Minuteman Monthly Issue 7 (February 2001)

     Thank you for subscribing to the Minuteman Monthly.  The
subscriber base is growing more and more every month!!!

     We have recently embarked upon a brand new Presidential
Administration and the outlook for the Second Amendment could not
be much brighter.  George W. Bush and Dick Cheney will keep their
Oath Of Office and protect and defend the United States
Constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.  The
last administration sadly did not.

     Vice President Dick Cheney has a nearly perfect voting
record in Congress for protecting the original intention of the
Second Amendment.  The United States Senate is, as you know split
50-50.  The United States House of Representatives holds the
slimmest of pro-Second Amendment margins also.  We must stay
vigilant in this new 107th Congress.  Every bill related to crime
must be paid very close attention.

     The United States Justice Department under the Clinton
Administration and Janet Reno, purposefully misinterpreted the
Second Amendment to twist its meaning into what they wanted.

     They postulated that the term "...well regulated Militia..."
in the Second Amendment referred to active participants in the
United States National Guard.  And that the Second Amendment
protected ONLY those firearms used in the National Guard and not
even the private arms of those National Guardsmen.

     This notion has no basis in fact whatsoever.  The National
Guard did not officially exist until after the Militia Act of
1903, also known as the "Dick Act" named after Congressmen Dick.
There was 111 years between the Militia Act of 1792 and the
Militia Act of 1903.

     The Militia Act of 1903 did not have the power to change the
meaning and original intention of the Second Amendment.
Government does not have the power to change the meaning of a
single word in the Bill Of Rights and then assert that the new
definition applies to a preexisting Amendment in the
Constitution.  This ability to change the Second Amendment by
changing the meaning of the word militia simply does not exist.

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Minuteman Monthly Safety Tip of the Month [new feature]

The Minuteman Monthly safety tip for this month is to make sure
you check the action of a firearm every time you pick it up.  You
should condition yourself to do check the firearm every time you
pick it up.

For a revolver, you should swing out the cylinder and make sure
the cylinder is empty, every single time you pick it up.

For a Semi-automatic, you should remove the magazine and inspect
it, to make sure it is empty.  Then open the action, by moving
the slide to the rear and check the chamber.

Checking a firearm every time you handle it, will totally negate
any possibility that you mistakenly leave a gun loaded.  Making
sure I check the action of a gun whenever I pick it up, has
surprised me more than once in my 30 years of shooting.  Of
course, we ALWAYS keep our fingers away from the trigger during
this whole procedure, and point the barrel in a safe direction.

I will have a "Safety Tip of the Month" in every issue of the
Minuteman Monthly from now on.

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A New Spirit

I feel as if a fresh, new spirit has come to America.  To have
George W. Bush in the White House has brought a sense of
refreshment and restoration.

The Inauguration Day prayers and festivities touched my soul as
nothing else has during the last eight years of the Clinton
Administration.  The immorality, deceit and transgressions of the
last administration are a thing of the past.  The nearly
quarterly White House scandals are  gone.  Instead, we have a
President in George W. Bush that actually reads the Bible and an
administration that will protect and defend the Constitution as
they have vowed.  I might be fooling myself a bit here, but I
feel really good about the next four years.

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A Letter From Vermont

Earlier this month, I sent out a quick note on how Vermont
violent crime statistics compared with States that had stricter
gun control measures.  I was sent a letter from a person named
Jack Anderson from Vermont.  Here are a few excerpts from his
letter, posted here with permission.

__________________________________________

     "...Living in both Washington, DC and Vermont, you [Vermont
Congressmen] have a unique perspective. As you know, in 1976 gun
control "Utopia" was founded in Washington, DC.

     Possession of handguns was outlawed. Twenty years later,
"Utopia" had the most violent crime. Vermont has never had gun
control laws. Along with North Dakota and our good neighbors
Maine and New Hampshire, Vermont was among the lowest in violent
crime rates in 1996.

     The 1996 FBI Uniform Crime Statistics show that Vermont with
a population of 589,000 had 11 murders, 159 forcible rapes, 91
robberies and 453 aggravated assaults. Washington DC, with a
similar population 543,000, had 397 murders, 260 rapes 6,444
robberies and 9,828 aggravated assaults. Did Vermont have more
police protection? No, Washington, DC has 3,632 sworn police
officers. At 844, Vermont has less than a quarter as many.

     Nationally, the population in 1996 was 265,284,000. In 1996
there were 19,645 murders (rate 7.4/100,000 people). There were
95,769 rapes (rate 36.1); 537,050 robberies (rate 202.4); and
1,209,814 aggravated assaults (rate 388.2).

     Now let's compare. If the gun control advocates had their
"Utopia" nationwide in 1976, where would we be?

     If we use Washington, DC's violent crime rate and extend it
to the nation in 1996, we would have had 193,922 murders instead
of 19,645, almost 10 times as many. We would have had 127,071
women raped instead of 95,769. We would have had 3,148,125
robberies instead of 537,050 almost six times as many. And we
would have had 3,082,865 people violently assaulted rather than
1,209,814 or three times as many.

     On the other hand, if we extend Vermont's rates nationally,
we would have had 5,040 murders instead of 19,645. So, 14,605
people who were murdered would still be with us. We would have
had 71,626 women raped instead of 95,769.

     So, 24,143 women would not have been physically violated and
emotionally devastated. We would have had 40,853 robberies
instead of 537,050. So, 496,197, almost half a million Americans
would not have had their hard earned property taken from them by
thugs. And we would have had 204,003 people violently assaulted
rather than 1,209,814. So, 1,005,811--over a million--Americans
would not have been shot, stabbed, clubbed or beaten..."

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My Quick Analysis

I looked at the 1995, 1996 FBI Uniform Crime Report myself and
gleaned these statistics from it.  Please feel free to use them
in your activism efforts.

Some States with strict gun control policies and their violent
crime rates:

California               966.0 per 100,000
Washington D.C.  2661.4 per 100,000
Illinois                    996.1 per 100,000
Maryland               986.9 per 100,000
Massachusetts       687.2 per 100,000
New York             841.9 per 100,000
                 __________________
Average of          1189.9 per 100,000

States with permissive or no gun control laws and their rates:

New Hampshire     114.5 per 100,000
North Dakota           84.0 per 100,000
Maine                     124.9 per 100,000
Vermont                 118.3 per 100,000
                  _________________
Average of             110.4 per 100,000

AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THIS, THERE IS APPROXIMATELY TEN TIMES (10X)
MORE VIOLENT CRIME IN STATES WITH STRICT GUN CONTROL.

Boy, does that tell a story!!!!!!!  States that have strict laws
regulating firearm possession, carry and transfer, have MUCH
higher rates of violent crime.  Please tell your family and
friends, your newspapers and of course your Congressmen.  Gun
control laws do not work to reduce violent crime, they only serve
to diminish freedom, liberty and the ability to defend yourself.

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New BookShop

     Thank you for the amazing success of my BookShop.  My
BookShop page can be found here .  The Savetheguns BookShop has
been open for 22 days as has received almost 200 page views per
day.
Here is the Savetheguns Bookshop

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John Ashcroft

     As of this writing, John Ashcroft has not yet been confirmed
as United States Attorney General.  Thank you for all your
efforts in supporting him for this important office as head of
the United States Justice Department.  Please contact your United
States Senators if you have not already done so.

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to save the Second Amendment from sliding towards repeal.

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