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Welcome to this issue of the Minuteman Monthly Newsletter.
This is the monthly communication from my Web site at www.SaveTheGuns.com.
Thank you for reading this month's issue and for passing it on to a
friend.
Today's America is not the country that the Founding Fathers intended
it to be, let's face the facts here. Even though laws that
regulate the possession, carry and use of firearms are clearly
unconstitutional, some of them have unfortunately become necessary.
Read On...
SaveTheGuns.com Quotes of the Month
"The measures adopted to restore public order are: First of all, the elimination of the so-called subversive
elements. They were elements of disorder and subversion. On the morrow of each conflict I gave the categorical order to
confiscate the largest possible number of weapons of every sort and kind.
This confiscation, which continues with the utmost energy, has given satisfactory results."
-- Benito Mussolini
(1883-1945), Italian dictator during WW2
Source: Speech delivered by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini before the Italian Senate, June 8, 1923. Reproduced in Mussolini as Revealed in His Political Speeches (London & Toronto: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1923), pp. 308-309.
"No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little."
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Statesman, author, orator, political theorist
and philosopher. Kind of makes you want to send me a contribution
doesn't it?
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it."
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Intellectual, scholar, revolutionary and
pamphleteer
''The Second Amendment is as important as the First Amendment.''
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice May 11, 2005
"Our streets are going to be filled with AK-47s and Uzis."
Sarah Brady (1942- ) Mrs. Brady, speaking about the sunset
of the 1994 Clinton-Reno semi-auto ban in 2004. Boy oh, boy,
she's a genius huh?
SaveTheGuns.com Gun Safety Tip of the Month
This month's gun safety tip is to carefully choose your
targets. Be careful what you're shooting at. Intentionally
firing into water, firing at abandoned junk vehicles, empty &
discarded propane tanks, abandoned kitchen appliances and more can cause
seriously dangerous ricochets.
Ricochets of bullets, especially jacketed or semi-jacketed ones in
these above scenarios have killed friends and loved ones. Learn
from these experiences and don't push your luck. Shoot safely and
choose your targets carefully.
NRA Membership Recruiter Corner
http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR017807
As you may already know, SaveTheGuns.com is one of thousands of
NRA Membership Recruiters across America. As an NRA Recruiter, I'm
officially a subcontractor for the National Rifle Association of America
and not an employee.
I make a small commission whenever you join, renew or give an NRA
Membership as a gift. Please use the link above for all your NRA
Membership needs.
I have written a Web page with more information on membership in
the National Rifle Association. It has a list of benefits as well
as membership options and prices. For your convenience the above
NRA Membership link is there as well.
http://www.savetheguns.com/nra_membership.htm
P.S. Remember, my link goes directly to the NRA Membership
check out page. Using my special link is a lot more convenient
than trying to find the page yourself.
As of this issue of the Minuteman Monthly Newsletter, I've
recruited 86 NRA Members through this
link.
Contributions to SaveTheGuns.com
Please use the following convenient link to securely use a credit
card online to give SaveTheGuns.com a voluntary contribution:
http://www.amazon.com/paypage/P3GXU3PIEM5ST1
To write me a personal check, it's almost as easy!
Write out a personal check made payable to Marc H.
Richardson. Sign it and put it into a stamped envelope addressed to:
Marc H. Richardson
P.O. Box 424
Shapleigh, ME 04076-0424
My contributors have kept this informative Web site going for
seven years. Become a contributor today... please?
Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Aiming Point
Even though it is crystal clear that most gun control laws violate
the Second Amendment, have some of these laws that regulate the
possession, carry and use of firearms become necessary?
The vast
majority of the United States population believe that some form of
firearm regulation has become necessary.
This is mostly because the United States does not have the same
moral and religious makeup as it did in the earlier days of this
phenomenally successful representative constitutional republic.
Why has it become necessary to diminish some degree of firearm
freedoms? In my opinion, it is very simple and easy-to-understand
why. We Americans don't behave as morally and religiously as our
forebears did. As America becomes less and less virtuous, we have more
and more need of governing authority.
As we drift off the path of a spiritual, moral and self-disciplined
free country, we have more need of regulations and laws. If we, as
a country refuse to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments
easily found in Exodus 20 of the Old Testament, we must be governed by
government imposed restrictions upon our liberty.
Three of these firearm regulation issues quickly come to mind.
The National Instant Check System (NICS), state-wide concealed carry
permits (CCWs) and the Bureau of Alcohol
Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (BATFE) are some examples of firearm
freedom that we've lost, perhaps out of necessity.
