THE FOUNDATION: ARMS

“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe.” —Noah Webster

THE GIPPER ON ARMS

“There are those in America today who have come to depend absolutely on government for their security. And when government fails they seek to rectify that failure in the form of granting government more power. So, as government has failed to control crime and violence with the means given it by the Constitution, they seek to give it more power at the expense of the Constitution. But in doing so, in their willingness to give up their arms in the name of safety, they are really giving up their protection from what has always been the chief source of despotism—government. Lord Acton said power corrupts. Surely then, if this is true, the more power we give the government the more corrupt it will become. And if we give it the power to confiscate our arms we also give up the ultimate means to combat that corrupt power. In doing so we can only assure that we will eventually be totally subject to it.” —Ronald Reagan

CULTURE

“Clearly, there remains to this day a horrible, condescending attitude toward armed American citizens. Haven’t the British yet gotten over the fact that a ragtag, often disorganized force of American colonials, wielding their own arms, was able to defeat what at the time was the most powerful armed force in the world? Our forefathers, armed with their own flintlock rifles and pistols, and an assortment of muskets—the ‘assault weapons’ of their era—threw off the yoke of oppression under which they were forced to live. When British broadcasters today demand to know just what it is about gun ownership that Americans defend so vigorously, the answer is too simple for them to comprehend. Simply put, we defend this individual civil right because without our own guns two centuries ago, we would still… likely be British subjects…” —Alan Gottlieb

LIBERTY

“In its proper constitutional sense, the term [militia] means all the able-bodied people who can be trained and disciplined to act in the community’s defense when it’s attacked. Since it encompasses every able-bodied person, it does not refer to those—such as the police, the military, or even the National Guard—who formally compose the official defense forces of the nation. Every citizen able and willing to act in an emergency becomes a potential defender against attacks aimed at the general population. Unfortunately, because of the anti-gun folly of the leftist media and politicians, we have lost sight of this vital element of our defense… The anti-gun crowd seeks to establish a modern version of [the medieval era], a kind of bureaucratic feudalism, in place of the republican self-government established by our Constitution… The answer is not gun control, but self-government, self-defense, and self-control. We must act to live as free people, else like sheep for the slaughter, we will die, and freedom with us.” —Alan Keyes

OPINION IN BRIEF

“Fifty years ago [Cho Seung-Hui] probably would have ended up, more likely, in a state mental hospital, than in a state university. But from the pictures we’ve seen, the kind of iconic photograph of the way he was methodical in everything he did, the one thing you can say psychiatrically speaking, is he was not as schizophrenic—that we colloquially think of as delusional or hallucinating. This is a man who planned it out. This was very methodical—schizophrenics are quite disorganized. He wasn’t. He was too organized. What you can say, just—not as a psychiatrist, but as somebody who’s lived through the past seven or eight years, is that if you look at that picture, it draws its inspiration from the manifestos, the iconic photographs of the Islamic suicide bombers over the last half-decade in Palestine, in Iraq, and elsewhere. That’s what they end up leaving behind…” —Charles Krauthammer

FROM THE LEFT

“Our famous Constitution, about which many of us are generally so proud, enshrines—along with the right to freedom of speech, press, religion and assembly—the right to own guns. That’s an apples and oranges list if there ever was one. Not all of us are so proud and triumphant about the gun-guarantee clause. The right to free speech, press, religion and assembly and so on seem to be working well, but the gun part, not so much… [The students at Virginia Tech] were not killed by a Korean, they were killed by a 9 mm handgun and a.22-caliber handgun… ‘Guns don’t kill people,’ goes the gun lobby’s absurd mantra. Far fewer guns in America would logically result in far fewer deaths from people pulling the trigger. The probability of the Virginia Tech gun massacre happening would have been greatly reduced if guns weren’t so easily available to ordinary citizens… Last month, I was robbed at 10 in the evening in the alley behind my home. As I was carrying groceries inside, a man with a gun approached me where my car was parked. The gun he carried featured one of those red-dot laser beams, which he pointed right at my head. Because I’m anything but a James Bond type, I quickly complied with all of his requests. Perhaps because of my rapid response (it is called surrender), he chose not to shoot me; but he just as easily could have. What was to stop him?” —Tom Plate, former editor of the editorial pages of The Los Angeles Times, who just proved himself wrong—if he had a gun, he could have stopped the robber

FOR THE RECORD

“The trouble with gun control laws is they target the law abiding. ‘If you disarm good people but not the criminals, instead of making things safe for the potential victims you may unintentionally make them safe for the criminals,’ said Dr. John Lott, coauthor of a massive study on guns and crime… Both crime rates and shooting deaths have declined in most states which have adopted ‘concealed carry’ laws, says Dr. Lott. The decline in ‘multiple victim public shootings’ has been especially pronounced, he said. ‘Bill Landes of the University of Chicago law school and I examined multiple-victim public shootings in the U.S. from 1977 to 1999 and found that when states passed right-to-carry laws, the rate of multiple victim public shootings fell by 60 percent. Deaths and injuries from multiple victim public shootings fell even further, on average by 78 percent, as the remaining incidents tended to involve fewer victims per attack,’ Dr. Lott said… In applauding the defeat last year of a measure in the Virginia legislature to permit those with concealed carry permits to have a gun on campus, Associate Vice President Larry Hinckler said Virginia Tech’s strict gun control policy made students feel safer. But there is a difference between feeling safer and being safer, as Virginia Tech has learned to its sorrow.” —Jack Kelly

