PLEASE NOTE: The Whitehouse.gov website has answered our petition and it may no longer be signed.
Quick Link to sign petition: https://wh.gov/RLsR
Hello Everyone,
I am a parent of four children ten years old and under. And even though I am a writer by trade, somehow I don’t have any words to describe how the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary school has made me feel. Most us are probably like that, especially parents. But at the same time, the media and the politicians are using those raw emotions to make this terrible tragedy about guns. This letter is entitled “An Appeal to Women and Minority Gun Owners” because guns are not solely the realm of white males. Women shooters have been the largest growing sector in the gun world for several years running now. Yet politically, it is women who are being manipulated the most in this crisis. Ethnic minority gun ownership, especially in our inner cities, is what our success in the 2nd Amendment fight has been about for over ten years, and the media and the politicians are trying to strip that success away. Raw emotions in America are being played right now, and you have the choice to play along or stand for what you really believe in. Congress is out for Christmas, and you can bet every politician on both sides of the isle has his or her finger in the wind. We have one chance to change the direction it is blowing, and that chance is our Law Abiding Gun Owner petition. Please sign it.
If you are a woman and a gun owner, please have the courage to stand up in your Facebook circle and ask your friends to sign our Law Abiding Gun Owners petition. Likewise if you are a Black, Hispanic, Asian or other minority gun owner. We have come so close to liberating the inner cities from crime using the tool of law abiding gun ownership and all of that success is about to be stripped away. Hand wringing and crying “what can we do” isn’t going increase safety in America. Law abiding gun ownership will increase safety. Every place that gun control has been loosened, face to face crime has gone down, and significantly. Every place that gun control has been strengthened, face to face crime has gone up. There is a very good book on this called More Guns Less Crime, by John Lott, and it available at Amazon and in electronic bookstores for your tablet.
Chicago alone has logged nearly 500 homicides this year, many of them children. If you click through to the article, look at the names and the ages. This is the city in America with the most gun control. Of course, if you look at the list, very few of the victims were white, and this is true of every major inner city in America. Rarely is there a mention of this in the mainstream media, yet the blood wasn’t even dry in Connecticut before the anti-gun petition hit the Whitehouse.gov website, and every single media outlet in America posted a link to it. Why doesn’t the “race sensitive” mainstream media care about all those people in Chicago, and Detroit, and Philadelphia, and Washington DC, and Cleveland, and …? I think you get the point.
We are being played by the media, and “the fix is in.” Neither Fox News nor The Drudge Report have picked up our Law Abiding Gun Owner petition at Whitehouse.gov as a story, and we currently have over 50,000 signatures, twice the threshold that requires President Obama to respond. The anti-gun petition has just under 200,000 signatures, so if you do the math, GunsAmerica, one website, has generated 1/4 as many signatures as the entire mainstream media who have all linked to the anti-gun petition. Law abiding gun owners in America number in the several tens of millions, and none of them have ever even thought to murder a child, yet we are for the most part silent. The result is that we are going to be most likely overrun by nonsensical gun laws when The US and state congresses come back into session.
Gun control itself, as we have noted many times in the past, was always founded in racism. If you bawk at this concept, please read this heavily footnoted article by Clayton Cramer on the subject. Since the dawn of the firearm itself, those in power have attempted to keep guns from those with no power. The same is true of inner city minorities today. Cheap guns, in the hands of law abiding Americans in the inner cities will drastically reduce the face to face crime rate. That means murders, rapes, robberies, all the crimes that end up with a dead person on the ground. What have the politicians repeatedly attempted to stop? Cheap guns, and legal ownership of guns in the inner cities. You tell me if that sounds racist to you?
We were standing at the dawn of a new era of 2nd Amendment freedom two weeks ago. The Heller and McDonald decisions had many state legislatures on the run from restrictive gun control. Gun control was political taboo in the 2012 elections, and you couldn’t turn on the television without finding a show that portrayed the safe enjoyment of firearms and personal security in a positive light. The anti-gunners and the anti-gun politicians have been wringing their hands at the prospect that law abiding gun ownership could become as commonplace and mainstream. They need a permanent victim class to further their agenda, and this is located in the mostly in our inner cities, who were just on the verge of getting guns. Their hand wringing media cronies were waiting for a chance to turn the tide, and that is what they have done since the tragedy on December 14th at Sandy Hook Elementary.
