at all times important.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'The republican is the
only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the
rights of mankind.'
- Thomas Jefferson
The man who reads nothing
at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'As our
enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight
like men also.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'The
God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'It is
in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'The spirit of resistance
to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always
kept alive.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'It is neither wealth nor
splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.'
- Thomas
Jefferson
'Dependence begets
subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit
tools for the designs of ambition.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'The
natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain
ground.'
- Thomas
Jefferson
'When the people fear the
government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is
liberty.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'I have sworn upon the
altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of
man.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'Every citizen should be
a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of
every free state.'
- Thomas Jefferson
'One man with courage is
a majority.'
- Thomas Jefferson
LATER QUOTES ON GUN
RIGHTS:
'The ruling class doesn't
care about public safety. Having made it very difficult for States and
localities to police themselves, having left ordinary citizens with no choice
but to protect themselves as best they can, they now try to take our guns away.
In fact they blame us and our guns for crime. This is so wrong that it cannot
be an honest mistake.'
- Senator Malcolm Wallop, former U.S. Senator (R-WY)
'Gun bans don’t disarm
criminals, gun bans attract them.'
- Senator Walter Mondale
, one-time Democratic nominee for President and the U.S. Ambassador to Japan,
20 April 1994
'Certainly one of the
chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and
respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. … The right of
citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one
more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America but
which historically has proven to be possible.'
- Vice-President Hubert H
Humphrey, two-term Democratic Senator and one-time Democratic nominee for
President, 1960
'I sympathize with people
who want to ban guns, but I can’t agree with them. We have to be careful in our
zeal to abolish guns that we don’t wind up with counter-productive legislation
that will leave armed only the people most likely to do harm with them.'
- Hugh Downs, veteran ABC newsman
'Prohibiting law-abiding
people from owning guns because they might be stolen by criminals is like
prohibiting women from going out at night because they might be raped.'
– Unknown
'If the Government
doesn’t trust us with our guns, why should we trust them with theirs?'
– Unknown
'Firearms have been
around for over 400 years, yet it is only in the last 20 years that people have
begun shouting “gun control”. Why then, only recently, has this become such an
issue? Moreover, why are there more mass-murderers than at any other time in
our known history? It is not because weapons are more powerful —
200-year-old muzzleloaders have a much greater force-per-round than today’s
'assault rifles.' It is not because weapons are semi- or
fully-automatic — rapid-fire weapons have been available for most of the last
century. It is not due to a lack of laws — we have more 'gun control'
laws than ever. It IS, however, because we have chosen to focus on “gun
control” instead of crime control or “thug control.” It IS because only
recently has the public become complacent enough to accept, by inaction, the
violence present in our society.'
- Kevin Langston, 29 October 1991
'These Sarah Brady types
must be educated to understand that because we have an armed citizenry, a
dictatorship has not happened in America. These anti-gun fools are more
dangerous to liberty than street criminals or foreign spies.'
- Theodore Haas, Dachau
Survivor
'How a politician stands
on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual… as
a trustworthy and productive citizen or as part of an unruly crowd that needs
to be lorded over, controlled, supervised, and taken care of.'
- Dr Suzanna Gratia Hupp,
who lost both parents in the 1991 Luby’s cafeteria massacre
'We must reject the idea
that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker.
It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable
for his actions.'
– Ronald Reagan
'To ban guns because
criminals use them is to tell the innocent and law-abiding that their rights
and liberties depend not on their own conduct, but on the conduct of the guilty
and the lawless, and that the law will permit them to have only such rights and
liberties as the lawless will allow. ... For society does not control crime,
ever, by forcing the law-abiding to accommodate themselves to the expected
behavior of criminals. Society controls crime by forcing the criminals to
accommodate themselves to the expected behavior of the law-abiding.'
– Jeff Snyder, author
'If you will not fight
for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight
when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment
when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small
chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when
there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as
slaves.'
- Winston Churchill
'An armed man is a citizen.
A disarmed man is a subject.'
- Anonymous
'As a long-time gun
owner, I believe the right to keep and bear arms should not be dependent on the
city in which you live. The provisions of the U.S. Constitution apply to all
Americans, regardless of geography......As a gun owner, I am a strong supporter
of the Second Amendment. In February, I was proud to sign the Amicus Brief in
District of Columbia v. Heller asking the Supreme Court to uphold the lower
court ruling that overturned the long standing DC gun ban. We have a long
tradition of gun ownership in the United States. … It is a tradition which
every law-abiding citizen should be able to enjoy.'
