In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Right to bear arms: As American as apple pie
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Right to bear arms: As American as apple pie
Broad ownership of firearms guards against government tyranny
TOM ASHCRAFT
Special to the Observer
"The three great safeguards of American liberty are the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box."
Former Sen. Steve Symms, R-Idaho, was the first person I heard make such a statement, much to the amusement of his pro-gun audience. Sometimes it is attributed to American satirist Ambrose Bierce. Whatever its origins, it does reflect something true about the American experience and the conviction of a significant portion of every generation of Americans.
The "shot heard round the world," as Emerson immortalized it, came from a gun fired near Concord, Mass., on April 19, 1775. Through firearms, Americans won their independence from Britain. When the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, the Second Amendment enshrined "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."
Both Union and Confederate soldiers returning home at the end of the Civil War kept their government-issued firearms. Under the articles of surrender, Southern troops were supposed to turn theirs in, but Union commanders made no serious effort at enforcement, according to legal historian Michael Bellesiles.
The National Rifle Association estimates that today some 60 to 65 million Americans own over 200 million firearms, almost half the country's households. The possession, use and ownership of guns and ammunition has become a major and perennial political issue.
Just last month the federal "assault weapons ban" -- so called by liberals as part of their polemics for gun control and incessantly repeated by supportive media -- was allowed to expire by Congress.
Pushed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, the law banned semi-automatic weapons with specified kinds of attachments (sharply angled grips, adjustable stocks, threaded muzzles) and new ammunition magazines of more than 10 rounds. Research completed in 1997, mandated as part of the law, showed that such weapons had been used in only a tiny fraction of crimes.
Further, fully automatic weapons have been illegal since the National Firearms Act of 1934, and virtually none of the pro-gun organizations seek repeal of that law.
Why have we Americans put such a premium on the right to keep and bear arms for so long?
First, broad ownership of firearms among law-abiding citizens serves a fundamental political purpose. It communicates to those in control of the machinery of government that they do not have a monopoly on the means to use force and that tyranny by the rulers may provoke a lethal reaction from the people.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, in his 1833 Commentaries on the Constitution, said, "The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers." Story was stating the common view of early American leaders.
Second, the right of a law-abiding citizen to own a gun is a sure means of self-defense. People with firearms, even if law enforcement becomes unable to maintain the peace in a specific locale, are capable of defending themselves, their families, others and property against killers, assailants, rapists and thieves.
In recent years many states have passed right-to-carry laws authorizing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns. In his book "More Guns, Less Crime," John R. Lott Jr. said, "When state concealed-handgun laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by about 8 percent, rapes fell by 5 percent, and aggravated assaults fell by 7 percent." After studying data on crime victims, criminologist Gary Kleck asserted that guns are used three to five times as often for defensive purposes as for criminal purposes.
Perhaps the most potent evidence on the defense value of widespread gun ownership, as opposed to restricting guns, comes from an expert, Sammy ("the Bull") Gravano, a former mobster turned informant. "Gun control? It's the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters," he said. "I want you to have nothing. If I'm a bad guy, I'm always going to have a gun."
Third, Americans in large numbers have always been hunters of game. Pennsylvania initially approved the Constitution without a bill of rights. But the dissenters there wanted acknowledgment of the right to bear arms for, among other things, "the purpose of killing game."
Hunting is not the chief purpose of the Second Amendment, but it is a purpose.
The issue of gun ownership, perhaps unlike any other, reveals a division of mind among modern Americans. It is the proponents who have American history on their side.
Tom
Ashcraft
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/10053628.htm?1c
Broad ownership of firearms guards against government tyranny
TOM ASHCRAFT
Special to the Observer
"The three great safeguards of American liberty are the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box."
Former Sen. Steve Symms, R-Idaho, was the first person I heard make such a statement, much to the amusement of his pro-gun audience. Sometimes it is attributed to American satirist Ambrose Bierce. Whatever its origins, it does reflect something true about the American experience and the conviction of a significant portion of every generation of Americans.
The "shot heard round the world," as Emerson immortalized it, came from a gun fired near Concord, Mass., on April 19, 1775. Through firearms, Americans won their independence from Britain. When the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, the Second Amendment enshrined "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."
Both Union and Confederate soldiers returning home at the end of the Civil War kept their government-issued firearms. Under the articles of surrender, Southern troops were supposed to turn theirs in, but Union commanders made no serious effort at enforcement, according to legal historian Michael Bellesiles.
