DAVID T. HARDY / MICHAEL WESTFALL INTERVIEW... ON SECOND AMENDMENT AND MICHAEL MOORE

THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE WORKER ^ | 5-14-2007 | Michael Westfall

[carolgr]

MICHAEL WESTFALL: We met when you were writing your New York Times bestseller book titled MICHAEL MOORE IS A BIG FAT STUPID WHITE MAN. I furnished material and worked with you on one of the chapters. What is the story behind the unflattering title?

David T. Hardy:

When the publisher (HarperCollins) contacted Jason (my coauthor) and I, they said one thing was nonnegotiable: the title. We asked what it was. "Michael Moore Is a Big Fat Stupid White Man."

I was a bit startled and asked, couldn't we make it something a little more academic. They responded: we told you it was nonnegotiable.

They had published his first book, and came (as do most people who work with him) to loathe him. Their standard contract has an option clause: they have an option to buy your next book. In his case, they elected not to exercise it. Figure that his first book made millions for them ... when a business writes off millions to save the trouble of working with somebody, it says a lot!

MW: On your new documentary "IN SEARCH OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT", can you explain to our readers why it is important that citizens should have the right to bear arms?

DH:

In the movie I have several prof. discuss this. The major values of the right to arms, as they lay it out, are:

1. At the individual level, Americans use firearms in self-defense about 2.5 million times a year. That's based on Gary Kleck's survey of thousands of Americans. His methodology was so impressive that even criminologists who detest guns praised it. Kleck further estimated that about 400,000 per year believe they saved a life. He notes that a survey can only get opinion, not hard fact. Maybe a lot of these were

[LibLieSlayer]

“can you explain to our readers why it is important that citizens should have the right to bear arms?”

IT IS A RIGHT GRANTED BY GOD THROUGH OUR CONSTITUTION! Nothing else matters... period!

LLS

[caveat emptor]

Thanks for the post. Here's a couple more quotes.

The Framers wanted the ballot box backed up by the cartridge box.

And this exchange:

MW: What is happening with the appellate courts with this issue? Are they lagging behind, and if so, why?
DH: Yes, far behind. What happened was that the Supreme Court in 1939 came down with a rather muddled decision, Miller v. US, that seemed to say that there was an individual right, although it was limited to military or militia suitable guns. It involved a sawed-off shotgun, and the Supreme Court said the trial court had to take evidence on whether this was militia-suitable. Unfortunately the owner, a bank robber by trade, was murdered before the trial court could hold a hearing.

Bump.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

“The prospect of tyranny may not grab the headlines the way vivid stories of gun crime routinely do. But few saw the Third Reich coming until it was too late. The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed—where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once”.
Judge Alex Kozinsky