The Right ... to Keep and Bear Arms

"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." --Second Amendment, Bill of Rights, United States Constitution

To the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the federal government, and to those of the several states:

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."

We affirm that said Amendment was established to define an individual "right of the People to keep and bear arms," for the purpose of defending Liberty, and "The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of the republic; since it offers a strong moral check against usurpation and arbitrary power of the rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them." (Justice Joseph Story, 1833) Accordingly, we oppose any defensive weapons ban, by way of executive order, legislative act or judicial diktat.

We undertake this affirmation in accordance with the pledge taken by our Founders when codifying our formative Declaration rejecting tyranny in any form and for all time: "For the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."