Minuteman Monthly Issue 24 July 2002 For SaveTheGuns.com Members, Minuteman Monthly Subscribers and those who received this newsletter through a forward or posting: Welcome to the 24th edition of the Minuteman Monthly which is the monthly periodical from http://www.SaveTheGuns.com. With this 24th issue of the Minuteman Monthly, we celebrate two years of sending out the Minuteman Monthly to hundreds of subscribers from four different nations. ******************************* ******************************* ******************************* Happy Independence Day on July 4th. Please pray for our nation's safety and those of our President and Congress. ******************************* ******************************* ******************************* ========================================== ========================================== Restating The Goals The main focus of SaveTheGuns.com and the Minuteman Monthly is centered upon three (3) distinct areas. 1.) Most of the people who support stringent gun control laws, actually know very little about guns, how they operate and how criminals obtain them. Goal number one is to tell the truth about guns and to dispel common myths and misconceptions that might lead uninformed people to develop anti-gun attitudes based solely upon misconception, myth and lies that spew forth from the anti-gun lobby and the media at large. 2.) The second area of focus and my first passion is to promote gun safety and prevent accidental discharges and injury. This can be accomplished by simply laying out basic gun handling rules and teaching children what to do in case they find a firearm in an unsupervised situation. 3.) The last goal and focus of what we are trying to do here is to spur to action, the more than ninety percent (90%) of Americas gun owners who have done absolutely nothing to help save the guns. I estimate that a paltry 10% of gun owners have ever done anything to help protect the right to own and carry their firearm of choice. Under 5% of gun owners belong to the National Rifle Association. Just imagine what the status of gun rights in America would be if America's pro-gun advocates doubled to just 20% of firearm owners... ========================================== ========================================== SaveTheGuns.com Gun Safety Tip Of The Month July's gun safety tip is a very important one and also has a personal and tragic note that goes right along with it. NEVER under any circumstances allow horseplay with an unloaded gun. A proper gun safety attitude is just as important as being familiar with the rules. It is common sense that reckless horseplay with a loaded gun can be deadly, but what about fooling around with an unloaded gun? Horseplay with an unloaded gun should be avoided at all costs. There is no valid excuse for allowing horseplay with an unloaded gun. It might look impressive to twirl a real revolver on your finger, but what might you be teaching younger members of your family? Young people might become indifferent to gun handling procedures if they witness horseplay with unloaded firearms. Tragic Note: On a personal note that accompanies this rule, I know of a police officer that did not want his boy to be afraid of firearms, so he would occasionally unload his service revolver and allow his son to handle the unloaded gun in an unsafe manner, by playing "cowboys and Indians" with it. One day after chasing a suspect into a swamp, the officer came home to change his uniform. In his haste, he left his duty belt on the coffee table as he changed out of his dirty uniform. Upon discovering the duty belt on the table, the young child decided it was time to play "cowboy". The police officer was shot and killed upon returning to the livingroom, by his own son. This police officer was my father-in-law's cousin. The officer's son is now an adult, who must grow old without a dad. Lesson is over... ========================================== ========================================== CheaperThanDirt.com Have you seen this Web site yet? If you haven't, your missing out on some great stuff... Click this link to go there now: http://www.qksrv.net/click-1101834-1161489 They are the leading online sporting goods discounter!!! Just check out these deals on ammunition. Wolf 115 Grain 9mm Full Metal Jacket (50 round box) Just $5.79 plus shipping. CCI Nitrex 165 Grain Grand Slam .30-06 Rifle Ammunition Just $22.98 plus shipping. ========================================== ========================================== SaveTheGuns.com Quotes Of The Month "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." President Thomas Jefferson (I wonder if the 9/11 terrorists were aware of the fact that unarmed pilots would make their dirty deed easier to commit?) "Well, it may have." Transportation Security Administration Director John W. Magaw when asked by U.S. Senator George Allen (R) Virginia, if armed pilots would have made a difference on September 11, 2001 However, John W. Magaw is fighting against armed pilots...what is he thinking? =========================================== =========================================== July's Minuteman Monthly Topic: Arming Our Pilots Let's begin with some statistics, shall we? Flights per day in the U.S.--- 35,000 U.S. Armed Air Marshals--- Approximately 1,000 Deadline for reinforced cockpit doors--- Late 2003 Estimated cost for an additional planned 10,000 Air Marshals--- one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) (TSA figures) Percentage of current U.S. flights with armed Air Marshals--- less than 1%. ======================================== ======================================== Dispelling Misconception "A stray bullet will make the plane explode." This is a very common myth. Multiple bullet holes in a fuselage will not make the plane disintegrate. Normal internal cabin pressure can be maintained by the system with even as much as a missing window. Current federal standards mandate that an aircraft survive a twenty square foot (20 sq. ft.) hole in the fuselage. **************************************** **************************************** "Stun guns or tasers are enough to stop a terrorist." Another misconception advanced by the uninformed. Stun guns and tasers are mainly single use weapons and offer only very temporary disabling of an attacker, allowing the victim a few moments to escape. A pilot would have to maintain close physical contact with the terrorists, who have already chosen to die on the flight anyway. A pilot would have to stand over a terrorist with dozens of stun guns and repeatedly make