Attorney General designate John Ashcroft has come under fire from a number of
liberal special interest groups, most notably Handgun Control, Inc. In a January 5th press
release, Handgun Control blasted Mr. Ashcroft for his votes on the gun issue, notably for
his support for Missouri concealed-carry laws. HCI also attacked the Attorney General
designate for his lack of support for President Clinton’s “assault weapon”
ban. They see him defending the ban less than vigorously from legal challenges from armed
citizens or their support organizations.
The worst part of this press release is Handgun Control’s criticism of Mr.
Ashcroft’s Second Amendment views, quoted as follows:
“Perhaps most disturbing about Ashcroft's record is
his extremist view of the Second Amendment. In a 1998 Senate Subcommittee hearing on the
Second Amendment called by Ashcroft, the Senator said, "A citizenry armed with the
right both to possess firearms and to speak freely is less likely to fall victim to a
tyrannical central government than a citizenry that is disarmed from criticizing
government or defending themselves.” This and other statements by Ashcroft indicate
that he believes in the "insurrectionist" theory of the Second Amendment. The
idea that the Founding Fathers would have included within the Second Amendment a
"suicide" provision — one that empowers citizens to overthrow the very
government the Constitution seeks to create and protect — is ludicrous and has been
widely discredited. The idea that the chief law enforcement officer of the nation would
subscribe to such a belief is alarming." [Author’s emphasis]
Pay attention to the highlighted sentence. This one
jumble of words sheds light on Handgun Control’s twisted perception of the
Constitution. The Constitution and especially the Bill Rights protects citizens from the
Government, not the Government from its Citizens. HCI’s idea of what the Constitution
stands for goes directly against the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence
and all that it entails.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to
secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive
of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and
Happiness." [Author’s emphasis]
“The idea that the Founding Fathers would have
included…a ‘suicide’ provision … that empowers citizens to overthrow
the very government the Constitution seeks to create and protect – is
ludicrous…” Ludicrous, huh? Considering the Founding Fathers did state that very
idea very explicitly in the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence makes it
one of the central points of this country’s existence.
Make no mistake; Handgun Control’s mission is not to protect children from
irresponsible gun owners, or keep felons from getting access to firearms. Handgun Control
wants to disarm everyone to install a socialist government run by elitists. They give away
their true nature with their own words. If they believe that a citizenry armed with the
right both to possess firearms and to speak freely is less likely to fall victim to a
tyrannical central government than a citizenry that is disarmed from criticizing
government or defending themselves is a ludicrous idea, then how could they refute the
charge that they want all Americans disarmed and helpless?
~~ New York - John J. Marciano
KeepAndBearArms.com Addendum: Good eye, Mr.
Marciano. Let's also consider the following:
1) The Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers
and the writings of America's Founding Fathers all clearly state the the reason to have
arms was as protection against Government Tyranny. We have dozens of great, verifiable
quotes to prove it including these:
"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole
people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
~~ George Mason, during Virginia's Convention to Ratify the Constitution (3
Elliot, Debates at 380.)
"It is not certain that with this aid alone
[possession of arms], they would not be able to shake off their yokes. But were the people
to posses the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, who could
collect the national will, and direct the national force; and of officers appointed out of
the militia, by these governments and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be
affirmed with the greatest assurance, that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be
speedily overturned, in spite of the legions which surround it."
~~ James Madison, Federalist No. 46
"When the government fears the People, that is
Liberty. When the People fear the Government, that is tyranny."
~~ Thomas Jefferson
"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The
possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave."
~~ Andrew Fletcher 1698
"Gentlemen may cry, 'peace, peace'—but there is
no peace. The war is actually begun! Is life so precious, or peace so dear, as to be
purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what
course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"
~~ Patrick Henry to the Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775.
"No kingdom can be secured otherwise than by arming
the people. The possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave. He,
who has nothing, and who himself belongs to another, must be defended by him, whose
property he is, and needs no arms. But he, who thinks he is his own master, and has what
he can call his own, ought to have arms to defend himself, and what he possesses; else he
lives precariously, and at discretion."
~~ James Burgh, Political Disquisitions: Or, an Enquiry into Public Errors,
Defects, and Abuses [London, 1774-1775].
"[The American Colonies were] all democratic
governments, where the power is in the hands of the people and where there is not the
least difficulty or jealousy about putting arms into the hands of every man in the
country. [European countries should not] be ignorant of the strength and the force of such
a form of government and how strenuously and almost wonderfully people living under one
have sometimes exerted themselves in defence of their rights and liberties and how fatally
it has ended with many a man and many a state who have entered into quarrels, wars and
contests with them."
~~ George Mason, "Remarks on Annual Elections for the Fairfax
Independent Company" in The Papers of George Mason, 1725-1792, ed Robert A. Rutland
(Chapel Hill, 1970).
"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the
people before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be
occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of
their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and
bear their private arms."
~~ Tench Coxe in `Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal
Constitution' under the Pseudonym "A Pennsylvanian" in the Philadelphia Federal
Gazette, June 18, 1789 at 2 col. 1.
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be
disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America
cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed,
and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any
pretense, raised in the United States."
~~ Noah Webster in "An Examination into the Leading Principles of the
Federal Constitution," 1787, in Paul Ford, ed., Pamphlets on the Constitution of the
United States, at p. 56 (New York, 1888).
2) But the largest private anti-rights organization
bent on disarming America says that the notion of a citizenry being armed as a check
against government tyranny — up to and including the abolition of that government
— is not only "ludicrous," but that it "has been widely
discredited."
When the
largest anti-gun organization in America — who receives millions of dollars from the
social elite — tells us that the Declaration of Independence and the words of the
people who fought and died to bring our country into being have been "widely
discredited," we must of course wonder what their true motives are.
Therefore, we urge anyone associated with Handgun
Control, Inc. to ask themselves the following questions:
A) Why are they lying about something that is so
easily disproved?
B) If their position is so strong and righteous,
why can't it stand on the truth?
and perhaps most importantly...
C) What else are they saying that isn't true?
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2nd
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