Nobody can “put aside” raw emotion right now, and it would be stupid to ask. But I will ask how do you feel being played by the media that is clearly tapping into that emotion to push a pre-established agenda? Do you feel like you will be vilified on Facebook if you post a link to our Whitehouse petition? Most likely you will be, and there is nothing that GunsAmerica or anyone can do about that. PLEASE AT LEAST SIGN THE PETITION YOURSELF. Ask yourself what is true, and what kind of America you want.
If you are one of the hundreds of thousands who have clicked out from our prior emails and the website link to the petition and not signed it, please reconsider. Even if you are the most hardcore conservative, and you want nothing less than to give the Democrat political machine your email address, consider what is at stake. Every signature on the petition counts, and we need to break 100,000. At the end of the day, will it kill you to give the President of the United States a little bit of respect and ask for his help? He is just a man after all, and he probably wants what is genuinely the right decisions for the future of our country.
You are one of just over 700,000 people who subscribe to the GunsAmerica’s Magazine & Blog. We try to give you all the best editorial in the gun and shooting world, and there are well over 100,000 of you out there who read almost everything we send. When it comes to this petition, the only pro-gun petition competing with the big anti-gun petition, we are alone out here it seems. Almost no popular bloggers and only a few Youtubers and Facebookers have picked up the petition and asked people to sign it. Heaven forbid we give The President of the United a good reason to stand by us and get the gun nuts on his side for a change. That would upset the balance of politics, and who wants that, right?
Please forward this to your friends and ask them individually to sign the petition. It would be nice to see other than white male sounding names on it, and so far that is nearly all we have. Please remember, for those of you with friend circles who have vilified the NRA and other white male run gun entities, the Heller case originated in Washington DC. The McDonald case was Chicago. It wasn’t legal gun ownership by white males that we all celebrated when we won those cases. The NRA, the 2nd Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, NSSF and all of the other 2nd Amendment organizations have been fighting for those without guns, those who have become permanent victims. These are the residents of our inner cities, and is mostly made up of ethnic minorities. It has long been said, “God created man, but Sam Colt made them equal.” If you are not an equal, or you feel for those who are not equals, please sign our petition to President Barack Obama today.
Paul Helinski
Owner, GunsAmerica
Where America Buys and Sells Guns
Today, I went to the beachfront with my children. I found
a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter
and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear
and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched
her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off topic but
I had to tell someone!
This is really fascinating, You are an excessively skilled blogger.
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Good article, but I suspect you meant “balk” instead of “bawk”.
I looked over the list of headings and couldn’t find a better place to post this … anywhere I put it will be “off topic” but I thought it worth bringing to your attention.
http://www.thirdcontinentalcongress.net/tiki-index.php
I don’t agree 100% with some of the provisions (I think the stance on automobiles is a little off the wall) but I think it is a darned good start on drawing the line in the sand many of us have been contemplating.
Allow me to move from the irrelevant to the very relevant:
I own a lot of guns.
I have a carry permit. Actually several.
I am a ‘minority’ – actually I am a full-blooded, American military veteran, who happens to be a man of color.
The problem with violence in the country is epidemic, rampant and reeling totally out-of-control
Recent events, some of which are horribly tragic, have been celebrated by the media and motivated others to join in the spree of violence
Rather than villify the President of the United States, an effort which becomes blurred by this country’s sad struggle with race and racial fairness, which establishes a “my biceps are bigger than yours” situation, a more
collaborative effort should be made to broaden the discussion and seek a set of solutions which gets at this touchy, sensitive, politically inebriated, issue?
A national discussion, a RATIONAL debate, a conversation, the presentation of factual information will leave all of us in a better place than the mudslinging, dollar spending, propagandizing campaign that is about to start.
We need to start from scratch and seek a comparison of notes and facts to see how best to address violence in general, murders, assaults, weapons and firearms and let the chips fall where they may.
I agree. But when both sides of the argument play to the peanut gallery and are heavily invested in entrenched ideological positions, is your suggestion viable?
I own a comparatively few guns. I concealed carry. I am a white man married to a black woman. I have no problem with the color of Obama’s skin but I DO have issues with his policies and no longer respect him for his assaults on the America that so many of us have fought and died for. I have no desire to vilify the guy … but I WOULD like to hold him accountable for violating his oath of office and for bringing needless misery to millions of human beings, including our own soldiers, through the initiation and continuance of needless wars.