The formation of the NICS came as a result of the Brady
Law. For a long time, the National Rifle Association and other
groups pushed for an
instant point-of-sale background check for firearm purchases to replace
the Brady imposed waiting period.
Less than ten percent (-10%) of firearms used in crime are
fraudulently bought
by criminals at legitimate retail outlets. But at the same time,
we must make certain that the NICS is working properly and efficiently
all the time.
This program is not currently running at peak efficiency. I've heard
many complaints about its shortcomings and incompetence. The National Rifle
Association has sought to support legislation that improves its
reliability, efficiency and timeliness.
We need to support legislation that fixes the problems with NICS!
Many other pro-gun speakers want to throw the program out the
window and dismantle it altogether, stating that it's a clear violation
of the words and spirit of the Second Amendment itself.
Who's right?
They're both right. In my opinion, they are both
correct. When pro-gun groups and leaders of pro-gun organizations
like Wayne LaPierre of the NRA and Larry Pratt of GOA vocally disagree,
often, they are both correct.
NICS violates the Constitution, that much is true. But at
the same time, violent felons should not be able to walk into any
sporting goods store and come out with a brand new handgun. This
is an example of what I'm referring to. Some degree of lost
liberty has been sacrificed because of our fairly recent slide into a
less-than-virtuous country.
Most of us have conceded to having to obtain a concealed carry permit
card and background check from our own state in order to have a handgun
with us in public. This is an interesting point.
We have allowed the Second Amendment to be diminished to be able to
carry a concealed handgun in public. Furthermore, concealed carry
in public has become a good idea as well. Both are because of our
inability or rather, unwillingness to conduct ourselves according to the
Ten Commandments of God.
What about the BATFE? They are given the burden of carrying
out the laws and intentions of Congress with respect to alcohol,
tobacco, firearms and explosives. The vast majority of BATFE
employees are decent, hardworking and upstanding men and women.
BATFE employees are not Satan's minions and demons, dressed in
black, setting out to harass a perfectly honest gun owner. There
are a few rogue agents who think they have more power than they really
do and they should be reprimanded when they don't stay within their
boundaries of legitimate conduct.
The NRA and myself basically support the BATFE and their mission, but
attack them for wrongdoing when they overstep their lawful boundaries
and mission. A handful of other groups are pushing to abolish the BATFE altogether.
The BATFE is here to stay. It's not going anywhere.
Abolishment of the BATFE sounds nice and it feels good to vent once in a
while, but it's not going anywhere.
Who's right?
They're both right. The BATFE needs to have a group of
citizens like us overseeing their conduct. They need chastisement,
censure, fines and maybe even time in prison, when their agents do wrong.
Having checks and balances on people to whom we've given some degree of
power is what America is all about. Countless things that the BATFE
and some of their employees have done in the past clearly warrant their abolishment as well.
The BATFE are saddled with the responsibility of enforcing laws that
run contrary to the words and spirit of the Bill of Rights.
Certainly, this is a difficult responsibility, but has it become
necessary?
Do we need the NICS, CCWs and the BATFE? Even though they clearly
violate the words and spirit of the Second Amendment, do we need some
measure of firearm legislation? Do we need a government-run agency
to oversee and regulate firearms?
I think these things are necessary. I know I'll take
some heat for this, but please hear me out first.
I'm descended from the religious leader of the Pilgrims who landed
in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. Perhaps some of the preacher's
blood still runs in my veins. (This is a warning that I'm about to
sound very preachy... :-))
You see, today's America is so vastly different from the America
of the late eighteenth century to about the first half of the twentieth
century. The religious and moral framework that is so important in
a country like the United States, has crumbled and is falling apart right
under our collective noses.
The path that America is on is so far away from the course set out
for us by the Founding Fathers. We are off course and we
need to pick up our moral compass and get back on the right path to
begin to restore some of the liberties we've lost in this last half
century.
This path is not completely out of sight. We've lost our way
for sure, but the ability to find and regain that path is within each of
us. We can and indeed we must struggle back through the thick
brush of moral relativism, "political correctness" and lack of
self-discipline and start walking on the right path again.
The Founding Fathers believed that it was essential to
maintain a very high degree of religion, virtue and morality in order
for this constitutional republic to stay healthy, vibrant and free.
Religion, self control, virtue, righteousness, self discipline, a decent moral character
and strong families are the very cement that holds the foundation of
America together. If we completely abandon these important
principles, all will be lost.
Let's face the facts head on shall we? We Americans don't
behave ourselves like we used to. Religion, virtue and morality
don't play the important roles in our society as they used to when
America was truly great.
An alarming and ever-growing segment of our young people don't
believe that a higher power exists or even ever existed. A belief
that you will be held responsible for the conduct of your life after
you've died is absolutely necessary for human freedom to survive.
