Statement From Wayne LaPierre And Chris W. Cox On Vice President Dick Cheney Signing Congress...

On behalf of four million NRA members and 80 million American gun owners, we would like to thank Vice President Dick Cheney for his strong support of the individual rights view of the Second Amendment. Today, in his capacity as President of the United States Senate, Vice President Cheney signed on to the congressional amicus curiae brief affirming the individual rights view of the Second Amendment. As Americans, we are grateful and fortunate to have a friend of freedom in the Vice President.

Led by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), bi-partisan majorities of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives - in fact, the largest number of co-signers of a congressional amicus brief in American history - filed a strong brief in support of the individual rights view. 55 members of the Senate and 250 members of the House co-signed this brief along with the Vice President of the United States. This landmark brief argues that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual, fundamental right to Keep and Bear Arms; that any infringement on this right should be subject to the highest level of constitutional scrutiny; that D.C.'s categorical ban on handguns and self-defense in the home is unreasonable and unconstitutional under any level of review; and therefore, that the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's opinion in this case should be upheld.

We would also like to thank the other parties who are filing briefs in support of freedom, including other pro-Second Amendment individuals and organizations, as well as an overwhelming majority of state attorneys general.

The NRA stated in its brief filed yesterday that "In adopting the Second Amendment, the Framers guaranteed an individual right to keep and bear arms for private purposes, not a collective right to keep and bear arms only in connection with state militia service." We remain hopeful that justice, freedom and the will of our founding fathers will prevail at our nation's High Court.

From the referenced brief: "...individual, fundamental ..."

Those are the two pillars needed to support a Supreme Court decision which will challenge every anti-gun law in the nation.

Such support from a majority of both houses of Congress is not sufficient to make an unConstitutional law Constitutional. But it is quite sufficient to put liberal Supreme Court Justices on notice that the rights of the people are not to be infringed.

The 2nd Amendment is easy unless one has crap in their head.

The use of the term “the People” means it is an individual right, just as the term is used in other amendments.

There is no such original meaning as a “government” militia. A militia is a collection of private citizens bringing their -personally- owned weapons to the defense of their country. Militia and National Guard are completely different things.

A local/state/federal government entity cannot confer the right to own a firearm because the US Constitution is predicated on the fact that -all- legal residents are already endowed by the US Constitution to own firearms.

Interesting that Cheney and Congress have signed off on an "argument that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual, fundamental right to Keep and Bear Arms; that any infringement on this right should be subject to the highest level of constitutional scrutiny", while the Bush administration has filed a separate, much softer brief arguing that "certain gun control measures are Constitutionally appropriate".

It seems the government is divided against itself on the issue.

Milwaukee_Guy said: "...it is an individual right,..."

Similarly, its prominent position in our Bill of Rights argues strongly that it is a "fundamental" right; at least as fundamental as the penumbral emanation entitling people to the unquestioned right to kill their unborn children.

Liberals ought to be insisting that kindergarteners be indoctrinated into the usefulness of firearms. Middle schoolers ought to be trained in the use and maintenance of arms. And high schoolers should be let out of classes without parental consent when they feel the need to fire off a few hundred rounds at the school firing range.

For those being released from government custody a version of the Miranda warning should include: "You have a right to keep and bear arms. If you cannot afford a firearm and ammunition, a loaded firearm will be supplied to you."

I encountered Dick Cheney at the Borders in Tyson's Corner on a Sunday afternoon. I had already entered the store and was checking out the computer books. On my way toward the front of the store to get on the escalator, I passed right by a guy who looked just like Dick Cheney. I as looked up the escalator, there was a guy in a black suit with an earphone. Another peek at the register...yet another guy dressed the same way. I looked back at the magazine racks. It was Dick Cheney. There was a black limo and a couple black SUVs blocking ahead and behind the limo.

I'm thankful for Dick Cheney's steady hand as VP with President Bush. The next term is going to be a carnival horror show.

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