Posted on 02/16/2004 4:14:47 AM PST by TERMINATTOR
They are working behind the scenes to make sure you are defenseless, so that when they attack, they will be assured of success. Driven by hate, they seek to render you harmless to them, so that they may inflict maximum harm to you.
Sounds like typical Islamic terrorists, doesn’t it. But I am not talking about them; they are small potatoes compared to what is being proposed by some Democratic senators, led by Ted (Chappaquiddick) Kennedy and Frank (No Guns for You) Lautenberg. The terrorists are honest. They hate you and aren’t afraid to show it. They despise our way of life and live only to see it destroyed. The aforementioned U.S. senators claim to care about your security and well-being. They mouth feel-good slogans to disarm you mentally and emotionally, so that they can disarm you in fact.
In any case, both groups work for the same end.
The Bias Against Freedom
In his latest book, ''The Bias Against Guns,'' John Lott makes an excellent case that big media is mounting a deliberate campaign to mislead and reeducate the public regarding the value of gun ownership. The media does this by reporting only criminal use of firearms, while remaining silent on defensive uses. This Hitler-like mission to demean and marginalize millions of American citizens is ideologically driven for one goal: complete civilian disarmament.
Mr. Lott also included new information pertaining to post 9/11 issues, including numerous references to incidents where civilians with concealed firearms stopped terrorist attacks in Israel. In Chapter 6, he discusses the relationship between Concealed Carry and the reduction of mass murder. Multiple murders are more similar to terrorist attacks than any other form of civil violence in the U.S. at this time.
The book concludes that there is a huge reduction in multiple murder crimes in states with Concealed Carry laws. Even though over 35 states now have CCW laws, the vast majority of these crimes occur in the remaining non-issue states. CCW creates a protection effect that benefits even those who do not carry, and thus saves lives.
Senators Lautenberg and Kennedy are proposing S. 969, the Homeland Security Gun Safety Act of 2003. This bill would effectively suspend your ability to purchase any gun if the ''Homeland Security Advisory System is elevated, high, or severe.'' This ban would remain in effect until ''the threat condition has been at the lowest level for 180 consecutive days.'' They do this because they believe this would limit domestic terrorists’ access to firearms.
So let’s suspend reality for a minute and not ask the obvious question: ''Why would terrorists want to shop for legally available guns here, the most powerful being a semiautomatic, when they can purchase all the machine guns, missiles, and plastic explosives they want in the Middle East arms bazaars?''
The core issue here is that if the government can come up with some excuse to ban firearms sales, it has then created a new de facto standard that civilian firearms are illegal. This makes it far easier to justify a complete ban and confiscation in the future.
Where were the military assets of this country deployed in the unsettled time after 9/11? Around and inside government infrastructure: buildings, bridges, refineries, etc. Were they patrolling your neighborhood? Do you think that your home is a priority to a government in survival mode during a threat to its infrastructure? That leaves you to protect your home and family. Whoops! You’ve been disarmed for your own safety. Well, we’ll write up a special statistic to commemorate your sacrifice for the good of the state during the emergency.
How do real Americans––the ones that are ignored by Washington insiders lusting after power––deal with the threat to their home, land, and security?
Jackson Arms After 9/11
I talked with Brian Normandy, manager at Jackson Arms Shooting Range in South San Francisco. The days after 9/11 were ''crazy.'' They shut down that day out of respect for those who had died, although they still answered calls to notify the public of the closure. People started calling first thing on 9/12, and the phones ''rang off hook before opening.'' The whole afternoon was spent working with customers wanting firearms. The first two months after 9/11 saw a 300% spike in sales of guns and ammunition, with the first six months remaining way above average.
Training class attendance also tripled, with people wanting to know how to use their new self-defense tools. Overall numbers for shooting practice and classes has risen and remained higher ever since. Students consist of ''tons of women, and all colors, ages, and walks of life.'' This reflects what I saw at a recent gun show. I am amazed at how gun rights is the most democratizing force I have ever experienced.
This paints a picture of reasonable people responding to a threat that had already occurred elsewhere on American soil, who took steps to learn how to be responsible for their choice of self-defense.
Martial Arts and Guns Do Mix
Bill Grossman owns a Kenpo Karate school in South San Francisco that carries his name. He has been teaching since 1978.
Before 9/11, most students were interested in tournaments and basic self-defense skills, with only 30% being adults. Since 9/11, classes are 50% adults, and special courses involving anti-terror skills are popular. People want to know how to act in the event of a terrorist attack. He teaches people what to do in various environments such as airplanes, or office buildings. He also teaches skills for avoiding kidnapping and how to defend against multiple attackers.
Included in the training is how to defend against a gun, how to take it away from one attacker and how to use it against others in a multiple attack. He takes students to Jackson Arms to learn basic shooting skills, so that they have all the necessary self-defense tools.
Bill and Brian paint a picture of the average American that is in complete contrast to the paranoid Washington attitude that Americans are too lazy and stupid to defend themselves, and that they are a danger to society when armed. Real people take homeland security seriously and are preparing themselves for possible future terrorist attacks.
While talking to both of them, another issue became clear: in the event of a terrorist attack, there will not be enough police on the street to cope. Bill and I discussed a tactical scenario that highlighted how easy it would be to take over San Francisco with a small group of terrorists.
This highlights another reason for Concealed Carry by law-abiding citizens. Terrorists know who the police are. Most cops wear uniforms, making them easy targets. Terrorists do not know which private citizens are carrying, which is the practical benefit of Concealed Carry. As shown in ''The Bias Against Guns,'' this hidden corps of citizens armed and trained in self-defense can and will come to the aid of fellow citizens to minimize or avert disaster.
We must preserve our right to Keep and Bear Arms. It is the only way to preserve our way of life. In the final analysis, it is the only way to protect your home, your loved ones, your security, and your liberty.
To sum up his beliefs, I asked Bill: ''If you were the president, making a State of the Union speech, how would you sum up your thoughts on fighting terrorism?''
Bill responded: ''My fellow American citizens. We will not fear the terrorists. We will unite together, and the terrorists will fear us.''
Could it be said better than that? Could it be said if we were disarmed?
Action Item for Those Who Are Interested
Call and write your congressional representatives. Tell them to vote NO on S. 1431/H.R. 2038, the ''Homeland Security Gun Safety Act of 2003.''
Perhaps you could print out theText of new Assault Weapons Ban introduced in Senate for him to read.
He should keep in mind that they intend to add significantly to this.
I've got their 'constitutional underpinnings' hanging.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. - Declaration of Independence
HUGE 2ND AMENDMENT QUOTE ARCHIVE AND FULL TEXT OF OVER 300 SECOND AMENDMENT COURT CASES
The Second Amendment - Commentaries (from the Good, the Bad, and the just plain Stupid).
It is too bad that this thread didn't get more attention for its own sake but I was also looking to find more openings for remarking on your work. I will be extolling its virtues when the opportunity arises. I enjoyed the look into the sailing life. Having spent most of my life in landlocked CO that's an unknown world to me. Or rather, it was. Fun stuff all around.
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