physical contact with each terrorist before the flight can land. A ridiculous and absurd notion at best... A stun gun application will increase the anger, strength and determination of a suicidal terrorist once the affect of the shock wears off. Fighting lethal force with non-lethal force just makes no sense at all. ***************************************** ***************************************** "Tight airport security is enough." There are lethal weapons discovered in our nation's jails and penitentiaries every day, where security is even tighter than airport standards. There are heavy plastic or zytel-type knives that can pass right through x-ray machines, that can only be discovered in a direct body search. Airlines are accessible to the general public and can never be made air-tight, no matter how much the liberals and the "politically correct" try to say it's enough. ****************************************** ****************************************** "Pilots should be flying the plane only." Pilots are trained to be experts in crisis management and already have protocols in place to deal with emergency situations, such as onboard fires and disruptive passengers. They are trained to properly prioritize any danger to the safety of the flight and are already required to do much more than simply fly the aircraft. Many of them already have military experience and can handle the stress of having to do more than one thing at a time. ****************************************** ****************************************** "What if a passenger gets shot?" The armed pilot, would be required to remain in the cockpit and never venture out into the passenger compartment in an emergency situation. They would be trained to disregard anything going on in the passenger compartment. If a passenger does get injured, but the terrorists are in body bags, it was worth the effort. Furthermore, anybody who cannot hit a man-size target at arm's length, with proper training, shouldn't be allowed to drive a car, let alone an aircraft. ****************************************** ****************************************** "A pilot will be disarmed and the gun will be used against them." This argument is absurd. The pilots will be fully trained in crisis management and modern weapon retention techniques. The pilot's gun will only come out if the cockpit door has been penetrated and the flight is already in peril. Pilots need to have access to a deadly weapon in this case and the argument that the pilot's gun is any danger to the security of the flight holds no water whatsoever. We must give pilots a last line of defense, just in case every other precaution fails, period. ======================================== ======================================== Armed Pilots Bills In the U.S. House---H.R. 4635 In the U.S. Senate ---S. 2554 Please contact your Congressmen/Women today. The Senate bill S. 2554 would also provide self-defense training for flight attendants. Let your elected officials know how you feel. ======================================== ======================================== There has been a U.S. House subcommittee compromise on arming pilots which is so totally inadequate and insufficient that it should not receive praise. It would only arm 1,000 to 1,400 pilots of the more than 50,000. The compromise would leave at least 33,000 commercial airline flights unarmed each and every day. That is not enough. In fact, the House compromise is so inane and weak that I laughed out loud when I read the conditions. Try again boys and girls, arm our pilots, or I'm takin' the train or renting a car. ======================================== ======================================== Airline Pilot's Security Alliance http://www.secure-skies.org/ This is the main pilot's organization that is fighting the good fight to arm our pilots. Please visit and donate if you can. Lots of great information, much more than I provide in this newsletter. ======================================== ======================================== Who Is Against Armed Pilots? Mainly the Transportation Security Administration, some anti-gun Clinton Administration appointees and the airlines. Why they oppose armed pilots is pretty simple. The TSA would have to admit that they cannot always protect the security of 240,000 flights a week from their Washington D.C. offices, and don't want to lose face by admitting that fact. Some anti-gun Clinton appointees don't want to admit that firearms can have a positive and helpful affect at any time. The airlines have liability issues to be concerned with and are afraid of being sued. They would also have to admit that they cannot always guarantee the passenger's safety. And they are afraid of losing money. Essentially it is only money concerns and bureaucracy that stands in the way of giving pilots a final stand to protect their passengers. Does that make anybody else angry????? ======================================== ======================================== Final Word We already trust our lives every day to our commercial airline pilots. To the tune of more than 1,400 flights every hour. Americans traditionally have had very little patience with bureaucracy, especially when it comes to their safety. U.S. Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, hasn't seen a single letter siding with those who are against arming pilots. I don't know about y'all, but until our commercial airline pilots are allowed to have guns in the cockpit and have been fully trained, I will be taking the train or renting a car and will be taking more local vacations with my family. I am thinking about a new bumper sticker that says: "I am not flying anywhere until we arm our pilots." Let me know if you would be interested in buying this bumper sticker and if I get enough responses, I will have them made up. sales@savetheguns.com ======================================== ======================================== Please feel free to print, post, forward or quote the Minuteman Monthly, as long as you mention where you got the info!!! I have seen portions of the Minuteman Monthly posted on message boards with no reference back to http://www.SaveTheGuns.com. If you use my stuff, please simply mention the Web site!!! Thank you for registering as a Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Recipient. ________________________ If you don't want this newsletter or the legislative alerts anymore, just send me an E-mail with "Unsubscribe MMM" in the subject line to: info@savetheguns.com Thanks, Marc Owner/Founder www.savetheguns.com