Using Defensive Weapons
The Foundation
“One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.” –Thomas Jefferson
Inspiration
“No sooner do I finish explaining to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo why people might need 10 bullets for something other than blowing away deer, than the headlines burst with an example. … Not only was a ‘high capacity magazine’ involved, but the story involves a teenage boy in Texas defending his even younger sister from a couple of thugs with one of those dreaded AR-15 ‘assault rifles’: ‘The teenage son of a Harris County Precinct 1 deputy shot a home intruder Tuesday afternoon in the 2600 block of Royal Place in northwest Harris County, deputies said. The 15-year-old boy and his 12-year-old sister had been home alone in the Mount Royal Village subdivision when around 2:30 p.m. a pair of burglars tried the front and back doors, then broke a back window. The teenager grabbed his father’s assault rifle and knew what to do with it. "We don’t try to hide things from our children in law enforcement,” Lt. Jeffrey Stauber said. “That young boy was protecting his sister. He was in fear for his life and her life.” The home invaders fled, leaving a trail of blood.’ This Lt. Stauber sounds like exactly the kind of guy I’d want coming to the rescue if I were under attack by murderous thugs. And I have no doubt that he’d want to be there for me, with all his heart, just like countless other dedicated law-enforcement professionals. But that’s not how it works. … [Y]ou might have to pull that trigger, and if you’ve got two or three predators closing in on you and your wife, children, or 12-year-old sister, you will almost certainly need more than six rounds to put them down. … Every single thing that some sneering elitist thinks you don’t ‘need’ enough to warrant respect for your Second Amendment rights has come clearly and obviously to the defense of innocent people in these incidents. In fact, all of them have involved the defense of children.“ –Human Events columnist John Hayward
Opinion in Brief
Responding to Obama’s disarmament agenda by declaring, ”I will not comply“: "My friend Mark Alexander, publisher of PatriotPost.US, one of the most widely subscribed grassroots journals in the nation … threw down the gauntlet by stating in terms reminiscent of those uttered so often by our Founding Fathers: ‘In keeping with the oath I have taken in the service of my country, I will "support and defend” Liberty as “endowed by our Creator” and enshrined in our Constitution, “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Accordingly, I will not comply with any defensive weapons ban instituted by executive order, legislative action or judicial dictate, which violates the innate human right to defend self and Liberty, as empowered by “the right of the People to keep and bear arms.”’ That’s the way Americans used to speak, as those of us who grew up reading American history books recall, before the PC crowd revamped textbooks so that they demeaned the likes of Jefferson, Adams and Patrick Henry. I believe that there are enough patriots in this country who stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr. Alexander to prevent this administration from confiscating constitutionally-protected weapons.“ –columnist Burt Prelutsky
Sign the Pledge!
On Thursday, we began a critical push for American Patriots across this great nation to pledge: "We, the People, affirm that we will support and defend Liberty as ‘endowed by our Creator,’ enshrined in our Constitution and empowered by its Second Amendment, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Please take a moment and join the thousands of your countrymen who answered the call. Share it with your family, friends and colleagues via social media and email, as well. Let’s stay ahead of the curve.
Reader Comments
“‘I Will Not Comply’ is one of the best editorials written on the subject of defending our rights under the Second Amendment. I have signed the pledge and forwarded it to my contact list. Keep up the great work.” –Lawrence in Meridian, Idaho
“Mark, you will not stand alone. My oath to ‘Support and defend the Constitution’ did not become invalid when I retired. It specifically mentioned ‘domestic enemies’ and this government is becoming just that. But this train of abuses and usurpations, if continued, will bring us to our limit of such tolerance and the Tree of Liberty WILL be refreshed!” –Semper Fidelis, Sic Semper Tyrannis! Lt Col, USMC, ret
“I stand with Mark Alexander – I will not register nor relinquish my weapons based on some governmental decree or law.” –Donald in Westminster, California
“I am happy to see someone put in print what I have been saying for weeks now. I hope we all stick together and make sure Washington hears what is being said – and more importantly WHY it is being said.” –Jerry in Collierville, Tennessee
“The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting or ‘sport’ shooting. Those pursuits are simply a by-product of the rights granted by the hand of God and singled out for protection in the Constitution.” –Jason in Nebraska
“I really appreciate the Truth About Assault Weapons site you referenced in Friday’s Digest. I wish it was required reading for everyone who was on the ‘ban assault weapons’ bandwagon; on the other hand, many of those people wouldn’t worry about a little truth getting in the way of their emotions and agenda.” –Brett in Oregon
Editor’s Reply: Here’s another excellent explanation of “assault weapons.”