- Congresswoman Gabrielle
Giffords
'Government cannot mandate morality or instill hope in troubled individuals...Internal self-governance, by contrast, is a much more powerful regulator of human behavior than any law. This self-governance must be developed from birth, first by parents but later also through the positive influence of relatives and adult role models. Beyond childhood, character development can occur through religious, civic, and social institutions.'
- Ron Paul
'If somebody wants to
kill people, they don’t need a gun to do it...you can strap explosives on your
body. They do that all the time. As a nation we were built on guns, but that
right is, Not to hunt. It’s to protect yourself from the police.'
- Ice-T, Rapper
- Ice-T, Rapper
‘Certainly one of the
chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and
respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.
This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used and that
definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But
the right of citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary
government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in
America but which historically has proven to be possible.'
- Senator Hubert H Humphrey
'Like the millions of law
abiding gun owners in America, I am a peace loving person. I OWN FIREARMS SO
THAT I CAN DEFEND MYSELF AND MY FAMILY, SHOULD THAT NEED ARISE. While I
sincerely hope that I am never in the position of having to fire a gun in self defense,
I rest easier at night knowing that I could stop an armed robber, racist
attacker, terrorist, or home invader if the need arose. I also rest easier
knowing that my wife could stop a rapist or murderer, rather than becoming a
victim. THE SIMPLE FACT IS THAT GUN CONTROL LAWS DON’T STOP CRIMINALS FROM
GETTING GUNS, AND INSTEAD ONLY DISARM THE LAW ABIDING CITIZENS, MAKING THEM
EASIER TARGETS FOR THE CRIMINALS. Nor is it justifiable to deprive law abiding
citizens of their constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self defense,
just because criminals misuse guns, just as criminals misuse other
tools...GIVEN THOSE FACTS, I WOULD ENCOURAGE MY FELLOW LAW ABIDING CITIZENS WHO
DO NOT YET OWN A GUN TO DO THE FOLLOWING: GO SHOOTING FOR THE FIRST TIME, CHOOSE
THE PROPER GUN FOR SELF DEFENSE, PURCHASE THAT GUN, STORE THE GUN IN A
RESPONSIBLE MANNER, AND BECOME PROFICIENT AT SAFELY USING THAT GUN. NEXT, JOIN
THE NRA TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO HAVE A GUN FOR SELF DEFENSE. DOING SO MAY SAVE
YOUR LIFE ONE DAY, AND CAN ALSO BENEFIT SOCIETY AS A WHOLE.'
- Otis McDonald, former
sharecropper, veteran, retired maintenance engineer, patriot, plaintiff in the
landmark case Chicago v McDonald...and an African-American
'Cities with the largest gun crime problems are New York City, Chicago and Washington DC all have one thing in common- the strictest gun laws. This is not a gun issue, it’s a mental health issue.'
- Pinal County Sheriff
Paul Babeu
PRO-GUN CONTROL:
'Banning guns is an idea
whose time has come.'
- Senator Joseph Biden, Associated Press, 18 November 1993
'I think he just made an
admission against self-interest. I don’t know that he is mentally qualified to
own that gun (because the questioner – an American citizen referred to his
once-banned gun as his “baby”). I’m being serious. Look, we should be working
with law enforcement, right now, to make sure that we protect people against
people who don’t — are not capable of knowing what to do with a gun because
they’re either mentally imbalanced and/or because they have a criminal record,
and…I hope he doesn’t come looking for me.'
- Senator
Joe Biden, Democratic Presidential debate, July 2007
'Our main agenda is to
have all guns banned. We must use whatever means possible. It doesn't matter if
you have to distort the facts or even lie. Our task of creating a socialist
America can only succeed when those who would resist us have been totally
disarmed.'
- Sara Brady, Chairman,
Handgun Control Inc, to Senator Howard Metzenbaum, The National Educator,
January 1994, Page 3
'Confiscation could be an
option…mandatory sale to the state could be an option.'
- Governor Andrew Cuomo
of New York
'We want everything on
the table. This is a moment of opportunity… Background checks. We’re not going
to be able to win that (restricting handguns). Not now. Background checks
I think are going to… address any kind of weapon. We’re going to push as
hard as we can as far as we can. So, the Assault Weapons Ban is just the
beginning? Oh, absolutely. I’m against handguns…. so, absolutely.'
- Congresswoman Jan
Schakowsky
'If I could have banned
them all – ‘Mr. and Mrs. America turn in your guns’ – I would have!'
- Senator Dianne
Feinstein
'We want to have as
part of the anti-gun initiative bill an informational campaign to really change
the hearts and minds of people in Washington, DC., and in particular our young
people. They are saturated in the media and in entertainment or by the
entertainment industry with violence and I think that too many of our young
people, particularly our young men, are fascinated with violence and, in
particular, fascinated with guns.
