 Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Issue 93 April 2009 |
|
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.
Most of the talk about gun control lately has been regarding the private ownership of para-military semi-automatic centerfire carbines. Some pro-gun folks have bought into the false doctrine of labeling these rifles as 'Assault Weapons'. I will do no such thing. In fact, I am making a concerted effort not to call these rifles semi-automatic assault weapons any longer. Have you ever been confronted by a friend, family member or acquaintance with the following question regarding these rifles:
In this issue of the Minuteman Monthly Newsletter, I will address this often asked question and offer a defense of the continued unfettered private possession of para-military semi-automatic centerfire carbines. Read on... SaveTheGuns.com Quotes of the Month "It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones. "
"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. That government is best which governs least."
"By far the most numerous and most flagrant violations of personal liberty and
individual rights are performed by governments. The major crimes throughout
history, the ones executed on the largest scale, have been committed not by
individuals or bands of individuals but by governments, as a deliberate policy
of those governments, that is, by the official representatives of governments,
"Religion, morality, and
knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of
mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be
encouraged."
"To commit our children
to the care of irreligious people is to commit lambs to the
superintendency of wolves."
"The right of
self-defense never ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike
necessary to nations and to individuals."
"There exists a law, not
written down anywhere, but in our hearts; a law which comes to us not by
training or custom or reading; a law which has come to us not from
theory but from practice; not by instruction but by natural intuition: I
refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by
plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of
protecting ourselves is morally right."
"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. ... I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere."
"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."
"If someone has a gun
and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with
your own gun." SaveTheGuns.com Gun Safety Tip of the Month Please contribute this month if you have not done so before. More than 90,000 children have learned something about gun safety from my Web site. Please contribute when you can so I can reach another 90,000 in the future. If you ever have the unhappy circumstance to have to shoot a firearm at another person in order to protect yourself, your family, your friends or your business, there are gun safety rules that still have to be obeyed. Obeying these basic firearm safety rules, while at the same time, fighting for your life will not be an easy task. Keeping gun safety in mind as well as basic marksmanship skills while firing at another human being to preserve your life, needs training and mental preparation. Keep in mind that the assailant who is the target of your efforts, might also be trying to poke holes in you as well. Having a mindset that has safety concerns in the forefront during an attack takes a lot of mental toughness and tons of training. Even though the attack may be one of the most significant events during your lifetime, you still must be aware of your target and what is behind and beyond it. If you fire at someone who is attempting to murder you and you miss your target, where that bullet ends up could change your life just as much as the initial attack itself. If you're attacked in a Wal-Mart parking lot or shopping mall garage and you are suddenly and viciously attacked and you are well within your rights to fire a gun in self defense, but three out of your four shots go through the front windows of the store and injure an innocent person, you'll be very sorry, that you didn't take the time to train and focus properly. If you are attacked in your home and you fire at your assailant, but miss him and the bullet hits your neighbor's wife who is washing the dishes at her kitchen sink, you have made an extremely grave error in judgment. The safety of everyone around you should be the primary concern if you habitually carry a concealed firearm in public or are forced to use one in your household for defensive purposes. Factoid of the Month The Factoid of the Month is a new feature beginning in 2009. I hope you find it useful and worth your time. The Department of Justice found that in 1989, there were 168,881 crimes of violence which were not responded to by police within 1 hour.
NRA Membership Recruiter Corner http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR017807 This link above will take you directly to the checkout page at the National Rifle Association to make it easy for you to renew your current membership, give an NRA membership to a friend or family member or join the fight for the first time. Using my link will save you TEN BUCKS ($10.00) on a one year membership. The normal one year membership is $35.00, but it's only $25.00 through my special link above. A 10% discount to the services of LifeLock Identity Protection Services to protect against identity theft has recently been added to membership in the National Rifle Association. 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. If your NRA Membership expires within ten weeks, I encourage you to renew your membership early using my convenient link that lands right on the appropriate page at the National Rifle Association. 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 662 NRA Members through this link. 153 NRA Members recruited in 2009 so far. WON'T YOU HELP ME INCREASE THIS NUMBER FOR 2009? LET'S SHOOT FOR RECRUITING 500 NRA MEMBERS FOR THIS COMING YEAR. I KNOW WE CAN DO IT! We are now about twenty seven (27) NRA members above my goal of recruiting 500 members of the National Rifle Association for 2009. Thank you for keeping me on track for this lofty goal. Please use my convenient links for all your NRA membership needs and pass it around to others. http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR017807 Contributions to SaveTheGuns.com Please consider a contribution today. On my Contributions page, I now have easy-to-use links to send me a contribution of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 or $1000. There are convenient links for each amount through my Amazon.com Payments page or through your PayPal account. Visit my Contributions page today and consider a donation toward keeping SaveTheGuns.com online and active.
