From: "Chris R. Tame", [EMAIL PROTECTED] In article <ztJ86.9598$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Mark2101 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >I took the words to Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech and rewrote >them to show how similar things are for gun owners now as they were for >Blacks in the 50's and 60's. >********************************************* >I have a Gun Owners Dream >(Taken from Martin Luther Kings 'I have dream' speech) > >Over two hundred years ago, The Founding American Fathers, signed the Bill >of Rights which included the second amendment. This momentous decree came as >a great beacon light of hope to millions of Americans who had been seared in >the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the >long night of vulnerability. > >But two hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the gun owner >is still not free to exercise that God given and Constitutionally >acknowledged right. Two hundred years later, the life of the gun owner is >still sadly crippled by the manacles of Gun control and the chains of >discrimination. Two hundred years later, the gun owner lives on a lonely >island of bigotry and hate in the midst of a vast ocean of political >correctness. Two hundred years later, the Gun owner is still languishing in >the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. >So I write to you here today to dramatize an appalling condition. > >In a sense we, gun owners, call to our nation's leaders to cash a check. >When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the >Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a >promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a >promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, >liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the means to secure it in the >right to bear arms. > >It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note >insofar as her citizens of gun owners are concerned. Instead of honoring >this sacred obligation, America has given the gun owner a bad check which >has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the >bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are >insufficient funds in the great vaults of freedom of this nation. So we want >to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of >freedom and the security of justice. We also want to remind America of the >fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling >off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise >from the dark and desolate valley of bigotry and hate to the sunlit path of >equal rights and justice. Now is the time to open the doors of freedom to >all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the >quicksand's of constitutional injustice to the solid rock of rights and >freedom. > >It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and >to underestimate the determination of the gun owner. This sweltering summer >of the gun owners legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an >invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Now is not an end, but a >beginning. Those who hope that the gun owner needed to blow off steam and >will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to >business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America >until the gun owner is granted his equal rights. The whirlwinds of revolt >will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of >justice emerges. > >But there is something that I must say to the people who stand on the warm >threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining >our equal rights we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to >satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and >hatred. > >We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and >discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into >physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of >meeting illegal force with soul force and prepared force. The marvelous new >militancy which has engulfed the gun owner community must not lead us to >distrust of all anti-gun people, for many of our gun brothers, as evidenced >by their increasing numbers , are those anti-gun people that have come to >realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is >inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. > >And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot >turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, >"When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our >bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot carry concealed in the >motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied >as long as the gun owner's basic mobility is from a smaller set of >restrictions to a set larger ones. We can never be satisfied as long as a >gun owner in California cannot carry and a gun owner in New York believes he >has nothing left for which to fight for. No, no, we are not satisfied, and >we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and >righteousness like a mighty stream. > >I am not unmindful that some of you have gone through great trials and >tribulations. Some of you have gone through narrow cells. Some of you have >gone through areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the >storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You >have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the >faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. > >Go back to California, go back to New York, go back to Chicago, go back to >New Orleans, go back to the legislative and restrictive areas of our cities, >knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not >wallow in the valley of despair. > >I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and >frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply >rooted in the American dream. > >I have a dream that one day this nation of gun owners will rise up and live >out the true meaning of its creed: "that they are endowed by their Creator >with certain unalienable Rights." > >I have a dream that one day in the city of Chicago the sons of former >anti-gunners and the sons of former gunners will be able to sit down >together at a table of brotherhood. > >I have a dream that one day even the state of California, a desert state, >sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed >into an oasis of freedom and justice. > >I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where >they will not be judged by the number of rounds in their gun clip but by the >content of their character. > >I have a dream today. > >I have a dream that one day the state of California , whose governor's lips >are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, >will be transformed into a situation where gun owning men and women will be >able to join hands with non-gun owning men and women and walk together as >sisters and brothers. > >I have a dream today. > >I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and >mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the >crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be >revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. > >This is the gun owners hope. This is the faith with which I return to the >restricted areas. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain >of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the >jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. >With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to >struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, >knowing that we will be free one day. > >This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a >new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I >sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every >mountainside, let freedom ring." > >And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom >ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from >the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening >Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! > >Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! > >Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! > >But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! > >Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! > >Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of California. From >every mountainside, let freedom ring. > >When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every >hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that >day when all of God's children, Gun owning men and non-gunning men, Jews and >Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and say in >the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God >Almighty, we are free at last!" 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