Thank You....

The ‘76er will be taking a break until after the first of the year. With my work schedule as chaotic as it is going to be I don’t want to leave you all hanging until the next post. But I didn’t want to just say adios for a couple weeks without saying thank you.

Thanks to you, the readers, The ‘76er has grown to over two hundred visitors and it has some international readership as well. I only write this but with no one to read it then I may as well not write. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that has shown their support by being a regular reader. I also want to thank anyone that was just curious enough to read just once. It means a lot to me if anyone simply just checks this thing out.

I also wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. There is a lot that will be happening over the next year, I’m sure, and you can bet the’76er will be there talking about it and speaking out for liberty. I also hope to put up some history posts as well to spread some knowledge about our nation that usually gets glossed over in schools these days. Our history is a rich and exciting one and I want to share it with everyone.

The future seems uncertain at times. The election is past and as I wrote before the die has been cast. We shall have to see what will develop from here. But as always I must urge you all to remain vigilant. We are the guardians of our Freedom and Liberty. Those are things we have inherently and they are not given to us by anyone other than our Creator. The Constitution was written to show we were free but that piece of paper can’t fight for itself. Patriotism starts with you at an individual level. Without that fire our independence would never have happened and our nation would not have survived this long.

Over the coming years we do have an uphill fight for our liberty and maintaining the dream our Founding Fathers started. What began at Jamestown and Plymouth has blossomed into the most powerful, prosperous, and blessed nation on the planet. But democracy is not self-sustaining. So be vigilant.

Again, thank you all for reading and supporting this blog. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year. The ‘76er will be back by January 5^th.

Thank you for reading. God bless all of you and God bless the United States of America.

Part Three: The Future of Gun Ownership in America.

Writers Note: In light of the events that transpired several days ago I feel the need to address it before continuing this series further. What happened on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut was an absolute tragedy. The slaughter of twenty innocent children and six adults is unforgivable. Personally I think it’s still too early to start going into politics about it, however due to the overwhelming outcry from the anti-gun community I think I need to at least respond.

Yes, guns were used to commit a crime. I am not trying to take away from the horror of what happened. However, we need to try and keep a level head about this. The rights of millions should not be taken away because of the madness of a few. We have gun laws and restrictions that do their job, despite what the media and Hollywood try to tell you.

While I won’t comment on any details of this event because information is still coming to light I will say this: As always, we need to do our research. Like how often do these kinds of crimes actually occur (they are less than 1% of all gun crimes). Were the proper precautions taken by the gun owner in securing the weapons? Were there signs that the shooter was mentally unstable prior to the attack? We need to look at the root of the problem and the root is not guns, it’s the criminal. It’s the why not the what. A gun can do nothing out of the hands of a criminal. So please let us not attack the Constitution because of a criminal.

Finally, I would like to say that my prayers go out to the families that have been rocked by this tragedy. I agree with President Obama, my heart is broken as well. To target a child is unspeakable and to lose a child is unfathomable. I pray God’s comfort over the families and the town. You can be sure God is with you and you can be sure that I and your country are with you. God bless you all.

The following post has not been altered from its original text to include the events of Sandy Hook Elementary.

 

If you’ve kept up with the series this far I thank you. This will be the third and final installment on gun rights and ownership. Again, thank you for your support.

Over the past two posts we covered the history of the Second Amendment and the current place of firearms in our society. We’ve shown how guns were used to sustain this country in its earliest form and win its independence. We looked at how guns are used responsibly today and how there is a social taboo associated with them. Now that we’ve looked to the past and present it’s time to look ahead into the future.

I understand that speculation and conjecture are ill-advised was of trying to figure out where one is headed. I’ve always been a believer that to see where you are going you need to look at the past. You need to know where you came from to see where you’re going to end up. With that in mind, let’s take a look at past attacks on gun rights and the future plans of the anti-gunners.

Over the past years there have been many groups formed to fight against the right to own and carry firearms. Among the most known today are The Brady Campaign, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. They all have a trend that they follow. Whenever there is a mass shooting in the country they are the first ones on camera demanding harsher restrictions on guns and asking for donations to fund their campaign. But when guns are used to stop crime and save lives they are nowhere to be found. They refuse to acknowledge that there is such a thing as a responsible law-abiding gun owner.

Despite this they are major players in the war on guns. But these groups can do nothing without the backing of the government, local and federal, to make their dreams a reality. So what can we expect from the people that swore to defend our Constitution? It gets kind of grim. We first need to take a look at the man currently in the White House and what exactly he thinks about guns. Hold on, this is a long bumpy ride.

