Thomas Jefferson

"We must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy."--Thomas Jefferson


"America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. "
--John Quincy Adams
US diplomat & politician (1767 - 1848)

“Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation”
-James Madison at the Virginia Ratification Debates
"With respect to the words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators."

- James Madison's Letter to James Robertson, April 20, 1831


Sunday, March 18, 2018

The Truth about Parkland and Gun rights



I, and many others that have chosen to be informed on this, have noted that once again the act of vile, disgusting, twisted animals bent on committing acts of violence is once again being blamed on the gun and the “evil” NRA instead of where it should be in this case-with the FBI, Broward County Police and the Department of Education and Justice Department. No one in their anti-gun fervor wants to discuss the “Promise Program”. This program was implemented by the Obama justice department and Dept of (no) Education and continues today. It was a misguided attempt at covering up crime statistics by financially incentivizing high teen crime counties around the country-especially those with minority populations- to look the other way in to many cases in order to show lower incarceration  rates. The more they got those numbers down, the more federal dollars they received. This is why the BCPD never prosecuted Nicholas Cruz after he committed MANY lesser violent acts which were a clear warning sign, threatened the schools and others on more than one occasion, and posted dangerous comments on social media. The FBI has admitted they were tipped off about him on multiple occasions but again, did nothing to stop him. Had he been prosecuted and removed from the schools (as he was over 18 for much of this time) he would have had a record and likely would not have passed a back ground check to obtain his gun legally.

Now on to the issue of the guns themselves. There was a writer in the March 16 Villager that made some points that have also been made by other writers recently that need to be challenged and corrected. First, while I appreciate and honor the writer’s military service, that in NO way gives the writer absolute moral authority or the final word on guns or my rights. Because this is simply his opinion and there are millions of other vets, law enforcement, and legal gun owners that would disagree with his position.  If you choose to not own one of these weapons (or any other) that is your right as well. But there are millions who peacefully and safely own AR-15s and other  weapons that will NEVER commit a crime with it. So making new,  feel good laws that will do nothing except disarm and criminalize law abiding gun owners that will never commit a heinous crime is pure folly. Need proof? One example is the city of Chicago. Some of the strictest gun laws in the country but has some of the highest gun murder rates as well. Why? Because criminals and evil people do not obey laws. Only the lawful do, and they are the ones who will suffer.  Life and living –especially in an open free Republic like ours is not without danger  and risk. You cannot legislate a risk free society no matter how hard you try and the government apparatus that would be needed to attempt it would be beyond frightening anyways. Another example? Did Timothy McVeigh fire one shot to commit his horrible act of evil in Oklahoma City in 1995 killing 168? No he did not. Did terrorists on 9/11/2001 fire   one shot to kill thousands in NY, PA, and DC? No they did not. It is just easy and convenient to blame guns because gun grabbing fulfills a political end. And let us also note that not one of these mass shooters were NRA members, not one. And there is also the argument about “if we could save just one life, wouldn't it be worth it?” Ok, so by that logic then,  shouldn't we outlaw abortion? Wouldn't it be worth it “if we could save just one life”?

The reader also claims to have the only correct interpretation of the Second amendment to the Constitution and claim that others with different opinions either haven’t read it or “really don’t understand it”. That is laughable and insulting. It says what it says and any reading of the papers that are Founders wrote in defense of the Constitution and the Second Amendment specifically are plain to read and understand.  The Founders’ intentions were clear why the Second Amendment was added and is second only to the freedom of speech and the press. And speaking of that, the writer also makes another specious argument that the Founders could “had no way of knowing what lay ahead 200 plus years…”. Using that logic, should we also outlaw broadcast media, blogs, internet, podcasts, satellite radio and the myriad of other ways other than printing press newspapers that we get our information from because clearly there is no way the Founders could have known about the technology that would be created to these ends?  Though I dare say there are many on the fringe left that actually would ban these channels if they could and it served their controlling ends—much the way disarming the population would also serve their ends.

Finally, it should be noted that banning a gun like the AR is just the opening act for the anti gun crowd. There is already a bill in the Congress that would ban EVERY semi auto gun in existence—even hand guns. While fortunately that bill is going nowhere, it is instructional to see the plans of the gun grabbers and what they ultimately seek. They will not ever stop and it will never be enough for them until there are no legal guns at all. If that is what they want, they should proudly say so, so that we can all see what their intentions are and choose sides on that that basis. Then instead of finding activist judges and unconstitutionally driven politicians to do their bidding, try to do it the right way: seek a Constitutional amendment to abolish the Second Amendment and see how that goes. I’m sure the gun grabbers know exactly what the amendment process is and can recite it easily as again they are the absolute moral authorities on natural rights, are they not?  No, actually they do not know the process in most cases and if they do, they know it would never  have a chance to become reality so they resort to the aforementioned politicians and judges to do their bidding.

The gun grabbers say we have to be “like the rest of the world” when it comes to guns. And in truth, they want to subvert all of our liberties to their global ideology. But we are Americans, we are not like the rest of the world by design and should never give up the unique God given rights and freedoms that we have which have been so brilliantly captured in our Founding. I say to those people that wish to subvert our rights, if you want to live in a society like that, then please leave and go find one you prefer, but leave the rest of us who want to preserve the greatest country on Earth the hell alone.