WE SPEND MORE TIME PROTECTING THE CRIMINAL. WHAT WE NEED IS SWIFT JUSTICE SHOWING WE WILL CONVICT THE CRIMINAL. IF TWO OR MORE PEOPLE SAW THE CRIME COMITTED CONVICT THEM. IF MURDER HANG THEM. FEAR AND JUSTICE STOPS CRIME. NOT THREE HOTS AND A COT.
WE SPEND MORE TIME PROTECTING THE CRIMINAL. WHAT WE NEED IS SWIFT JUSTICE SHOWING WE WILL CONVICT THE CRIMINAL. IF TWO OR MORE PEOPLE SAW THE CRIME COMITTED CONVICT THEM. IF MURDER HANG THEM. FEAR AND JUSTICE STOPS CRIME. NOT THREE HOTS AND A COT.
” We have come so close to liberating the inner cities from crime using the tool of law abiding gun ownership and all of that success is about to be stripped away.”
Not to mention your goal of a unicorn on every corner.
Why not just pretend that there is no problem if lying this hard is an option for you.
Geoff, great to have you back! I really missed you when they stopped allowing weekday visitation.
I think it’s ridiculous how this country still separates races/sexes. Why does a separate appeal have to be made to women and minority gun owners…why can’t we just appeal to gun owners?
I don’t think this is the intent of the Admin, but simply an inadvertent reflection of the norm, that dividing us along artificial lines keeps us from realizing that we have common cause and common enemies that require a united and cohesive front to conquer. Whether it is the class card, the race card, the citizenship card, the sex card, the whatever card — those in power play us against ourselves … and that keeps us from uniting together against them.
As individuals and even more importantly, as a group, we need to be smarter than that. Since the average IQ of the individuals in a room is 200 divided by the number of people in the room, it’s not looking any too promising at the moment.
As an African American gun enthusiast, it is amazing that an AA President is not reaching out to a large portion of the law abiding firearm culture. Despite the awful violence of gun crimes in the city that disproportionately affect lower class black males, the wrong questions are always asked regarding “why?” Instead the focal point is “how” which happens to be the illegal gun culture that is far outside the mainstream of firearms owners. Not unlike Sandy Hook where the tool is demonized over the action, in the inner city, a blind eye is turned away from the source of crime. The gun just happens to be the implement of the criminal element that is spawned by the socio-economic and cultural pathologies of the underclass. It has nothing to do with responsible firearm ownership and everything to do with violating the responsibility of ownership which has been co-opted by firearm possession – which is a totally different thing. I am so sick of politicians who want to wish conditions and actions away by banning something and hoping that they can save people from themselves if something didn’t exist.
Many AA want to be able to defend their homes and families but are forbidden to do so because of the criminal element in those neighborhoods has given local and state governments the impetus to restrict lawful gun ownership. It’s crap.
Someone help me with the author of this:
Those who would give up freedom for security deserve neither…
It’s attributed to various authors … Ben Franklin, to name just one. The phrase actually seems to have evolved over time so it’s tough to just stick a fork in it and call it done.
You liberal gun control advocating cry babies are some stupid motherfuckers!!
What if we just made it a license type thing to buy a firearm and you don’t get a license until you have passed the training, tested, and adequately qualified for firearm ownership. Or would that be too much regulation and paperwork for somebody. Of course that would mean that somebody would also get paid for the training much like the conceal carry permits. Then again if you couldn’t pay to get the training and the license and you really wanted one you would go buy it illegally so what would the license requirement change for criminals……nothing!
IF YOU BAN GUNS, THEY WILL USE BOMBS, IF YOU BAN BOMBS, THEY WILL USE FIRE, IF YOU CAN BAN FIRE, THEY WILL USE POISONS, IF YOU BAN POISONS THEY WILL USE KNIVES, IF YOU BAN KNIVES, THEY WILL USE WHAT EVER MASS DESTRUCTIVE ITEM THEY CAN THINK OF. THE POINT IS SIMPLE. THEY WILL USE ANY DEVISE TO KILL IF THAT IS THE END RESULT OF THEIR PLAN. CARS, TRAINS, DISEASES, STARVATION, AND SO MANY OTHER WAYS TO KILL PEOPLE MAKE GUNS SMALL BY COMPARISON. OVER REACTING TO EACH EVENT SOLVES NOTHING. EACH DANGEROUS WEAPON THAT CAN KILL SHOULD BE LICENSED LIKE DRIVING A CAR. WE CAN ONLY HOPE TO REDUCE MASS KILLINGS BY EDUCATING THE PUBLIC TO IDEAS THAT CONTROL RATHER THEN TOTALLY BAN. ALL THROUGH HISTORY THE DESPOTS OF THE WORLD DISARMED THE POPULOUS TO CONTROL IT’S PEOPLE. THAT ADDS TO THE RISE IN CRIME AND THE LOSS OF FREEDOM. IF OUR GOVERNMENT WOULD STOP SCARRING US INTO BELIEVING THAT ARMAGEDDON IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER, GUN SALES WOULD DROP, BUT EACH EVENT THAT IS ELABORATED ONLY HELPS TO INCREASE GUN SALES, WHICH HAVE NEVER BEEN HIGHER.