There are many who say Obama is pro-gun. They say he is even the most pro-gun President we’ve had in years. Why, he even signed the National Park Carry Bill (Hint: that doesn’t exist). I beg to differ. Obama has a very, very long history of anti-gun statements, actions and legislation. Let’s take a look.

·         September 9, 1996 State Senator Obama supports a ban on the manufacture, sales and possession of handguns and semi-automatic weapons, erroneously calling them “assault weapons”.

·         July 2, 1998 Obama endorses a ban on all sales and transfers of semi-automatic weapons.

·         December 13, 1999 Obama proposes banning gun store within five miles of schools and parks.

·         January 1, 2000 Obama co-sponsors a bill to limit firearms purchases to one per month.

·         February 20, 2011 Quoted as saying “There is no reason anybody should need an assault weapon”.

·         March 13, 2003 Obama votes to ban hundreds of Common rifle and shotguns.

·         March 25, 2004 Obama votes against lowering Firearm Owners Identification Card age from 21 to 18.

·         April 27, 2004 Obama reaffirms his opposition to concealed carry.

·         October 24, 2004 Obama says it’s a “scandal” Bush didn’t renew the assault weapons ban.

·         July 29, 2005 Now U.S. Senator Obama votes against prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers.

·         September 22, 2005 Obama votes against pro-second amendment John Roberts for Supreme Court Justice.

·         January 31, 2006 Obama votes against pro-second amendment Samuel Alito for Supreme Court Justice.

·         April 22, 2007 Obama favors a ban on standard-capacity ammunition magazines.

·         April 2, 2008 Obama again reaffirms his opposition to concealed carry.

·         November 13, 2008 President-elect Obama weeds out gun-owning applicants from his staff.

·         December 1, 2008 Obama nominates staunch anti-gunner Eric Holder for Attorney General.

·         February 25 2009 Obama and Eric holder seek to re-instate the assault weapons ban.

·         May 26, 2009 Obama nominates anti-gun Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court Justice.

·         October 14, 2009 Obama reverses stance on a treaty to regulate arms trade.

·         May 10, 2010 Obama nominates anti-gun Elena Kagan for Supreme Court Justice.

·         November 15, 2010 Obama nominates anti-gun Andrew Traver to head the ATF.

·         July 7, 2011 An Obama aide says gun legislation is in the “near future”.

·         February 13, 2012 Obama cuts the budget in half for armed pilot counter-terrorism program.

·         June 20, 2012 Obama uses his position to withhold document tied to gun smuggling probe.

·         August 6, 2012 Obama confirms renewing support for semi-automatic rifle and magazine ban.

·         October 16, 2012 Obama calls for reintroduction of semi-auto firearms ban.

So Obama is pro gun, really? And this isn’t even a complete list folks. Check out this site for this list and more info.

It’s evident, if you bother to look at the facts, that Obama does not have your Second Amendment rights in mind. Unless, that is, to limit them any way he can. Now I’m not saying it’s time to bury your AR’s in the backyard because they’ll come knocking tomorrow. Nothing moves that fast and he probably couldn’t get that far….constitutionally. But what I am saying is that we need to be vigilant. We need to see where we are on the slippery slope before we take a plunge and end up in a pit we can’t get out of.

Now what about the U.S. Supreme Court? Currently there is a dangerous 5-4 split on the gun issues. With one to two and possibly three Justices retire during Obama’s second term you can bet he’ll fill those in with more anti-gun friends. But let’s take a look at the current Supreme Court and where they stand.

Chief Justice John Roberts: Pro-gun (nominated By George W. Bush)

Justice Antonin Scalia: Pro-gun (nominated by Ronald Reagan)

Justice Anthony Kennedy: Pro-gun (nominated by Ronald Reagan)

Justice Clarence Thomas: Pro-gun (nominated by George H. W. Bush)

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Anti-gun (nominated by Bill Clinton)

Justice Stephen Breyer: Anti-gun (nominated by Bill Clinton)

Justice Samuel Alito: Pro-gun (nominated by George W. Bush)

Justice Sonya Sotomayor: Anti-gun (nominated by Barack Obama)

Justice Elena Kagan: Anti-gun (nominated by Barack Obama)

Two things seem pretty evident here. One) its obvious which party is the party of gun control. Two) if any Justices retire this term we can guess how the new ones would rule on any gun related cases.

