The Right To List Enemies (Editorial to Lexington Herald)

The Lexington Herald ^ | 10/17/2003 | Dennis Fishel

[YoungKentuckyConservative]

Dear Leonard:

I can well imagine that mine will not be the only response you get from gun owners regarding your piece today, and I also understand that attitudes as vociferously put forth as yours was are virtually impossible to change. Too bad; I'm going to say my piece anyway.

You have a perfect right to hate guns...and I'll shoot the first person who tries to take that right away from you. What you DON'T have a right to do...at least a moral right...is spread falsehood to make your case - and yes, I know falsehood is spread like butter everyday in virtually all quarters. That doesn't make it right.

The right to keep and bear arms is not, repeat "not", fiction, whether you believe it or not. There is nothing confusing or convoluted about the phrase, "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." That is simple English, written that way on purpose so the dumbest among us would understand that the right was his as well as a Harvard lawyer's. That should make one wonder about the intellect of those on our courts and in "Departments of Justice previous to the current one" in which you place so much faith (keep in mind that the Supreme Court found it perfectly legal for a white man to own a black man in the Dred Scott decision of 1857 before you willingly attach too much faith to these folks).

I frankly find it more disturbing that we have men and women sitting on the bench who don't understand this simple phrase than I do that there are armed people running loose in this land who shouldn't possess guns - primarily because I'm probably a better shot than they are. Oh, and don't come back at me with that nonsense about "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state..." clause of the Second Amendment meaning the National Guard. The Second Amendment was ratified on December 15, 1787; the National Guard came into existence in 1903. As is plainly evident with a little study of history (and a short read of Federalist 33), the intent of the authors WAS to arm the citizens, not to quell invasion, but to overtake a government gone bad if such a situation should require it.

But I've got another peave with you regarding history. You complain about the NRA keeping an enemies list and liken them to Nixon. Nixon was thirty years ago. What was wrong with using the Clintons as an example? They got caught with a thousand FBI files on their "enemies list" favorites, and they are recent history. Why do you, and others of your ilk, continue to give those miscreants a break if you're so all-fired concerned about "shifty-eyed, hunker in the bunker" types? The NRA is a club. The Clintons were your government, for crying out loud, and by all accounts a great deal more dangerous that Nixon ever thought of being...and certainly a great deal more dangerous to your cushy way of life than a club of private citizens who like shooting sports.

But then, what should I expect, eh? If you can't understand simple English, there's little hope you'll ever grasp the difference between your elbow and your...well, you get the idea. Suffice to say that when the enemy is at the gate and you discover, much to your shame and chagrin, that you've been on the wrong side all this time, the NRA and the gun owners it represents will still stand between tyranny and you. But don't dwell on forlorn hope

Thanks to editorial efforts like yours and the efforts of all those Justice and Supreme Court people you put so much trust in, we will be grossly outgunned. That means we won't stand much of a chance of winning and maintaining the freedoms that were won by our predecessors, and the guilt for that will belong to you and others like you.

So when all the weapons are rounded up from those of us who weren't killed in the fracas and there's nothing left to prevent all the wrong people from taking power, and some other nut case decides it's time to revisit that old "master race" thing, I guess maybe you can do something toward your own salvation that liberals normally don't like doing...

...You can pray.

Dennis E. Fishel
Alexandria, Kentucky

[YoungKentuckyConservative]

Another editorial wrapped up in fine fashion!

[dansangel]

Excellent comeback for what I am sure was a left-leaning, propaganda-infested article.

[Slings and Arrows]

Could you give a link to the column you are replying to, please?

[thegreatbeast]

Beautiful.

[Joe Brower]

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

"Could you give a link to the column you are replying to, please?"

Better yet, could you give a link to where the paper printed your reply. I tried the link given, it went to the site, but found nothing there related to your said reply.

Not being a pee on your parade type, but all to often some write glorious letters to the editor, that give the appearance of, but were never published.