What we need to do is
change the way in which people think about guns, especially young people, and
make it something that’s not cool, that it’s not acceptable, it’s not hip to
carry a gun anymore, in the way in which we’ve changed our attitudes about
cigarettes. When I was growing up, people smoked all of the time --
both my parents did -- but over time, we changed the way people thought about
smoking and now we have people, who cower outside of buildings, smoke in
private and don't want to admit it. Um, and that's what I think that we need
to with guns...really change the way people think about guns.
Now, this is not
something that's going to be very easy to do because we are fighting something,
quite frankly, that appears every day on the television, on the radio, in our
popular music, in movies that these kids are exposed to. It will be an
effort that will entail this that I am not familiar with. I think that I
am a pretty good lawyer, but I, we need to get innovative, creative things that
are going to grab the attention of these kids and really change the way, as I
said, that they think about guns. So, what I've asked is that the
creative communities in Washington, the ad agencies that create these snappy
ads that make me buy things that I don't really need to devote that talent in a
more constructive way so that we can get at the minds of these young people.
In this informational
campaign, I've also called upon newspapers and the television stations to
devote to us time and space so that we can get these ads and so that we can use
these spots and not to give us 1, 2 o'clock in the morning when no one is
watching, but to give us time when people, particularly young people, are
watching television so that when they are watching The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
or Martin or whatever else they watch...and, yeah, I watch them every once in a
while...so that they will see these ads and be grabbed by these ads.
I've also asked people,
who have influence over youngsters, entertainers, athletes, to be involved in this
programme, as well, nut not only them, community leaders, Jesse Jackson, Mayor
Marion Barry, people with credibility with young people should be on the
television, on the radio, and telling these youngsters that it is wrong to
carry a gun and that if you have information about people who are carrying guns
that you need to share that with Chief Thomas and his people, as well.
I've also asked the
school board to make a anti-gun message a part of every day some kind of
anti-violence, anti-gun message. Every day, every school, and every
level. One thing that I think is clear with young people, and
with adults as well, is that we have to be repetitive about this. It is
not enough to simply have a catchy ad on a Monday and then only do it every Monday.
We need to do it every day of the week and brainwash people into thinking about
guns in a vastly different way.
We also want to have a
hotline that we will set up and have the number of that hotline emblazoned in
their minds so that when they see a gun or become familiar with the facts of a
gun crime, they would call that hotline and pass that information on.’
- Eric Holder, Women's
National Democratic Club, 1995
At
a fundraiser in San Francisco, President Barack Obama said that the Newtown
killer gunned down 20 children using a "fully automatic weapon." From
the official transcript, provided by the White House:
Now, over the next couple
of months, we’ve got a couple of issues: gun control. (Applause.)
I just came from Denver, where the issue of gun violence is something
that has haunted families for way too long, and it is possible for us to create
common-sense gun safety measures that respect the traditions of gun ownership
in this country and hunters and sportsmen, but also make sure that we don’t
have another 20 children in a classroom gunned down by a semiautomatic weapon
-- by a fully automatic weapon in that case, sadly.
According to the prosecutor, Stephen J. Sedensky III, the killer, Adam Lanza, "killed all 26 victims inside Sandy Hook Elementary School with a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle before taking his own life with a Glock 10 mm handgun.
He says Lanza had another loaded handgun with him inside the school as well as three, 30-round magazines for the Bushmaster," ABC previously reported.
Each of the guns used is a semi-automatic weapon, and not one is an automatic weapon.'
Once again, I have to ask:
Who wants to ratify my proposed 28th Amendment, also to be known as ‘The ‘So Stupid It Makes My Hair Hurt’ Amendment’?
No member of the Federal
government may opine or draft legislation on a subject on which s/he cannot
pass a basic competency test on the fundamentals of the issues involved
provided by the Congressional Research Service, Government Accountability
Office and independent organisations. To the extent that this amendment
conflicts with the First Amendment, this article shall control.
Did
you know that collapsible stocks make guns 'fully-automatic'? According to
DiFi, they do…
‘These are weapons that
are made to kill large numbers of people in close combat, and what we have
found that now with the AR 15, they have a slide stock which you put in.
It’s legal, and it makes the gun act fully automatic.’
- Senator Dianne Feinstein, Face the Nation, 27 January 2013
A 6th grader knows better.
'I will tell you these
are ammunition, they’re bullets, so the people who have those now, they’re
going to shoot them. So if you ban them in the future, the number of
these high-capacity magazines is going to decrease dramatically over time,
because the bullets will have been shot and there won’t be any more available.'
- Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO), lead sponsor of legislation banning high-capacity magazines
http://tinyurl.com/nyrjccz
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