 Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Issue 99 October 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. The U.S. Supreme Court case called D.C. v Heller [http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/07-290.pdf] found that the 2nd Amendment's protections were not solely limited to active service in an organized military body. The Heller case however did not ensure and guarantee that the 2nd Amendment applied to the fifty states and local municipalities, as Washington D.C. is a federal enclave and not a state or municipality. Freedom-minded gun owners and 2nd Amendment activists knew quite well that subsequent cases would have to reach the Supreme Court of the United States in order to seek out the boundaries of the Second Amendment and to set in stone whether or not the right to keep and bear arms also limits the power, reach and authority of the fifty states and its municipalities. Does the 2nd Amendment apply to the fifty states and the municipalities therein? The case that will decide this question has arrived. It's called McDonald v Chicago. Read on... SaveTheGuns.com Quotes of the Month "Religion,
morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever
be encouraged."
"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."
"It is a
just person who disobeys an unjust law."
"It is also
in the interests of a tyrant to keep his people poor, so that they may
not be able to afford the cost of protecting themselves by arms and be
so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for
rebellion."
"Honor,
justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which
we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity
have a right to receive from us."
"The
constitutions of most of our states (and of the United States) assert
that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by
themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed;
that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion,
freedom of property and freedom of the press."
"Self
defense is a primary law of nature, which no subsequent law of society
can abolish; the immediate gift of the Creator, obliges everyone …
to resist the first approaches of tyranny."
Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814) 5th Vice President under Madison, Massachusetts Governor, U.S. House Rep and U.S. Senator. (Probably one of the most important men you've never heard of)
"The rights
of conscience, of bearing arms, of changing the government, are
declared to be inherent in the people."
Fisher Ames (1758-1808), U.S. House Rep of Massachusetts Letter to F.R. Minoe, June 12, 1789 Upwards of twenty million (20,000,000) Americans claim to identify with the message of the National Rifle Association and claim to be members, but only just over four million (4,000,000) are active members in good standing. Membership in the NRA would increase by five hundred percent (500%) if everyone who identified as an NRA member actually joined. JOIN THE FIGHT, GET ONTO THE BATTLEFIELD AND STOP MERELY OBSERVING. 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. Okay ladies and gentlemen. Hunting season is upon us. Yes, it's hunting season!!!! Each year too many hunters are killed, maimed or permanently disabled through very avoidable accidental shootings while hunting. I'm going to just give one single rule here to combat this all too common tragedy. Because of the fact that many species of game animals have different rules, tags, licenses, fees and seasons from one sex to another, it is not a stretch of the imagination to say that before you engage a game animal with a potentially deadly weapon, you should positively identify the sex of the animal before you fire at it or shoot an arrow at it. If EVERY HUNTER positively identified the sex of a game animal before they shot anything at it, it would save the lives of dozens of hunters this season. Positively identify the animal as being either male or female before you pull that trigger. You do not want to experience the horror of finding out that you just ended the life of a friend or family member because you thought they were a game animal. Positively identifying the sex of the animal whenever possible, will save lives.