So the President is obviously anti-gun. One look at his past and you can figure out his desires for the future. This is especially true when you consider his remarks to the Brady Campaign. He assured Sarah Brady that gun control was on his agenda but it has to remain “under the radar”. That’s a little sneaky, don’t you think? And the Supreme Court is practically split with the very real chance of it falling completely to one side. Is there anyone in Washington on our side?

Congress, for once. Currently there is no strong desire to push gun control either in the Democrat-held Senate or the Republican-held House of representatives. This is a good thing considering Obama’s support for the UN Arms Treaty. Should he even sign the treaty, it would have to be ratified by the Senate for it to take effect in our country. Luckily, even with a Democrat majority, there is a strong pro-gun majority in the Senate that would not approve of the treaty. At least not as the treay stands.

Ultimately the thing we have the most to fear is the use of the Executive Order by Obama. As we have seen in his first term, Obama has a tendency to wield the pen quite a bit (yes, I know Bush signed a lot as well, and while anyone who knows me knows I can’t stand Bush either, he was a war-time President during the peak of two wars. So it’s kind of expected).

Many people feel validated in their fears of what the second Obama term could bring. Gun sales have skyrocketed since the election. So I guess Obama is helping at least one corner of the economy, just not the one he wants to.

So to sum up this series I’ll leave it at this. We don’t know for sure what the future will bring in terms of the Second Amendment and your right to own and carry a firearm. But looking into the past we know how important guns were to the founding of our nation. We know our Founding Fathers saw our ability to keep arms as essential to maintaining liberty and democracy. We know how often firearms are used to prevent crime, defend our home and businesses, and to be vigilant in the face of evil. And now that we know what we may face ahead, we must remain constantly at the ready.

The rights the Constitution confirms for us are always on a slippery slope. Put too much regulation and restriction on them and soon the lines between “unalienable rights” and granted privileges starts to blur. We can’t destroy the liberty of many because of the crimes of a few. A madman walks into a theater with an assault weapon and kills multiple people. The gun didn’t do it, the crazy murderer did. Personal responsibility for crimes should start with the criminal not an inanimate piece of plastic and metal. The Second Amendment holds the others up. An armed man is a citizen; an unarmed man is a subject. I urge all of you readers, as always, to do your research and check the facts. The most dangerous words an American can say are “that could never happen here”.

I’d like to take this time to give my personal thank to some people and organizations that have made it their task to fight for our Second Amendment freedoms as well as advance the all-American culture of gun ownership. They have inspired me and encourage me through their actions. My thanks go out to:

The National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, The Second Amendment Foundation, The Virginia Citizens Defense League, The United States Concealed Carry Association, Mark Walters, Sean “Seanto” Young, Rob Pincus, David Codrea, Mike Vanderboegh, George “The Mad Ogre” Hill, the late Mark Craighead, Ted Nugent, and so many more I think I could actually run out of internet trying to list them all.

Thank you for reading. God bless all of you and God bless the United States of America.

Part Two: Gun Laws and Restrictions and Modern Ownership

In the last post we covered the history and origins of the Second Amendment. With the Constitution as our foundation, let’s build the picture of modern day gun ownership and the role firearms play in current society.

Guns are irreversibly woven into the fabric of America. They’ve been used to protect our lives and liberty. They’ve been used to defend the freedom of countries other than our own. And that seems to be okay with everyone. However, when it comes to civilians owning or using firearms today things seem to get a little fuzzy.

As was demonstrated in the last post, gun ownership was common and not thought of as weird in any stretch of the word, unlike today. I myself am a gun owner and a proud member of the National Rifle Association. I have been asked the question “why would you want to own guns?”. I answered, “Because it’s my right to own a firearm and my right to defend myself, my home, and my family”. They replied, “Guns should just be outlawed”. I won’t go into the rest of the lengthy discussion I had with this individual but what it basically boiled down to is this: Take away guns from law abiding citizens and the crime rate will explode.

I’ve been scoffed at for making that statement. I can understand the watered down idea that if we made guns illegal then we could stop gun crime and crime in general. That sounds great in a world free of lawbreakers. But what makes a criminal a criminal? Their refusal to follow the law. If we outlaw guns, will those who commit crime suddenly see the error of their ways and turn in their weapons? I think not. In my home state of Virginia on the Lower Peninsula, there has been a wave of crime committed by a man dubbed “the bearded bandit”. He’s held up over two dozen businesses in the last year. I’m pretty sure it’s been stated sometime in the last year that robbery is a crime however that doesn’t seem to deter this man.