INSIGHT

“I have always been fond of the West African proverb: ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far’.” —Theodore Roosevelt

FAMILY

“[F]or many Europeans, faith is increasingly irrelevant. Europe has the lowest church-attendance in the world. Not coincidentally, the continent is in a demographic tail-spin. Of the 10 nations with the lowest birthrates, nine are in Europe (the 10th is Japan). Currently, 1.5 children are born for every woman in the EU. In some countries, the rate is as low as 1.1. It takes 2.1 births per woman merely to replace current population. If present trends continue, Europe’s population could decline by 88 million in the next 15 years—a loss of 23% of its 2000 population. Why not coincidentally? From religion comes hope for the future and a sense of societal obligation (i.e., a non-hedonistic worldview). No faith, no hope. No hope for the future, no sense of obligation—hence, no children.” —Don Feder

GOVERNMENT

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and the wind is blowing hard in favor of action on climate change. The Bush administration now agrees that human activities are warming the planet, the Supreme Court says the Environmental Protection Agency has violated the law by not regulating auto emissions, and Democrats in Congress are demanding new measures to cut greenhouse gases. How will we address this new challenge? The most plausible answer is: with a lot of command-and-control programs that micromanage various industries on the assumption that the government knows best. In a word, badly… All the subsidies, rules and mandates you hear about don’t come free, but you pay for them without realizing it—and without realizing whom to blame. Government programs to reduce greenhouse gases are a recipe for waste and abuse.” —Steve Chapman

POLITICAL FUTURES

“I have no idea whether Fred Thompson, former senator from Tennessee, will run for the Republican nomination for president, but he should. He has Ronald Reagan’s communication skills and speaks plainly in ways most people can understand… Thompson conveys Middle American, common sense values. When he is asked a question, he doesn’t sound as if he’s giving a poll-tested pabulum answer. Agree or not, his statements spring from conviction… There’s something else to like about Fred Thompson. He doesn’t appear to be lusting after the job as if he needs it for his self-image. This, too, is much like Reagan, who knew who he was before becoming president and was the same after he left office… Fame and the presidency may be about to follow Fred Thompson. That would be good for the Republican Party and, should he win, good for the country.” —Cal Thomas

SELECT READER COMMENTS

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“Your essay, [’Are gun-free nations or ”zones“ safer?’, http://PatriotPost.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=529] hit the nail on the head. The tragic and senseless shootings at Virginia Tech have caused the usual suspects to rise up a call for more ‘gun control,’ but isn’t the shooting a prime example of the failure of gun control? The current law forbids anyone from bringing guns on campus. Of course, criminals would never, ever consider violating the law and bring a gun on campus, would they?” —Arcadia, California

“We should be saying gun control in a different way. L. Neil Smith, science fiction writer, calls it ‘Victim Disarmament’ instead of gun control. We don’t control the guns but disarm the victims.” —Missoula, Montana

“According to the Leftmedia, the killer is a ‘gunman’ because he used guns. Dennis Prager asked if he had used a knife would he have been called a ‘knifeman.’ My question is: if he had used a baseball bat would The New York Times have called him ‘Batman’?” —Edgewood, New Mexico

“Fellow Patriots, it is my pleasure to support your fine publication. I use The Patriot Post as a current events resource as well as a primer and refresher on our great American heritage. Putting current events into context and establishing editorial exegesis based on the sound fundamental tenets established by our Founders is something sadly missing in most modern news publications. The Patriot’s high standards, underpinned by your Christian foundation, give your publication top-rack status with me and my colleagues. Thank you!” —Gold River, California

THE LAST WORD

“Instantly, on the day of the shooting at Virginia Tech, the media were already promoting gun control and pre-emptively denouncing right-wingers who point out that gun control enables murderers rather than stopping them. Liberals get to lobby for gun control, but we’re disallowed from arguing back. That’s how good their arguments are. They’re that good. Needless to say, Virginia Tech is a Gun-Free School Zone—at least until last Monday. The gunman must not have known. Imagine his embarrassment! Perhaps there should be signs. Virginia Tech even prohibits students with concealed-carry permits from carrying their guns on campus. Last year, the school disciplined a student for carrying a gun on campus, despite his lawful concealed-carry permit. If only someone like that had been in Norris Hall on Monday, this massacre could have been ended a lot sooner. But last January, the Virginia General Assembly shot down a bill that would have prevented universities like Virginia Tech from giving sanctuary to mass murderers on college campuses in Virginia by disarming students with concealed-carry permits valid in the rest of the state. Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker praised the legislature for allowing the school to disarm lawful gun owners on the faculty and student body, thereby surrendering every college campus in the state to deranged mass murderers… Others disagreed. Writing last year about another dangerous killer who had been loose on the Virginia Tech campus, graduate student Jonathan McGlumphy wrote: ‘Is it not obvious that all students, faculty and staff would have been safer if [concealed handgun permit] holders were not banned from carrying their weapons on campus?’ If it wasn’t obvious then, it is now.” —Ann Coulter

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who have died in defense of American liberty, while prosecuting the war with Jihadistan.)