To write me a personal check, it's 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 My contributors have kept this informative Web site going for more than eight years. Become a contributor today... please? Active contributors are the only thing keeping www.SaveTheGuns.com online. Thank you very much for your financial support in 2009! E-mail me with suggestions or comments Item of the Month This is the Minuteman Monthly Item of the Month. The item of the month is a DVD from the United States Concealed Carry Association of which I am a member and a membership recruiter. Concealed Carry Basics Volume 1 Ultra-Deep Concealment Techniques
Heller News Here is a link to the NRA's political action arm called the Institute for Legislative Action or NRA-ILA. They have created a special page for District of Columbia v Heller updates. From the following Web page, you can visit a link to hear the oral arguments in the case, read all of the Amicus Curiae Briefs, download the opinion of the court and much more. Download and save the transcript of the oral arguments in the Heller case with the URL below. http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/07-290.pdf Once the Obama Administration begins to launch significant gun control efforts, you'll likely hear many pro-gunners pointing at the Heller case. Have your own copy of the Heller case ready and also have your own copy of the Heller Opinion here: http://www.nraila.org/media/PDFs/HellerOpinion.pdf Both the oral arguments and the opinion are in pdf format. Sure, the Heller case wasn't perfect, but it was a whole lot better than losing. It is our solemn responsibility to hold our elected officials to the opinion of the majority in D.C. v Heller. President Obama News President Obama is no friend of the right to keep and bear arms. I'm quite frankly shocked that he got so many votes from gun owning citizens, given his terrible background on Second Amendment issues. Oh how I wish that we could get just 10% of America's gun owners in the National Rifle Association to help fight the coming battles...(join now) His Chief of Staff, his pick for United States Attorney General and many others in his cabinet and administration are rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth anti-gun zealots. With the national mainstream news media being so openly and brazenly in his pocket during the 2008 election process, we can expect a barrage of news stories standing behind the advancing tide of gun control. If there isn't any major gun control legislation passed and signed by him before this coming summer 2009 is out, I would be VERY surprised. In fact, I've made a cash bet with an acquaintance of mine that we will see a major gun control bill make it to President Obama's desk in his first year. That's a bet I felt comfortable making. Stay informed and stay united and we will prevail. It would be great to have ten percent (10%) of America's law abiding gun owners in the National Rifle Association, but that means that every current NRA member would have to send one (1) friend here to sign up. Did you get that? If every current NRA member would send one (1), just one person to sign up for membership in the NRA, we could get 10% of all gun owners in the fight. That would be HUGE! Use this link and send it to your gun owning friends and family who are not members. The NRA Needs You Now! If we are to effectively combat gun control laws for the next four years, we need your participation. see www.NRAILA.org/obama for more info on Barack Obama. So far, President Obama has refrained from jumping on the gun control train. But I expect him to wait until the next tragic shooting by someone who should have been in prison. We will stand ready to fight. President Obama's U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder would like nothing better than to force through Congress a permanent ban on semi-automatic firearms. This cannot be allowed. Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Aiming Point This rifle is the Bushmaster XM-15. It is a gas-operated .223/5.56mm semi-automatic centerfire carbine. I've chosen this model to highlight for a few reasons. According to Alan Korwin of www.gunlaws.com, it is on the wish list of almost every attempt to curtail the private ownership of semi-automatic centerfire carbines. Secondly, it was very similar to the rifle used in the 2002 Washington D.C. sniper shootings committed by John Allen Muhammad and Lee Malvo. Lastly, the firearm manufacturer Bushmaster, is located less than an hour from my home in southwestern Maine. I have overheard the question many times come from the mouths of gun control supporters over the years, saying 'What the hell do you need one of those for?'