Interestingly, the last time this man attempted robbing a business, a local Auotzone, he was stopped. Devin McLean, the retired Airman working at the Autozone, took an opportunity to bolt out to his car and retrieve his Glock 40. He re-entered the store and demanded the crook drop his weapon. The robber took off running and is still at large. The local Sheriff proclaimed McLean a hero and that he saved not only his life but the life of his manager. Two days later he was fired. It was cited that he brought a firearm into the store which is against company policy. Don’t get me wrong, I get company policy, but the man saved his and the managers life. Do the right thing for a change and let that one go.

But this happens all the time in America. Law abiding citizens will use firearms to stop crime and save lives but are than punished or demonized for it. A 71-year old man in Florida stopped a robbery by two armed suspects in an internet café by opening fire with his lawfully concealed .380 handgun. The two criminals fled and were eventually caught. However, there was at least one major new agency (CNN) who refused to do more than make a passing mention of it. Their reason? They didn’t want to encourage copy cats. You mean you don’t want to encourage a citizen to stop a crime and defend his life and the lives of those around him? Then I guess you didn’t air even one hour of the never ending coverage about the shooting in Aurora, Colorado. You wouldn’t want to encourage someone to copy cat that, right?

You’ll see figures of how many people are killed every day by guns. But do you ever hear how many times guns are used to stop crime? Well, it’s been estimated by some, including Gary Kleck of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University, to be between 500,000 and 2,000,000,000 times a year. That’s also taking into account the times it may not be reported to police.

So what about the relationship between firearms and crime? Is it true that if we limited the amount of guns and ammo on the street, banned assault weapons and normal capacity magazines and increase the size and number of gun free zones that crime will diminish. Well, let’s take a look by starting with gun free zones.

A gun free zone is exactly what it sounds like; an area on a map where you cannot carry a firearm at all. These range from schools and federal building to movie theaters restaurants. Even if you have a permit you cannot carry a firearm. Once again, that sounds great on paper but falls apart in reality. Can you guess how well it works? Nearly every single major shooting massacre in the United States has happened in gun free zones. They aren’t gun free zones, they’re victim disarmament zones.

Let’s move onto assault weapons or “the bad black guns” as some call them. I’m not exactly sure why these things get a bad rap. I assume because they are a military style weapon then non-gun owners don’t see the point in owning one and therefore they are bad. Let’s be clear, they are not any more deadly than any other firearm. You can kill a person with a .22 or an assault rifle. And the argument that the use of assault rifles in crimes is rampant is not factual. In 2011 there were a total of 12,664 murders in the U.S. Of those 8, 853 were with firearms and 6,220 of those were with handguns. So how many rifles were used? Just 323. That’s less than 4% of all fire arm related murders. (Here’s the crime report straight from the FBI).

Now what about ammo and magazines? That’s just common sense thinking. Even if you limit the capacity of magazines that are legal, every single magazine that was sold before such a law could take effect would still exist. Which means they would still be available to anyone who was looking enough for one. That and if a criminal needed the extra ammo he would just carry more magazines. Can’t carry a 30-round magazine then just carry three 10-round magazines. Ammo is a non issue. There are already some restrictions on the types of ammo available to people. Attacking ammo across the board would really only hurt law-abiding citizens, as per the usual.

Lastly, let’s take a look a gun laws and crime prevention. Do gun sale restrictions, limitations, and the non-issue of concealed carry permits lower crime? The short answer is no. It’s been shown that the parts of the country with fewer restrictions on gun ownership and restrictions have lower crime rates. There has also been an interesting trend over the past five or so years. Gun sales and concealed carry applications have sky-rocketed. On Black Friday of just this year the FBIs website went down for several hours due to an overload of background checks for the purchase of firearms.

If we are to believe the anti-gunners out there then it should make sense that as the amount of guns in public hands rises so should the crime rate. Well, not really as it turns out. Due to the overwhelming amount of data provided here by the FBI I’ll just cover murder rates. They are down 3%-4% across the board. So it would seem with more guns that crime goes down. That goes against everything we are told by the main-stream media and anti-gun groups.

So as we’ve see, despite facts that are readily available, apparently easily ignored as well, people still seem to think that the problem lies with pieces of plastic and metal, not the person behind the trigger. Crimes are committed by people not things. It’s a social and moral issue, not a material issue. Maybe we should look at why these people are holding up business and joining gangs. I bet the kid forgotten by his parents didn’t join a gang because they had guns.