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 United Kingdom banned handguns in the year 1997. Since then armed robbery is up 170.1%, kidnapping and abductions are up 144%, assaults are up 130.9%, attempted murder is up 117.6% and sexual assaults are up 112.6%. source: http://www.gunfacts.info/pdfs/gun-facts/5.1/gun-facts-5.1-screen.pdf There is no definable correlation between the availability of firearms and the violent crime rate when comparing one country to another. Check out page six (6) from the .pdf document I've listed above, which clearly lays this fact out in an easy-to-see graph. Some countries that have access to a lot of firearms have fairly low rates of violent crime, while some countries with a lot of gun control have higher rates of crime. But in other cases, the opposite is true on both fronts. JOIN THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION. JOIN THE UNITED STATES CONCEALED CARRY ASSOCIATION ISN'T IT TIME TO GET ONTO THE BATTLEFIELD AND JOIN THE NRA OR JOIN THE USCCA? STOP WATCHING AND GET ON THE BATTLEFIELD WITH US. AN ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP IN THE NRA IS ONLY TEN DOLLARS ($10.00)
NRA Membership Recruiter Corner http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR017807 OCTOBER 2009 IS SIGN UP YOUR SPOUSE MONTH. SIGN UP YOUR SPOUSE FOR MEMBERSHIP IN THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION AND YOU'LL DOUBLE THE $1000 FIREARM INSURANCE FOR THE HOUSEHOLD AND YOU'LL BE ABLE TO GET ANOTHER GREAT NRA MAGAZINE. HOW COULD YOU GO WRONG FOR JUST $25.00? 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. Learn more about NRA membership benefits and pricing here: 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 907 NRA Members through this link. 398 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 still on track for 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. OCTOBER IS 'SIGN UP YOUR SPOUSE MONTH' FOR THE NRA. IT DOUBLES YOUR HOUSEHOLD'S FIREARM INSURANCE TO $2000 AND YOU GET ANOTHER MAGAZINE TO READ EACH MONTH! http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR017807 This is the link you need, pass it on... 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 The months of August and September 2009 came and went without a dime coming in from more than seven thousand eight hundred (16,000+) visitors. What am I doing wrong, that 16,000 visitors came and left without contributing a dime? Any ideas? Let me know. I'm a concerned citizen and not a savvy businessman, I could use your input. Item of the Month This is the Minuteman Monthly Item of the Month. The item of the month is something that I've had in this newsletter once before. It is a 2006 documentary called In Search of the Second Amendment. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000MCDAJY/savethegunsco-20
This documentary is one of the very best treatises on the subject ever produced. It's available for $24.95. There is NOTHING more important than the truth. 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 GET YOUR 2ND AMENDMENT AMMUNITION BY DOWNLOADING AND SAVING THE HELLER OPINION TODAY. 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. JOIN THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION. President Obama News President Obama has stacked his administration with anti-gun zealots like no other U.S. President has in history. Almost anyone who holds a post in his cabinet has a history of anti-gun activism or at minimum anti-gun sentiment. He has the mainstream media in his pocket and has since he announced his candidacy.
We already have a standing army and an enslaved press. Stand with me while we prevent a disarmed populace. Help me stand in the doorway to tyranny. There's still plenty of room, I'll push over. SEE THIS VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifEg1aq6Emo PRESIDENT OBAMA IS NO SUPPORTER OF THE 2ND AMENDMENT, DESPITE HIS UNUSUAL SILENCE ON THE ISSUE SO FAR DURING HIS ADMINISTRATION. WE MUST BE READY FOR THIS WHEN IT COMES. NOTHING WE CAN DO IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN RESPONDING EN MASSE ONCE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION MOVES AGAINST THE SECOND AMENDMENT. Having a weak-kneed and under-funded pro-gun movement, where less than five percent (-5%) of American gun owners play a role, will be partly to blame for whatever happens. Everything we have fought for since 1787 for gun rights will depend upon the response of freedom-loving Americans when the assault on our gun rights happens. At this critical time, we must not spend more than a few minutes discussing it amongst ourselves, but rather we must obliterate the phone, fax and e-mail lines of the 535 members of Congress. Only that, will make the difference necessary. Oh yeah, that and not voting for anti-gun incumbents. ONLY 5% OF AMERICAN GUN OWNERS ARE CURRENT MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION. DOES THAT FIGURE MAKE ANYONE ELSE ANGRY BUT ME? JOIN THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION. FOR ACTIVISTS ONLY: GET ACTIVE IN YOUR OWN STATE!!! Please keep an eye on your own state's firearm, hunting and self defense legislation. Since it has been tougher to get a gun control bill through Congress, anti-gun activists have increased their focus on the states. Please stand tall and defend your own state through activism. http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/State/ Go here, choose your state and sign up for the alerts. I have the national NRA-ILA alerts running constantly under the navigation bar at www.SaveTheGuns.com. Visit and act today. Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Aiming Point Let me begin by posting the reaction of the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation:
