Stay safe; stay armed.
Posted on 02/02/2003 5:56:41 PM PST by FSPress
Here are some to the same arguments that we hear today about guns. This was a plea that helped establish the Gun Control Act of 1967. Stop and Think. Would you have supported this legislation? The person who spoke the words is today a defender of the second amendment.
TWO WEEKS AGO, ROBERT F. KENNEDY BECAME ONE OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS STRUCK DOWN BY AN ASSASSIN'S BULLET. SOMETIME TODAY, IN SOME CITY IN AMERICA, A GUN SHOT WILL RING OUT AND SOMEONE ELSE WILL FALL DEAD OR WOUNDED. THE VICTIM MAY BE A PUBLIC LEADER OR A PRIVATE CITIZEN, BUT, WHOEVER HE IS AND WHEREVER HE FALLS, HE IS NOT ONLY THE VICTIM OF THE GUNMAN....HE IS THE VICTIM OF INDIFFERENCE. THE TRAGEDY IS STARK AND REAL. THE SCARS LAST FOREVER, AND THE ULTIMATE AND SENSELESS HORROR IS THAT SO MUCH OF THIS SLAUGHTER COULD BE PREVENTED. OUR GUN CONTROL LAWS ARE SO LAX THAT ANYONE CAN BUY A WEAPON....THE MENTALLY ILL, THE CRIMINAL, THE BOY TOO YOUNG TO BEAR THE RESPONSIBILITY OF OWNING A DEADLY WEAPON.
THE SOUND OF THAT GUNFIRE WILL ECHO AGAIN...TOMARROW, THE DAY AFTER, AND ALL THE DAYS TO FOLLOW, UNLESS WE ACT!!! 6,300 PEOPLE ARE MURDERED EVERY YEAR WITH FIRE- ARMS IN THESE UNITED STATES. THIS IS AN OUTRAGE AND WHEN IT IS COMPARED WITH THE FAR, FAR LOWER RATES IN OTHER FREE COUNTRIES, IT IS INTOLERABLE.
LIKE MOST AMERICANS, WE SHARE THE CONVICTION THAT STRONGER GUN CONTROL LEGISLATION IS MANDATORY IN THIS TRAGIC SITUATION. WE DO NOT SPEAK FROM IGNORENCE OF FIREARMS. THE FIVE OF US COUNT OURSELVES AMONG THE MILLIONS OF AMERICANS WHO RESPECT THE PRIVILEGE OF OWNING GUNS AS SPORTSMEN OR AS PRIVATE COLLECTORS. WE HAVE USED GUNS ALL OUR LIVES BUT THE PROPER USE OF GUNS IN PRIVATE HANDS IS NOT TO KILL PEOPLE.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CONGRESS HAS RECENTLY GIVEN US SOME PROTECTION AGAINST PISTOLS IN THE WRONG HANDS. BUT THAT'S NOT ENOUGH....NOT NEARLY ENOUGH, THE CARNAGE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL THERE IS EFFECTIVE CONTROL OVER THE SALE OF RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS.
PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY WAS MURDERED BY A RIFLE. MARTIN LUTHER KING WAS MURDERED BY A RIFLE. MEDGAR EVERS WAS MURDERED BY A RIFLE.
NOT LONG AGO, A DEMENTED SNIPER PERCHED ON A TOWER AND KILLED FOURTEEN PEOPLE IN COLD BLOOD......BY RIFLE. FOR MANY LONG MONTHS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAS ASKED THE CONGRESS TO PASS SUCH A LAW... BUT THE CONGRESS WILL NOT LISTEN UNLESS YOU, THE VOTER, SPEAKS OUT....UNLESS THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY RISE UP AND DEMAND THAT THE CONGRESS GIVE US A STRONG AND EFFECTIVE GUN CONTROL LAW.
THE LEGISLATION HAS BEEN INTRODUCED. IN THE SENATE, IT IS S-3633. IN THE HOUSE IT IS HR-)7735.
THIS BILL IS NO MYSTERY. LET'S BE CLEAR ABOUT IT. IT'S PURPOSE IS SIMPLE AND DIRECT. IT IS NOT TO DEPRIVE THE SPORTSMAN OF HIS HUNTING GUN, THE MARKSMAN OF HIS TARGET RIFLE, NOR WOULD IT DENY TO ANY RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN HIS CONSTI- TUTIONAL RIGHT TO OWN A FIREARM. IT IS TO PREVENT THE MURDER OF AMERICANS. IT CONTAINS THREE SENSIBLE AND REALISTIC RULES.
FIRST, IT WILL OUTLAW THE MAIL ORDER SALES OF SHOTGUNS AND RIFLES. IF THIS LAW WERE IN FORCE SEVERAL YEARS AGO, IT MIGHT HAVE STOPPED LEE HARVEY OSWALD FROM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUYING THE HIGH-POWERED RIFLE HE USED TO MURDER PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY. EACH YEAR ONE MILLION RIFLES ARE SOLD THROUGH THE MAILS.
SECOND, IT WILL OUTLAW SALES OF SHOTGUNS AND RIFLES TO MINORS - PEOPLE TOO YOUNG TO BEAR THE GRAVE RESPONSIBILITY PLACED IN THE HANDS OF A GUN OWNER.
THIRD, IT WILL OUTLAW SALES OF SHOTGUNS AND RIFLES TO STRANGERS. PEOPLE WHO DRIFT ACROSS STATE LINES, TOO OFTEN WITHOUT CREDENTIALS, BUY THESE WEAPONS, AS EASILY AS THEY BUY CIGARETTES AND CANDY. THE STATES WHICH HAVE STRONG GUN CONTROL LAWS WILL BE PROTECTED.