. I usually cringe as I watch the pro-gun side of the equation stumble, stutter, fumble and mumble out an almost incoherent excuse why these effective rifles should remain perfectly legal. Asking this type of question is specifically aimed at segregating the pro-Second Amendment supporter of paramilitary semi-automatic centerfire carbines. The intention behind the question is to push the pro-gunner's side of the discussion off into the maniacal fringe and marginalize him/her into obscurity. I find the verbal challenge; 'what the hell do you need one of those for?', an insult that is deserving of a good comeback. The intention of the questioner is to broadly paint the promoter of these types of firearms into a corner and portray him/her as an ignorant, feeble-minded, fearful, paranoid and reckless redneck who have the ridiculous illusion that they can single-handedly take on the might of the United States Armed Forces in street-to-street fighting. As a proud supporter of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, who is fully aware of the inherent dangers of a disarmed populace, you cannot allow the uninformed and uninitiated dolt to get the better of you in this verbal exchange. You have a solemn duty to vigorously and effectively defend the Second Amendment and the intentions of the Founding Fathers. If the Second Amendment protects any specific firearms at all, it specifically refers to those firearms that would best enable an armed and determined citizenry to stand firmly in the doorway to tyranny refusing to give an inch. The only class of small arms that the average American citizen has access to that would be in this category is the semi-automatic centerfire, gas operated carbines like the one I've mentioned above. Pistol calibers and most hunting arms, as well as most shotguns are simply not suited for serious battle. The truth of the matter is that paramilitary semi-automatic centerfire carbines are the best firearm available for anti-personnel use and self defense, especially when engaging multiple assailants. That is why it has been the firearm of choice for military and paramilitary groups around the world for decades... they're effective. No other commonly available firearm would suit the purposes for private ownership of small arms as envisioned by the Founding Fathers in modern-day America. The anti-gun crowd would love to continue to play the game that the Second Amendment is about protecting the rights of hunters and sportsman and that it has nothing to do with the maintaining the citizen's solemn right to overthrow their own government if it ever became necessary to protect and perpetuate human freedom. Let's take a close look at some of the Declaration of Independence for a moment, shall we?
The Declaration of Independence itself says specifically that it is both the right and duty of the American people to alter, abolish or throw off any government that is destructive of the inalienable rights of mankind. For this reason among many others, it is essential for the American people to maintain the full rights of the Second Amendment, as well as the rest of the Constitution. To be given the mandate by the Founding Fathers to 'throw off' a tyrannical government, without maintaining the ownership and the ability to carry truly effective firearms that are best suited for battle, is utterly ridiculous. In short, the Second Amendment isn't about hunting and never has been. Some people may think that many aspects of the Bill of Rights are so well entrenched in American law, that we really don't need it anymore. The Freedom of the Press seems to be set in stone in modern-day America. There are daily criticisms and complaints made in statewide and nationwide newspapers and in electronic and print media outlets concerning the White House and Congress. The Freedom of Speech is well entrenched in law and in society. Maybe we really don't need the freedom of speech in the Bill of Rights anymore. We always have had the right and ability to have direct contact with our Congressmen and our President. We have always had the right to have our grievances addressed and a right to peaceably assemble and march in protest. Maybe we don't really need that part of the First Amendment any longer either? Maybe we don't need the Third Amendment anymore... we do not have the daily threat of having a soldier quartered in our home without our permission in modern-day America, so let's do away with that too. What do you think? Let's just rewrite the Constitution to reflect modern-day America! I've heard this ridiculous idea proposed by many people I had previously believed to be intelligent. Could you imagine a Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), a Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) or a U.S. House Rep like Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) or Barney Frank (D-MA) being tasked with rewriting the United States Constitution to modernize its meaning? NO!!! Of course not!!! Every American with an operating brain and a functioning central nervous system knows that if we were to eliminate these basic and unalienable rights of a free people, it would signal the beginning of the end of human freedom. The Bill of Rights is there because the Founding Fathers knew that it is the nature of EVERY government to seek more power and authority for itself over time. Back to the Second Amendment again. Certainly, the situation in modern-day America is not nearly as tyrannous, totalitarian or despotic to warrant its overthrow. Sure we have legitimate complaints as to how our government is being run in 2009. But we are not going to overthrow our own government as Jefferson put it "...for light and transient causes;..." But what about the America of the future? What about the America of 2059, fifty years from today? Would that American government of fifty years from now be so despotic and dictatorial or totalitarian that it should be as Jefferson put it "...thrown off..."