Now, allow me to take a moment to post the reaction to the SCOTUS' accepting McDonald v Chicago from the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF)
As the SAF clearly stated in the preceding statement, almost the entire Bill of Rights which was introduced to Congress in 1789 by James Madison, has been applied to state and municipal governments through the application of the 14th Amendment. The people of the City of Chicago deserve an answer on this question. The residents of the City of Chicago can pick up a copy of the Bill of Rights and easily read that the 2nd Amendment guarantees them the right to keep and bear private arms, but that constitutionally guaranteed right does not apply to them because their own city government has seen fit to deny this pre-existing constitutionally guaranteed right of a free people. The honest, decent and law abiding citizens of the City of Chicago deserve nothing less than a full explanation of this situation. Can a state government or the locally elected board of selectmen, city council or mayor of any municipality reach out toward their own constituents and strip from them the fundamental constitutional rights that are afforded to the rest of the citizens by the Constitution of the United States? Can a state or municipality strip constitutionally guaranteed and fundamental rights from its own law abiding citizens, without infringing upon the federal guarantee of those same rights? Looking at the actual words of the Founding Fathers and gleaning from them the actual intent of the 2nd Amendment, the conclusion that one simply must arrive at is elementary logic. It is plain logic and elementary school civics that none of the fifty states or their municipalities can step in between the Bill of Rights and its own citizens by enacting local laws or ordinances that construct blockades to the fundamental and pre-existing rights of a free people. Perhaps the reader is not fully aware of it, but it was James Madison who introduced the 2nd Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. House of Representatives on June 8, 1789. Two and half years later, on December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights would become part of the United States Constitution as the first ten amendments. But what did James Madison really think about the 2nd Amendment? It was James Madison who proposed it, at the urging of Thomas Jefferson a year earlier in 1788:
Thomas Jefferson also said the following. He posits here that most of the constitutions of the states in 1824 protected the inherent rights of the people and that within each state it is their right and duty to be sufficiently armed at all times. Hence my quite logical assertion that the fifty states must also adhere to the protections of the people set forth in the Bill of Rights.
But what did Madison have to say about the right of a free citizenry to keep and bear their private arms himself? Since Madison introduced the right to keep and bear arms to Congress himself, I'm assuming he knew something about its intent.
Another person, who was very instrumental in the formation and proposal of the Bill of Rights was George Mason. In fact, George Mason has been known as the 'Father of the Bill of Rights' What did Mason think about it? Pay very close attention to the wording here:
George Mason was saying that when "...any government..." nation "...or community;..." shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community has a right to alter it or abolish it. John Adams said the following:
John Adams acknowledged as most of the Founders did, that the overthrow of tyranny was at the very least a fundamental right of a free people, if not actually a solemn duty. If we are to interpret the 2nd Amendment so that the states and municipalities can eradicate the right to bear arms at will, the power and authority to overthrow any tyrannous government could be rendered totally useless by something as insignificant and paltry as a local town ordinance. Furthermore, nowhere in the founding documents of the United States of America or in the letters and speeches of the Founding Fathers did any of them ever utter any support for gun control laws. None of the Framers ever said or wrote that federal, state or even local gun control laws were either advantageous or permitted by the 2nd Amendment. The case of McDonald v Chicago will be heard either very late 2009 or beginning in early 2010, with a final decision expected on the matter by June 2010. We will then get the definitive answer upon whether or not states and/or municipalities can render the constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms to be meaningless text on a 223 year old piece of parchment, by something as patently inane as a simple ordinance by a city council. I think not. What say you? STAY ACTIVE, STAY INFORMED, STAY UNITED AND KEEP YOUR NRA MEMBERSHIP CURRENT. LET'S STAND IN THE DOORWAY TO TYRANNY TOGETHER. THERE'S STILL PLENTY OF ROOM, I'LL PUSH OVER. 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. It is likely that we will have recruited our one thousandth (1,000th) member of the National Rifle Association by the end of the year. Let's shoot for that as well. We have new 102 NRA members left to hit 500 for the year. But we only have 93 new NRA Members left to hit the impressive mark of 1,000 since February 2005. 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,
|