The overall collective character of our great nation has
deteriorated. We are still the best nation in the world, don't
misinterpret me. I would not want to raise a family anywhere else
in the world. But America is heading down a dangerous and sordid
path of immorality, agnosticism and irreligiousness.
We have drifted far off the path in the wilderness of self
government that was set before us by the Founding Fathers.
I'll give you quotes from America's past to support my opinions
throughout the remaining portion of this month's newsletter.
"We have staked the
whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government.
Far from it. We have staked the future of all our political
institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves
according to the Ten Commandments of God."
James Madison
(1751-1836) Fourth President of the United States.
The Ten Commandments are being removed from public display more
and more every year, yet it was once believed that the future of freedom
and liberty itself depended heavily upon our obedience to these
commandments.
America is on a dangerous and slippery slope. The United States
of America may be well on its way toward becoming a footnote in the
annals of world history. Lady Liberty and human freedom are being
diminished because of our degrading collective moral character as well
as our collective apathy in defending the Bill of Rights.
"Not until I went
into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with
righteousness did I understand the greatness and the genius of America .
. . America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good,
America will cease to be great."
Alexis de Tocqueville
(1805-1859) "Democracy In America"
The average
American family is broken or dysfunctional in some way or another. If you
don't have any of these issues in your family, congratulations, but you're an
extremely slim minority. The average American family
has at least one or more of the following:
- Divorce
- Single Parenthood
- Alcohol Abuse
- Narcotics Use
- Domestic Violence
- Sexual Abuse
- Juvenile Delinquency
- School Violence
- High School Dropouts
- Family Members In Prison
- and more...
These things are not at fault for our degraded national moral
character. These are merely the symptoms of a drifting nation.
America is drifting in a sea of moral relativism, selfishness,
godlessness and impiety. As a result, freedom itself has
suffered. We need American men to be anchors for their families
once again. We need to stop this baneful immoral drifting of
America in order to regain freedom that has been lost.
I know it's hard for America to look in the mirror and compare
ourselves with the America of our past. I'm really trying to be
gentle here. I don't wish to insult anyone. But the days
where we can freely trust the average American citizen are gone.
Those days are lost in America's great past.
Taking a walk alone at night, unarmed in today's America is asking
for trouble in most of our larger cities. Today, the chances are
good that you have a convicted child molester in your neighborhood,
possibly even right next door.
http://www.familywatchdog.us/
http://www.criminalcheck.com/
To have the words and spirit of the Second Amendment followed
explicitly, anyone would be able to go to their local sporting goods
store and purchase as many firearms and as much ammunition as they can
afford to buy. Without any checks or restrictions on these transactions at all.
What I'm trying to get at is that the Bill of Rights was written
and intended for a moral and religious America. We are no longer
that people and it will be a colossal struggle to get back there.
This is a struggle that we must succeed at if our great grandchildren
are to know freedom.
"We have no
government armed with power capable of contending with human passions
unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only
for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the
government of any other."
John Adams (1735-1826)
Second President of the United States.
I'm not saying that the Constitution is a "living
document" as postulated by Al Gore and others of such mind. It's certainly not a
living document. It should not change or mutate with society. I don't
believe that at all.
However, America is struggling with this conundrum. It's a
puzzle that only we can put together. As America becomes less
virtuous and
less religious, with fewer and fewer absolute moral standards, what are we to do?
Our elected officials whose duty it is to represent our desires in
the halls of government stand idly by while the Ten Commandments are
being torn down and covered up.
"When you become
entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be
impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers,
"just men who will rule in the fear of God." The
preservation of [our] government depends on the faithful discharge of
this Duty; if the citizens neglect their Duty and place unprincipled men
in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not
for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or
incompetent men will be appointed to execute the Laws; the public
revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the
citizen will be violated or disregarded. If [our] government fails
to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the
citizens neglect the Divine Commands, and elect bad men to make and
administer the Laws."
Noah Webster 1758-1843
When violent crime is high, calls go out to our politicians to do
something about it. Legislators cannot legislate morality and virtue
back into a populace.
It's simply not in the power of state legislators or congressmen to
improve the overall character of a state or a city. That power
exists solely with the individual.
State legislators and congressmen do what is in their power to
help remedy the crime situation. They make laws that restrict
freedom. Our freedom is being diminished because our collective
moral standards and our character has diminished. They go hand in
hand ladies and gentlemen.
How can we maintain this marvelously successful experiment in self
government, when our moral standards, church and synagogue attendance
and our overall collective virtues are in a virtual free-fall?
