WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
Distorting the Second Amendment
by Burnie Thompson
While visiting a good friend who teaches 8th grade at a local public school,
I decided to peruse through the history textbook, "America: Pathways to the
Present," published by Prentice Hall. On page 91 there is a table outlining
The Bill of Rights. The First Amendment, the authors tell us, "Guarantees
freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition."
The textbook goes on to explain the significance of the Second Amendment. It
"Guarantees the individual states the right to maintain a militia." I went
through the roof.
James Madison authored The Bill of Rights to limit the federal government's
authority to interfere with the individual liberty of the people of the
United States. The Second Amendment declares, "A well regulated Militia,
being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to
keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
It is currently popular among our intellectual elite to ascribe the
protections of the 2nd Amendment away from the people and to the State. This
is not done in any of the other original 10 Amendments. Can you imagine
anyone ascribing the protections of the First Amendment's guarantee of free
speech to the state and away from the people? The notion is preposterous.
Now we are told that the Second Amendment does not guarantee our unalienable
right to protect our lives and the lives of our family with firearms. In
lawyerly doublespeak, they insist the only Amendment that does not limit the
power of the central government from infringing on our individual liberties
is the one that declares, "…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms
shall not be infringed."
It is one thing to argue that the Second Amendment is bad policy. Though I
certainly disagree, at least it is a respectable position to hold. What is
disingenuous is the effort to convolute, twist and distort its meaning.
Daniel D. Polsby, Professor of law at Northwestern University has written,
"no ambiguity at all surrounds the attitude of the constitutional generation
concerning the 'right to keep and bear arms.' To put the matter bluntly, the
Founders of the United States were what we would nowadays call gun nuts. 'One
loves to possess arms,' Thomas Jefferson wrote to President Washington."
Polsby continues, "Patrick Henry declared that 'the great object is that
every man be armed…Everyone who is able may have a gun.' And James Madison,
author of the Bill of Rights, recognized 'the advantage of being armed, which
the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation,' whose
tyrannical governments are 'afraid to trust the people with arms.'"
Al Gore promises that if he is elected president he will require photo
identification for gun owners. The willingness for Americans to relinquish
their liberties in exchange for promises of safety is alarming, especially
considering the string of broken promises by our increasingly paternalistic
government.
With already more than 20,000 gun control laws on the books across the
country, contemporary liberals are convinced we need more to end
indiscriminate copycat carnage with firearms. Everything from the government
limiting the amount or type of firearms we are permitted to purchase, to high
technology safety devices to raising the minimum age of purchasing firearms
up to 25.
The federal gun buyback program is also a sham. How is it a "buyback" program
when the federal government never owned the firearms in the first place? This
sneaky, subconscious campaign implies that the government is the true owner
of the means to our self-protection.
Already the sale of inexpensive guns ("Saturday Night Specials") is outlawed
in California. Consider the regressive nature of this policy, as it is the
lower income folks living in high crime neighborhoods that are the first to
feel the affect. The wealthy can afford elaborate security systems, armed
guards or more expensive guns.
Professor John Lott and Criminologist Gary Kleck estimate 2.5 million
instances annually whereby citizens use guns to repel criminals, and almost
always without ever firing a shot. It makes sense that criminals would prefer
to meet less resistance, doesn't it?
By distorting the purpose of the Second Amendment -- which ensures freedom
through a people capable of defending its liberties -- the gun control crowd
has compromised our security and that of our families. It should not come as
a surprise that Americans are handing over their liberties -- even
Constitutionally enumerated rights -- little by little.
Just pick up a public school textbook and read what it has to say about The
Bill of Rights.
*COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107,
any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use
without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational
purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ]
Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists!
******************************************************************************
*******************
A vote for Bush or Gore is a vote to continue Clinton policies!
A vote for Buchanan is a vote to continue America!
Therefore a vote for Gore or Bush is a wasted vote for America!
Don't waste your vote! Vote for Patrick Buchanan!
Today, candor compels us to admit that our vaunted two-party system is a
snare and a delusion, a fraud upon the nation. Our two parties have become
nothing but two wings of the same bird of prey...
Patrick Buchanan
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