Ask someone from a country that does not allow the populace a 2nd amendment how they feel about “gun control”. They will tell you the second amendment is important because it protects the populace from the possibility of a tyrannical government. The reason we are talking about this is because Alan Lanza should have had better supervision. He should never have been unsupervised. His mother, and or father were responsible for him as he was not a responsible, normal person. There should never have been guns accessible for him. Since he was not a responsible, normally capable human, the blame should fall on those who allowed this to happen. His parents and caretakers. A ban on assault weapons would not have prevented this.
It’s time we all stopped spending time pushing for something that won’t help. It’s easier to scream “gun control” than it is to spend the time and “money” finding solutions that really work. It’s also a hard pill to swallow, but the truth is we can’t legislate insanity out of people. We have to deal with them and their illness.
I fully support any proposed semi-auto firearm and standard capacity magazine ban IF any such proposed ban does NOT exempt the police or any law enforcement agency at ANY level of government. It’s totally insane to ban only civilian guns and magazines and not ban the future sale of such things to everyone including the police and all law enforcement agencies. Why create a despotic government with a monopoly of power? Include everyone and I mean EVERYONE!
I HONESTLY CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE US. THIS SICKENING. AND THE ARGUMENT THAT THAT AMENDMENT IS DATED? NONSENSE.
PARENTS – LOBBYISTS – CORRUPT POLITICIANS – GREEDY CORPORATIONS. WE AR BEYOND BROKEN. THE MEN THAT EROTE THAE DOCUMENT TO PROTECT OUR UNALIENABLE RIGHTS.
ARE TAKING THEM. I AM LITERALLY MOVING. I WOULD DIE FOR OUR COUNTRY. BUT YOU KMOW MY KIDS NEED A DAD. AMD LOVE. AND SAFETY. 9 HOME iNVASIONS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD THIS YEAR. NINE. MILLION PLUS DOLLAR STREET PAL. AMD NONE OF THE HOKEOWNRS HAD GUNS. BUT THEY ALL GOT BEATEN WITH BASEBALL BATS AND HAD THEIR ANIMALS THROATS SLIT IM FRONT OF THE KIDS AS THEY WEREMALL BOUND IN THE BATHTUB.
NOW- that was for a DRUG FIX. THE ONES THAT DOR 30 YEARS WE HAVE MORE AND MORE OF FLOODING OUR COUNTRY – THAT IS BROKE AND CUTTING FUNDING TO YOUR POLICE FORCE TOO – THEY DO SUCH A GOOD JOB KEEPING DRUGS OFF THE STREET THE GUNS IN CRIMINALS HANDS SHOULDNT BE TOUGH AT ALL RIGHT?
Fuck this
David holt- you are naive
Jr – CORRECT
THE USA IS STARTING TO NOT RESEMBLE THE USA. MORE PROPLE ARE KILLED BY DRUNK DRIVERS THAN GUNS EVERY YEAR. FAAAAAAACT
MASS MURDERS IN THE US HAVE NOT RISEN ND REMAINED AT APPROX 20 PER YEAR FOR 2 DECADES FAAAAAAAAAAACT
THE LARGEST DRUG CARTEL ISVA US PUBLICLY TRADED (AND LRAGE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR) -,PARDUE PHARMA OXYCONTIN WHICH IS 2DAMN MOLECULES OFF FROM HEROIN LOOK IT UP. I OWN DETOXIFICATION CENTERS. OVER 90%,OF OXYCONTIN IS SOLD ON THE BLACK MARKET – A TEEN DIES EVERY HALF HOUR,ADULT EVERY SEVEN MINUTES TO DRUG OVERDOSES -A: WE ALLOW HE ABOVE. IF YOU CAN’T SEE THAT YOU HAVE THE BRAIN OF A MONKEY
B- 86% EIGGGGHHHHTTTYYYY SIIIIXXXXXX PERCENT OF THE WORLDS/USA’s ILLEGAL DRUGS ARE PURCHASED BY AMERICANS
BUT YOU ARE GOING TO KEEP GUNS OUT OF THIS COUNTRY RIGHT? CRIME AND RAPE AND EXTORTION AND CHILD RAPE AND EVERY OTHER DAMN CRIME YOU CAN IMAGINE WILL INCREASE AS THEY DO IN GUN FREE ZONES.