? If we sit back and allow our current day politicians to misinterpret and demolish our firearm rights under the Second Amendment, it is almost assured that our descendents, be it fifty years from now or a hundred fifty years from now will look back on this time with dismay, lamenting and regret. When we stand tall and proud to defend the Second Amendment, we should always have one eye on the present and the other eye on the future and toward our descendents who will inherit this country from us. Semi-automatic centerfire carbines may eventually be the tools that Americans of the future utilize to free this great country from a future dictatorship. Let us remember
that 'if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we
encourage it, and involve others in our doom.' It is a very
serious consideration that millions yet unborn may be the miserable
sharers of the event." If we were to allow our own government to enact a permanent ban on paramilitary semi-automatic centerfire carbines, because the general public did not see a current 'need' for them, we could very well be disarming future generations of Americans who might be forced to live under tyranny and dictatorship. Our current lack of foresight, courage and intrepidity might set the stage for the sunset of human freedom in the century to come. This cannot be allowed under any circumstances. The future of human freedom may depend greatly on our full defense of the Bill of Rights today. I implore those of you that hear me to fight without ceasing, so that our descendent generations can continue to possess true human freedom. Our ancestors fought to preserve this constitutional republic for us. We owe it to the next generation to hand over the torch of liberty so they can have the pleasure of handing it over to the generation after them. When the time comes for true freedom-loving patriots to stand in the gap and say to the forces of tyrannous authority, 'This far and no further!!', I want those patriots to look be able to look back into America's past with a spirit of thanksgiving that we were able to preserve enough liberty and justice to enable them to 'throw off' that tyranny and provide new guards for their future security. ON ADDRESSING THE QUESTION: The next time you are discussing the subject of "assault" weapons and the inevitable question arises; 'What the hell do you need an assault weapon for?', how will you respond? It's more than obvious that the person who is asking the question does not know what they're talking about. To respond effectively to the question, we must take advantage of the fact that they do not know what they're talking about. Here are some ideas on how to respond.
'What the hell do you need an assault weapon for?'
There are many other ideas on how to respond to such a question as 'What the hell do you need one of those for? The best way to respond in my opinion is with kindness, gentleness and understanding and with a calm demeanor. The person asking the question seems to be looking for a confrontation. But it will completely disarm them if you respond calmly and decisively and look them directly in the eye. An informed, calm and rational demeanor when discussing this subject will give you the chance to prove to them that you're not the ignorant, red-neck gun freak that they assumed you were when they initially asked the confrontational question in the first place. I have found that the more that you can get them to talk the better. Because the basis of their argument is emotional the more they have to say the less it will make sense to them and those around them. They will usually come up with something like this; "How many of these guns have killed kids." and other such mis-informed and ignorant rhetoric. Ask them, where they heard that misinformation? Ask them to give you their sources? Make them explain themselves and why they feel that way. This always backs them into a corner.
This is mainly because emotional statements seldom include facts that can be substantiated. If you do end up responding to them aggressively, it is likely that they will not really engage with you and listen to what you have to say to them. If you're too aggressive, they will shut down and dismiss what you have to say. You have the best opportunity to convert an anti-gunner into a pro-gunner simply by taking them shooting if you can arrange it. Taking an anti-gunner to the firing range is likely the best thing you could do to preserve and protect the Second Amendment. JOIN THE NRA AND FORWARD THIS ON TO YOUR NON-NRA FRIENDS AND FAMILY. http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR017807 Help me recruit five hundred (500) NRA members in 2009! We can do it! To learn more about the National Rifle Association, its goal and benefits of membership, please see my "NRA Membership" page: http://www.savetheguns.com/nra_membership.htm Thanks for staying in the fight with me! We are currently ON TRACK to recruit 500 NRA members for 2009. Thank you for keeping this important effort on track. Closing Comments 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. Thanks,
|