WE URGE YOU, AS A RESPONSIBLE, SENSIBLE AND CONCERNED CITIZEN, TO WRITE OR WIRE YOUR SENATOR AND CONGRESSMAN IMMEDIATELY AND DEMAND THEY SUPPORT THESE BILLS. IN THE SENATE, IT IS BILL S-3633. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, IT IS BILL HR-17735.
IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY....IN THE NAME OF CONSCIENCE....FOR THE COMMON SAFETY OF US ALL.... FOR THE FUTURE OF AMERICA, WE MUST ACT....IT IS UP TO YOU....YOU ALONE AND THE TIME IS NOW.
And I am stoooopid about these things - the Afghans made them for years. It was a cottage industry.
Think about it.
I haven't disagreed with a single thing you've said.
The Constitution states that you have a RKBA.
That you are not allowed to purchase them IN ANY WAY YOU SEE FIT, does not infringe on that right, as long as there is no undue impediment to your aquiring the gun.
The "Taking guns from criminals" was so much smoke and misdirection. Bonnie and Clyde stole BAR machine guns from a NG armory, because they never made enough robbing banks and grocery stores to buy them over the counter. At least Capone bought his from a dealer, (he could afford it, what with dealing illegal drugs and all. That could open a WOD rant, but I'm tired.)
Corrupt government only started to affect the population when Democrats, "for their own good" , started to do a clog dance on the Bill of Rights. They've been at it ever since. The Republicans do it to, but they really lack a true enthusiasm for it. The are still wisps of guilt floating around the GOP.
Back in the mid 90's, at MCB 29 Palms, a Navy head candler, to support his doctoral thesis, polled the enlisted Marines on base to find out whether they would be willing to go house-to-house, in the US, confiscating guns, if ordered to. They said yes. The poll results were pleasing to clinton, and the naval shrink ran for cover, and got Riffed, while the Pentagon frantically tried to spin it as "one man's opinion."
The Gun Grabbers are out There, waiting. They don't quit, They don't give up.
No you wouldn't.
(Are we reading the same thread?)
Let's try these on for size, shall we?
Which one of these is closer to what is actually written in the Bill of Rights? And which one more accurately reflects what you believe is or ought to be the case?
The Fruits of Gun Control
The Totalitarian Body Count
The syndicated columnist, Walter Williams, who happens to be a college professor, has recently finished a study of governmental murder and has concluded that in the twentieth century far more people were killed by their own governments than died in war. Statistics are always questionable, but Williams' come out as follows:
Killed in Warfare: 39,000,000
Killed by Lenin and Stalin: 62,000,000
Killed by Mao Tse-tung: 35,000,000
Killed by Hitler: 21,000,000
These are the leaders, and the figures are beyond comprehension, but coming down to more comprehensible numbers we find that 2 million were killed in Turkey, 2 million in Cambodia, 1.5 million in Mexico, and 1 million by Tito in the Balkans. It should be noted that the time over which these atrocities were perpetrated has a bearing on the magnitude of their atrocity. Combined executions committed by Lenin and Stalin, for example, were spread over 70 years between 1917 and 1987. Mao's murders took place over about 37 years between 1949 and 1987, so his intensity could have been greater. Hitler's 21 million were murdered over a much shorter period, and so the intensity factor pretty well evens out, but the fact remains that vastly more homicide was perpetrated in this century of slaughter by governments against their own people than by armies against enemies. Man's inhumanity to man seems more virulent when it is domestic.
Stay safe; stay armed.
1. Known criminals are released from jail too soon.
2. The 2nd Amendment provides protection to the individual(unless you are a fan of the 9th District Court)for the right to keep and bear arms.
3. The concept of "felony" has been stretched to the the point where almost anyone, if put under enough scrutiny by the authorities, can be classified as a "felon".
Sure. But understand and make a distinction between a SOCIAL web of restraint and a LEGAL/POLITICAL web of restraint.
Understand further that some of the most proficient adults both then and now were given adult sized responsibilites at ages as young as 10 or 12.
It is a great curiosity that people who see nothing wrong with teaching their kids to skate at speeds of 30-40 miles an hour as young as the age of 5 so they can practice as early as 6 AM to compete in the Olympics consider necessary survival training in use of firearms and weapons too dangerous until children are at least 18.
Some of our best shooters-1996 Olympic Medalist Kim Rhode- started shooting AT the age of 5. ( Shhhh. Don't tell the liberals!)
Never give Government an inch at any time for any reason. They will always take a mile or more.
Best regards,
I know a man who had a felony conviction from 1940.And the gun control act of 1968 includes a provision by which convicted felons who have led blameless lives after their release can petition to have their firearms rights restored. The Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1985 provided that for state offenses, firearms rights would be restored when all other civil rights were restored, unless the judge specifically stated otherwise. I prefer the method we use with state offenses to that we use for federal offenses, especially since the feds have put a freeze on restorations. But I'd not get in a snit even if there was no restoration. There are fundamental issues of individual liberty involved in imposing restrictions on individuals who have not been convicted of a crime. Much of the GCA 1968 are of that sort. There are not fundamental issues of individual liberty involved in imposing restrictions on individuals who have been convicted of a serious crime, as a part of their sentence. We can argue that these restrictions may be excessive in some cases, or that there should be a way for the restrictions to be lifted under certain circumstances, but it's a utilitarian argument, not involving fundamental issues of individual liberty.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.