TIM MCVEIGH BLEW UP OKLAHOMA CITY WITH A FEW GRAND AT DEPOT,TRACVEL AN RENTAL COSTS. NO GUN HOW MANY DIED? HOW MANY IN 9/11 WITH BOXCUTTERS TO HIJACK PLANES
THE ENTIRE MIDDLE EAT (IF YOU PAY ATTENTION AT ALL THE BS THE MEDIA FEEDS US JUST WATCH FOX HALF THE DAY AND CNN HALF THE DAY AND YOU WILL GET THE ANTITHESIS OF WHAT IS SUGGESTED ON TH OTHER IN OPINION AND FACT.
MESS WITH OUR —–_CONSTITUTION——- REALLY? ALLLLLLLLLLLL FACTS ABOVE GO LOOK, AND IF YOU’RE A SUCKER LIKE ME AND PAID 3x VALUE. TH BILL BEING WRITTEN IS TO NOT GRANDFATHER NYTHING BASICALLY OVER A 22 THEN THE PROPOSAL IS A MASS SEIZURE. THEY JUST USE MUCH MORE COMPLICATED LEGALESE. IT’S HAPPENING. WATCH.
Dude! You are definitely a tool!
If guns made us safer, we should be the safest nation on the earth. We are using guns to murder each other and commit suicide at a rate that sickens and astonishes the rest of the world. They shake their heads at us and wish we would grow up. This will start to affect our tourist trade.
As for defending ourselves against the government, that argument is just silly. Let me refer you to Waco. That guy had a huge arsenal, but no one has a bigger arsenal or more lethal one that the U.S. government. And we are paying for it.
The Special Forces should remain just that: special. There is no reason that every other household in America should have an assault rifle or one that fires like one. The men of our country need to get over their Rambo complex and realize that real men don’t need assault rifles. Funny how all these shooters mostly white males.
It should be a privilege to own an assault weapon. We can repeal any amendment to the constitution that the people–the many–want to repeal. Individual rights must give way to the safety of the majority. It may be your right today, but tomorrow it should be a privilege.
Gun manufacturers are fear mongers. They have done a great job at making people who aren’t too bright buy into their view of the world and buy their merchandise. Nobody wants to take away your hunting rifle or pistol. But automatic and semi-automatic weapons have one function and one only: to kill people. Someone who will go into a school and open fire with one has the drop on everyone. And thanks to the large magazines on these guns, no one will be able to stop him until he has done his damage. He’s going to die anyway, he doesn’t care. And thanks to the NRA, anyone at all can buy one of these guns. And who is crazy, anyway? At any given time, any one of us can snap.
We can’t put teeth into any gun control law until the 2nd Amendment is repealed. The NRA challenges these laws every time and wins. And we and our kids lose. And the killing continues. The media has been so busy in Newtown that they haven’t even reported on the latest shooting in Pennsylvania. And it will go on and on. And we the people are fed up. We have a well-regulated militia. We don’t need untrained people blasting away at every shadow. Very dangerous situation. It must stop.
The last three children were buried today in Newtown. Don’t let their deaths be in vain. Let’s control our guns and make sure that dangerous weapons don’t proliferate in our country. This isn’t freedom. We are our own captives.
I understand how you feel, I felt they same way until I sat back and thought through this. The answer, as any intelligent person can see, is not a repeal of the 2nd amendment. This will only give the government the chance to repeal other ones including the 1st and the 15th. These amendments are for our protection against government, they tell the gov what it can not do. Our existing government is becoming what the founding fathers wrote the amendments for, it has become a bueaucracy and run by people appointed to office and not elected. The problem is not the gun, this killer stole his btw, it is the person behind the gun. That type of person will use any weapon to kill, this has been proven through time.