“I refuse to believe that there is no hope for America, even when it seems that all hope has abandoned us. My brothers and I were too young to vote for the restoration of liberty this time around, but we will never give up. There are those of us in the incoming generation who are willing and able to fight with everything we have for the freedom of ourselves and those who will come after us. Fellow Patriots, never stop believing in the resilience of liberty.” –The White Knight in Chicago
The Gipper
“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.” –Ronald Reagan
Essential Liberty
“Liberty is not the freedom to do anything we want to do. Liberty is the freedom to do what we ought to do. The paradox of liberty extends to its defense and preservation. If force can take away liberty, force is necessary to preserve it. It is the hatred of violence alongside the willingness to use violence that preserves liberty. In order for us to live as free men, we have to hate the violence that takes away liberty, yet at the same time, we must embrace the violence that preserves it. That is the paradox our founders appreciated and made work for over 200 years. … Our Founders knew that taking away firearms from the citizen was essentially to turn him into a subject, a slave. Congressman Allen West affirmed this sentiment when he said, ‘An armed man is a citizen. A disarmed man is a subject.’ Turning men into slaves is not love. But that is what gun control is all about: turning men into slaves. Love for mankind is not in taking care of him, but in letting him be free to take care of himself. With gun control, liberals want to take away the means for men to preserve their liberty.” –columnist Christopher Brownwell
Re: The Left
“As a state senator in Illinois, President Obama opposed legislation providing an exception to handgun restrictions if the weapon was used in the defense of one’s home. Obama’s vote would have maintained the status quo, which made it a violation of municipal gun ban law to use a firearm to save your own life in your own home. But the bill was passed anyway without his support. The vote is a sign of how committed President Obama may be to strict gun control measures. The Illinois vote is hardly ancient history, having occurred in 2004 as Obama was running for election to the U.S. Senate. In opposing the measure, Obama lined up well to the left of the mainstream, as the Illinois Senate included 32 Democrats to 26 Republicans but approved the bill by an overwhelming margin and subsequently overrode a veto by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. … The Illinois legislation was passed after a man who shot a burglar in his home was fined $750 by his town for disobeying its handgun ban. The absurdity and injustice of the situation doesn’t seem to have made much of an impression on Obama.” –White House Dossier’s Keith Koffler
Political Futures
“Just as Obama used crony capitalism to leverage pharmaceutical companies into advertising for Obamacare, so too is he trying to fashion gun control legislation in a way that will make Wal-Mart one of the legislation’s most prominent supporters. The irony: As of right now, Wal-Mart is one of the leading sellers of firearms and ammunition, if not the leading seller, in the country. The goal: Obama wants to end private gun sales, period. … To do this, he is leveraging Wal-Mart by showing them how they will benefit from supporting his push to cut off other avenues of gun sales. In effect, he’s saying support this and more people will have to come to Wal-Mart to get their guns. What he’s not telling them is that he has to greatly reduce Americans’ freedoms to do it. Gun-grabbers have wanted to end private gun sales for decades – not because doing so makes anyone safer (it doesn’t) nor because it will prevent another Sandy Hook (it won’t). Rather, they have always wanted to end private gun sales because that will force all gun buys and sales to be recorded on paper with the government, which will begin to provide a de facto gun registry.” –Breitbart’s AWR Hawkins
For the Record
“Here’s a little history lesson regarding gun-grabbing and the carnage that ensued: In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated. China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th century because of gun control: 56 million. You won’t see this data on the U.S. evening news or hear politicians disseminating this information.” –columnist Doug Giles
The Last Word
“So here’s a great idea that should make everyone happy: Let’s just pretend to pass gun control legislation. What we can do is pass a law banning a bunch of made-up things that sound scary, and many gun control proponents already have great ideas along this line. … [T]his will help protect our most vulnerable people out there: politicians. Because long after the gun control advocates move on to other things, like who they want to tax next, gun owners will still be annoyed by any actual gun control legislation. One of the greatest fears politicians have is seeing an angry guy with lots of guns charging down the street, because they know he’s probably on his way to commit an act of voting. Of course, with this idea, absolutely nothing will be done to keep criminals and madmen from obtaining guns, but that’s the effect of every other gun control law, so we’re just reaching this end in a much cheaper and less messy fashion. … Solving the problem of guns with more guns is just another crazy idea by those people who take that ‘liberty’ idea to dangerous extremes and cause all the other civilized countries to make fun of us. Instead, let’s get to work banning those unicorn horn-tipped bullets and feeling safer.” –humorist Frank J. Fleming
Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis!
Nate Jackson for The Patriot Post Editorial Team