But people like me will continue to fight and educate for gun rights. I’ll keep supporting groups like the NRA, USCCA and GOA to lobby for your right to bear. Guns stop and prevent crime, despite what some may make up in order to sway your opinion. The left gun-hating media and their supporters will continue to present opinion and feeling instead of facts. Just read their headlines next time a shooting occurs, or even when a citizen defends themselves. I implore you, as always, do your own research. Don’t take my or the anti-gunners word for it. Dig into it yourself and do your homework.

We’ve taken a look into the past of gun right and we’ve covered what’s been going on in the present. So now we need to take a look into the future. With a known anti-gun President in office there’s thing we need to look for. And we’ll go through that in the next post.

Thank you for reading. God bless all of you and God bless the United States of America.

Next Post: The Future of Gun Ownership in America.

Part One: The Right to Bear Arms...

On December 15, 1791 the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution was ratified. This list of unalienable rights was not a new concept but none the less extraordinary in a government. Of the rights presented one in particular stands out, the Second Amendment. It states….

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.

As far as I am concerned this is the most important Amendment of the entire Constitution and I’ll explain why later. But for now let’s delve into the history and background of the Second Amendment.

To the early American settlers and eventual colonists under the Crown, the ownership of firearms was considered a natural right. One not given but one that had always existed. They were used to provide food, defend their homes and country, suppress insurrection, and most importantly to defend their own individual liberty.

In that time there really were no gun laws or regulations. Firearms were so commonplace that there were racks in taverns so as to hold the arms of their patrons. The modern idea presented by some that early America really didn’t have widespread ownership of firearms is both ignorant and ill-informed. Were those statements true there would be no United States of America. If you want to go back to the first restrictions of arms in America then you need to look to the beginnings of the American Revolution.

When the Colonists began creating militias that excluded Loyalists, (Colonists that were still loyal to the Crown), British Parliament set an embargo on firearms, parts, and ammunition to the Colonies. This was done in an effort to limit the effectiveness of militias that were viewed as potentially “rebellious”.  But, thanks to the common ownership of guns and the patriotism of the Colonists, the Revolution was won and America was free of British rule.

The Early government was formed under the Articles of Confederation which did not have a bill of rights but granted a greater amount of power to the states. Because of this, the Federal Government really couldn’t get a lot done, especially in the area of national defense. This was a cause of great concern and so a Constitutional Convention was called to originally fix but ultimately replace the Articles with a Constitution.

Since this new document would put far more power into the hands of a Federal Government it was demanded by some that a Bill of Rights would be needed in order to limit its ability to undermine the freedom of the citizens.

This is where the Second Amendment becomes so important. Important enough, I believe, to be the most significant part of our Constitution. Our Founding Fathers understood the fragility of liberty in the presence of a strong centralized government. They lived under the rule of the crown. I grant that at that time they had no representation and we now have a democracy, but ours has a powerful federal government. The Founders knew that in order to achieve and maintain freedom it would have to be fought for.

As I’ve stated before, the decision to fight came after years of failed diplomacy and was not an act taken lightly. They said as much in the Declaration of Independence. And so the American Revolution was fought and won their independence. This was kept in mind when drafting the Constitution. The Founders were no fools and knew that democracy was not self-sustaining and that in the future corruption and tyranny could befall Americans again. Heck, the first attacks came on the Constitution came under our second President. Because of this they knew the people needed to be ready to defend not just themselves, but their freedom. This was also stated in the Declaration.

So, with the idea of possibly having to fight to maintain liberty and freedom, our Founders made sure to declare on paper what they already knew to be a universal and undeniable right: That the right of an individual to keep and bear arms could not be taken away. Period. Some would contest this, but as far as I see it the Bill of Rights, and therefore the right to own firearms is not up for debate. The right to defend oneself has never been challenged in history until “modern” times. But our Founders knew we may one day need to put tyranny in its place and took steps to help future generations of Patriots. That is why the Second Amendment is the most important. It helps us defend all the others.

It is now being argued that the right to own firearms is the reason for crime in America and the world at large. There are organizations lobbying as we speak for the outlawing of firearms and to strike the Second Amendment from the Constitution. They say that if we just outlaw guns and take them away crime and murder will disappear. Well, since we’ve already gone through the beginnings of the right to keep and bear arms, let’s take a modern look at firearm owner ship….

Next Post: Gun Laws and Restrictions and Modern Ownership.

Thank you for reading. God bless all of you and God bless the United States of America.