It is tragic that these children and adults lost their lives. It’s also more tragic that he wasn’t delt with by his parents before this happened, it sounds as if they knew he was a loose canon. The answer is not to take away my right to defend myself, the answer is not to change the constitution, the answer is not to lock up all the guns that law biding citizens own, now laws will stop the lawless ever. There is a town in Georgia that has a murder rate that is almost nill, the last 3 murders were in ‘ gun free zone ‘ in or near a school where guns are not allowed, the bad guys there know that all home owners are required to own a gun, with a few opt out inclusions in the law, and if they decide to commit a crime they will be faced with an armed citizen. Strength deters crime. I don’t know what is the correct answer to the gun issues, but I do know that disarming our law biding citizens is not an answer. ” when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns”
WHY ARE YOU STILL SELLING MURDER WEAPONS? “TACTICAL” DOESN’T FOOL ANYONE. WE KNOW YOUR GAME–AND WE KNOW WE ARE GAME. ANYONE IS GAME IN A COUNTRY WHERE ANYONE CAN BUY WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION ONLINE OR ANYWHERE. THESE GUNS EXIST FOR ONE REASON ONLY–TO KILL, TO MASSACRE, NOT FOR SELF-DEFENSE. YOU ARE ACCESSORIES TO MURDER.
THE SECOND AMENDMENT HAS BEEN ABUSED. WE THE PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THIS ANYMORE. THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD–OR THE SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPON. THE CONSTITUTION EXISTS TO SERVE THE PEOPLE AND WE ARE NO LONGER BEING SERVED BY THE SECOND AMENDMENT. ITS DAY IS OVER.
WHEN YOU GO INTO YOUR RANT ABOUT THIS POST, REMEMBER THE SANDY HOOK 26. REMEMBER THE BUSHMASTER THAT PUMPED TWELVE BULLETS INTO THE BODY OF A SIX-YEAR-OLD. AND REMEMBER THAT IF YOU CAN BY A GUN, ANY NUT CAN BUY ONE.
And remember when you have a jackboot on your neck, that you willingly gave up your *right* to defend yourself. The second Amendment is a RIGHT. Not a privilege. The people at Sandy Hook were denied their right to defend themselves because they were told they could not have guns in a “gun free” zone. How’d that work out? If the principal had had a gun, the psycho would have been dead instead of twenty children. Crazy people don’t care about your laws, and no amount of legislation will stop them. Legislate the ownership of guns to where someone can’t get one, and they will kill multiple children with a knife (see: Osaka school massacre). Legislate the ownership of knives, like they’re talking about in the UK insanely enough, and they will put fertilizer in the back of a U-haul. Are you going to outlaw U-hauls and fertilizer too? Or require background checks and finger printing for buying those things? Oh, need a new set of knives for your kitchen, we gotta make sure you’re not a threat to anyone first!
The only thing revoking the second Amendment will do will make it easier for criminals to kill you and you will be like the principal of Sandy Hook, in a “gun free” zone where your right to defend yourself has been taken away from you. Criminals will get guns whether they are illegal or not, after all, how’s that war on drugs working out? All that outlawing drugs has done is created a very real war south of the border, where women are trafficked into forced prostitution and people are kidnapped and beheaded in broad daylight on the main streets of towns. Making it to where law-abiding citizens cannot have guns by revoking the second Amendment, will also make it to where we cannot fight a tyrannical regime, either foreign or domestic. CS Lewis wrote that ‘all get what they ask for, they do not always like it.’ You should be careful what you ask for, you just might get the police state that you’re clamoring for.
Murder weapons, David Holt? Murder weapons are those weapons determined through careful investigation, not mere inference and proximity, to have been used in the commission of a murder. What are you doing out here with your emotionalistic and fear-fueled flaming? Drumming up some propaganda points, maybe? Or perhaps you’re just on break from your work at NSA where your ‘duty’ as a provocateur is to go online and mess with the minds of unstable people who could potentially gain access to firearms, say, by murdering their mother. You should be adult enough to already have it in your head that this unstable person had entirely unlawful possession of the weapons he used to murder more than twenty-five people with. But I guess that’s all beside the point, right? You’ve been run into the chute (or are supervising the herd that is in the chute) and are now milling with your meathead brothers and sisters on the way to the stun line and your collective future as various cuts of beef. But you might have to forgive the rest of us for not wanting to share your fate. The Second Amendment isn’t about home protection or hunting for food, shooting sports, preventing an invasion or allowing us to heroically intervene in and stop the activities of mean ol’ terrorists. It’s about defending our Rights and Liberty under the Laws of our Democracy against the onset of incipient tyranny. Period! And what DO you suggest that we should use in a fight against the agents of a tyrant, anyway? Heavy dessert service? Tire irons? Nail clippers?!? Meanwhile, there are not now, never have been and never will be any ‘new laws’ which are EVER going to stop deranged psychopaths from doing whatever it is that they want to do.