"Educate your
children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice
and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you
have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from
society."
Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790) American printer, author, philosopher, diplomat and
scientist.
Educate your children to self control... Instill in them the
habit of holding evil tendencies to an upright and reasoning
will... Thank you Ben!
Man o' man, do we need to look back into history and take a real
hard look at these great men. The answers to this dilemma of sliding
into an immoral abyss and dragging individual freedom and liberty right
along with it, can be found in America's history.
I can guarantee you one thing ladies and gentlemen, these words
will not be heard in today's public schools.
"[O]nly a virtuous
people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and
vicious, they have more need of masters."
Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790) American printer, author, philosopher, diplomat and
scientist.
"If we will not be
governed by God, we must be governed by tyrants."
William Penn
America is struggling with abiding by the words and spirit of the
Bill of Rights, while we are in a serious period of spiritual, moral and religious
decline.
Like punishing a misbehaving child by sending them to their room
or grounding them, our collective national liberty is being diminished
because of the
deteriorating condition of our national character.
We all love our freedom and liberty here. That's why we
stand tall and are proud to defend it. It's not an easy thing for a
good, decent, honest, trustworthy and upstanding person to give up a measure of
liberty because their friends and neighbors can't control their own
behavior and have abandoned their moral compasses.
But I'm afraid that American morality, religious fervor, virtue
and ethics have declined to the point where some measure of liberty must
be sacrificed. As Ben Franklin said above, "...only a virtuous people
are capable of freedom."
True freedom and a purer form of liberty cannot coexist with
declining moral values, irreligiousness and a lack of piety. In
the end, it's our own personal conduct and our lack of personal self
control that has led us down the path of more gun control and lost
liberties.
"He therefore is the
truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote
its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not
suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not
a wise and virtuous man... The sum of all is, if we would most
truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people."
Samuel Adams (1722-1803), was
known as the "Father of the American Revolution."
How can we pro-Second Amendment warriors stand tall and force the
Bill of Rights into the faces of our elected officials when our friends,
acquaintances, co-workers and sometimes even family members are the target of
the anti-gun and anti-crime legislation in the first place?
In order to bring back true freedom, in order to regain a foothold
on this slippery slope of moral relativism, we have some collective
changing to do as a nation first. In order to get some gun control
laws repealed, we seriously need a national character overhaul.
We will not be able to regain freedoms that we've lost over these
last fifty years without starting to act and behave more righteously and
with more integrity, virtue and self control.
We may now be living in the times that will be studied by history
students in a couple hundred years as being the beginning of the end of
the late, great United States of America.
I honestly don't think that America will ever be defeated by any
foreign nation. No terrorist group will ever bring us to our
knees. If true human freedom is to ever perish from this planet
and the lighted torch of liberty, self government and individualism is ever to be
extinguished, we will be responsible for it ourselves.
"At what point should
we expect the approach of danger? By what means are we to fortify
against it? Shall we expect some trans-Atlantic military power to
step across the ocean and crush us? Never. At what point
then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it
ever reach us, it cannot and it will not come from abroad. If
danger ever reach us, it must spring up from amongst us. If
destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.
As a nation of free men, we will live through all time or die by
suicide."
Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865) From an 1838 speech when he was just 29 years old.
Your Bible (or Torah) is right there in your bookcase. The
average American family has a few of them. Your church or
synagogue is not that far away. The church service really isn't
that boring is it?
When you consider that the very future of human freedom might depend
upon us finding the paths of our forefathers, how can we not take
definitive action?
We can begin walking this path of righteousness once again.
This battle will be more formidable, difficult and perhaps even more
important than defeating the Germans, Japanese and Axis Powers of World
War II.
We should approach this effort with as much vigor and courage as the
America of the 1940s approached their threats to liberty. Let's
begin 2007 with a fresh new attitude and a new year's resolution to
change America for the better by changing ourselves and our families
first. This battle cannot be fought with guns, planes, ships and
tanks, but it will be just as difficult as a real war.
Ignorance, complacency and a lack of a citizenry with a moral compass
is what contributed to the fall of Rome. With ignorance of
"political correctness", the complacency of America's gun
owners and our collective lack of virtue and ethics, aren't we in very
same position as Rome during its fall? Let's not go there. The future
of human freedom may well depend upon it.
Closing Comments
I sincerely apologize to anyone to whom I've unintentionally
insulted with this month's newsletter.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read the Minuteman
Monthly Newsletter. I encourage you to pass it on.
You may use this newsletter as you see fit. You may post it,
blog it, print it, forward it and publish it. The only thing I ask
is that somewhere in your material, make sure the URL www.SaveTheGuns.com
appears prominently.
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