The National Rifle Association estimates that today some 60 to 65 million Americans own over 200 million firearms, almost half the country's households. The possession, use and ownership of guns and ammunition has become a major and perennial political issue.
Just last month the federal "assault weapons ban" -- so called by liberals as part of their polemics for gun control and incessantly repeated by supportive media -- was allowed to expire by Congress.
Pushed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, the law banned semi-automatic weapons with specified kinds of attachments (sharply angled grips, adjustable stocks, threaded muzzles) and new ammunition magazines of more than 10 rounds. Research completed in 1997, mandated as part of the law, showed that such weapons had been used in only a tiny fraction of crimes.
Further, fully automatic weapons have been illegal since the National Firearms Act of 1934, and virtually none of the pro-gun organizations seek repeal of that law.
Why have we Americans put such a premium on the right to keep and bear arms for so long?
First, broad ownership of firearms among law-abiding citizens serves a fundamental political purpose. It communicates to those in control of the machinery of government that they do not have a monopoly on the means to use force and that tyranny by the rulers may provoke a lethal reaction from the people.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, in his 1833 Commentaries on the Constitution, said, "The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers." Story was stating the common view of early American leaders.
Second, the right of a law-abiding citizen to own a gun is a sure means of self-defense. People with firearms, even if law enforcement becomes unable to maintain the peace in a specific locale, are capable of defending themselves, their families, others and property against killers, assailants, rapists and thieves.
In recent years many states have passed right-to-carry laws authorizing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns. In his book "More Guns, Less Crime," John R. Lott Jr. said, "When state concealed-handgun laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by about 8 percent, rapes fell by 5 percent, and aggravated assaults fell by 7 percent." After studying data on crime victims, criminologist Gary Kleck asserted that guns are used three to five times as often for defensive purposes as for criminal purposes.
Perhaps the most potent evidence on the defense value of widespread gun ownership, as opposed to restricting guns, comes from an expert, Sammy ("the Bull") Gravano, a former mobster turned informant. "Gun control? It's the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters," he said. "I want you to have nothing. If I'm a bad guy, I'm always going to have a gun."
Third, Americans in large numbers have always been hunters of game. Pennsylvania initially approved the Constitution without a bill of rights. But the dissenters there wanted acknowledgment of the right to bear arms for, among other things, "the purpose of killing game."
Hunting is not the chief purpose of the Second Amendment, but it is a purpose.
The issue of gun ownership, perhaps unlike any other, reveals a division of mind among modern Americans. It is the proponents who have American history on their side.
Tom
Ashcraft
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/10053628.htm?1c
Comments
10/29/2004 3:37:00 PM
To: National Desk, Political Reporter
Contact: Alan Gottlieb of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, 425-454-4911; Web: http://www.ccrkba.org
BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In just a few days, the future of American gun rights will be decided at voting booths across the country, and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) today urged all gun owners to "take the necessary hour and vote to protect your gun rights."
"It's not only a question of who will occupy the Oval Office for the next four years," observed CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, "but who will sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, who may be appointed to federal appeals courts, and who will guide the legislative agenda. These are critical considerations, because what happens in the next four years will not only impact your gun rights, but those of your children, and their children."
Gottlieb noted that the next president will be appointing probably one or more new Supreme Court justices, and more federal court judges.
"Do gun owners want those appointments to hinge on whether a judicial nominee supports individual rights, or is an activist subscribing to some 'collective rights' theory that will erase more than 200 years of liberty," Gottlieb questioned. "Does the firearms community want leaders who think supporting the Second Amendment means showing up for a photo-op goose hunt, or leaders who support individual rights, sign concealed carry laws, and rein in government agencies?
"Firearms rights activists should take this final weekend before the election to talk to their shooting and hunting friends and family members, and make sure they get to the polls," Gottlieb continued. "Don't be gulled into thinking that your vote doesn't count, or that your voice will not be heard. Those who would discourage you from going to the polls are effectively trying to steal your vote. And the only reason they want to steal your vote is so that later on, they can pass laws to steal your gun rights.
"America does stand at a crossroads," Gottlieb concluded. "Down one path, lies a nation where gun rights are something to be eroded until they are erased. Down the other path is an America where gun rights can one day again flourish, and where the Second Amendment can resume its rightful position as the original Homeland Security clause of our Constitution. Gun owners hold the future of America in their hands, and in their votes."
With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.
http://www.usnewswire.com/
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=39172
GEORGE WASHINGTON (First President)
"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people's liberty teeth keystone... the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable... more than 99% of them by their silence indicate that they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. When firearms go, all goes, we need them every hour." (Address to 1st session of Congress)