If you believe that the 2nd Amendment is passe, change it. Until then it is the law of the land … the supreme law of the land, I might point out.
It was never intended to allow us to defend ourselves … that right comes as a condition of birth.
It was never intended to allow us to feed ourselves … that right comes as a condition of birth.
In fact, it acknowledges — but does not grant — only natural rights with which we were endowed by our creator.
If you choose to disarm yourself, that is your right. May your chains rest lightly on your neck and may you depart from here in peace. I, and millions like me, choose to stand as men and women and fight for what is rightfully ours. We will, if necessary, pursue this goal to the death … whether that of our adversaries or, if God so wills, our own. But we will not beg, we will not cower. We will stand as free men and women or we will fall as free men or women, but we WILL NOT accept the chains of slavery.
William Bond, Thankfully my rights are not based on what you think I need. Educate yourself more on this tragedy before opening your yap.
Well Jed, I think Mr. Bond was directing his comments towards the entire country, not just you. I take it you already own firearms, etc. I can live without 30 round magazines, or gun shows. The tragedy is that the young man should have got some additional counseling or help. Maybe if the richest 2% of Americans paid their fair share of taxes, the school district could of hired a social worker to work with these lost souls.
btw… Obama made a video response to the petitions here >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5ynVMBxOus
It is also on the petition page itself.
oops.. I went back to look… I have an anti-banner plug-in running and it didn’t allow the video to show. I thought it was an ad being blocked.
lol k
I am female, 55, minority by gender and race (Native American). I am a gun owner, have been since age of 18, and married to a former LEO, now Gunsmith & FFL holder. Fortunately I had already signed the petition before it was closed. I think it would be a good idea to start another petition, but more carefully worded this time. If you read the comments on the blog at the first intro to the petition, there are some valid points made there that could make the presentation really shine. Just my 2 cents….
We are going to ask people fill out the followup comment page instead.
While I disagree with your position, I do it respectfully in the hope that just as I’ve listened to your view that you will at least consider mine. The right to bear arms as many flaunt today is in my view a mischaracterization of what is actually a privilege taken advantage of by many. A “gun” as so many call it is weapon designed to kill and yet we as responsible owners of firearms have never taken a position for the greater good of society to do anything other than protect our own individual want.
The right to bear arms for self defense is one thing. The right to bear arms for sport and fun is another. If the NRA and/or other firearm enthusiasts would step up to take the lead and offer solid firearms regulatory ideas then you wouldn’t have such an uproar everytime a tragedy involving a firearm is involved. I too am a firearms owner, but unlike some, my firearms are not for sport. My firearms are for life and death situations and I am licenses in California to carry a concealed weapon for good cause. And no, I’m not a celebrity, but I also happen to be a person of color.
I am a proud Illinoisian who happens to split time between Chicago and Southern California. I find it funny how people pick and choose when the Constitution should be taken literally and when it should be seen as a living document, but only when it suits their need. I don’t see many if any “firearm enthusiasts” standing up for women or minorities when it comes to Civil Rights. I don’t see many if any “firearm enthusiasts” speaking out against stupid and senseless laws that allow anyone that pays 200.00 for a CCW class, the state fees and to carry a concealed weapon, but remain silent or stick to the line that we need more “gun” when an unarmed child is shot and killed or an innocent young child is killed playing with a parents firearm.
I like the GA website and I hope that my view will be honored and respected just as others with opposing views. I will not be signing the petition because as a firearms owner I do believe that there needs to be strong gun control laws at the Federal and State level. I also believe that the Federal law should be the minimum standard. Firearms should be licensed and there should be strict laws for violators including the criminalization of certain types of weapons and accesories. There is no logical need for high capacity magazines unless you are in a theatre of war. To offer self defense as a justification is laughable and it’s obvious you shouldn’t qualify for CCW consideration. If you can’t take a person down with less than 10 rounds you should find another form of protection.
Instead of lobbying to line their pockets or continue to spew falsehoods about taking people rights away, we as responsible FIREARMS OWNERS need to speak up and be a part of the solution instead of being a part of the problem. Gun control legislation can be a good thing if we as responsible firearms owners step up and speak up to provide ideas for making ownership safer and more common sense.
Where is the green button on that site to vote? Can’t find it anywhere.
So create another one. They only closed it to keep the signatures down. They did the same thing to our troops. They didn’t get to vote. Put one up on your site that the dictator can’t close and don’t close it until most people have had a chance to sign it. I don’t know though. The founders of this country didn’t didn’t rely on petitions in the end. King George wasn’t listening.
How many people have to die before the politicians and the media realize that criminals and the criminally insane do not obey laws. What good will new laws do when existing one are not enforced. According to a Syracuse University study prosecution of existing firearm laws is down 45% under the current administration. It is time to do something that will actually stop violent criminals not meaningless feel good measures.
IT IS ABOUT GUNS! When ten year old children are laying there dead, with ten bullet hoes thru them, it’s about guns! It’s all about guns. I’m a gun owner, but I don’t own assault rifles with huge magazines, and I don’t think any private citizens needs those kind of weapons. I am absolutely for stricter gun laws. It’s completely out of control, and I will not tolerate any more of these tragedies, and I will not tolerate the gun lobby telling America they need those kind of weapons.
I’m a gunning owning mama. We need the so called “assault” type weapons to defend ourselves against a tyrannical government, should the need arise. We need them to keep what freedoms we have left. You really want to be left defenseless to stop a gov’t out of control? I don’t. I prefer to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Once again, America is reacting in fear, just like after 9/11. Our loss of individual freedom was great from that single event, let’s not make the same mistake again. Individual freedom and personal responsibility need to come back to us. I would much prefer to live in freedom than in a politically correct society with an over-bearing nanny state telling me what I can and cannot do. I’ll be responsible for me, you be responsible for you. The shooter in CT is the only person responsible for his actions.
These shootings will stop when we stop sending our children to unprotected gun free zones. Don’t you get it? These murderers are targeting schools because we have made it easier for them to kill people there. More time to kill before anyone capable of fighting back shows up. They are killing because LIFE has no value to them, and we are at fault for making it easy. Allow concealed carry in the schools, so they won’t know who or how many can fight back. It’s the same concept as arming airline pilots. Isn’t allowing capable adults to protect our children the same thing we do for them at home? They can’t defend themselves, nor should they have to, being children. It is our responsibility to protect them.
Violet, so you would consider Timothy McVeigh a patroit? He died for what he believed in. What freedoms have we lost, compared to say 35 years ago? Back then you could not even own a telephone. There was a monthly fee on the phone bill. No one is disarming the US; not the UN or congress. You will never be involved in an ‘assault’ requiring a 30 round magazine. At home all you need is a pump shotgun. In CT, if mom kept the guns locked up, things would have played out differently.
Put guns in schools? The NRA wants an armed cop in every school? So much for small government. Teachers chosed education, not law enforcement. Half the cops in the country are killed with their own gun. Arming everyone is an idiotic suggestion. The Left is being reactionary on gun control, the Right is not offering any solutions; so who wins? Reinstate the assault weapons ban and put everything to rest. If someone does not have their preferred weapons and magazines by now, it was poor planning on their part.
Louis
The left is always reactionary. Sometimes to the detriment of the Constitution as will be the case here. I wanted to address your comment on the teachers being armed. You stated “Teachers chosed education, not law enforcement.” It`s not a question of law enforcement but self defense.
Also by using the term law enforcement you also pointed out the role of the police. It is not to protect us but to enforce the law. Now in this particular administration there has been a tendency to enforce the laws that they care to and restrict the enfocement of other laws.
I digress on that point. When the police are not here to protect us the burden falls upon out selves. You seem to know what is right for someone else to own for home protection by you own admission also in your post. “At home all you need is a pump shotgun.” Who is to say what kind of weapons I need or dont need? It`s our own freedom of choice. Who needs a car that is capable of being driven 150 mph when the speed limit is 70 ? Who needs a 30000 square foot apartment in Manhattan ?
That type of thinking is what is leading to the presumption of our elected officials as to what we need.
Well, tyranny comes from the left and the right. It’s an irrelevant academic point that will forever reserve only a small band of zealots in protecting the Second Amendment. The alignment with solely the right subverts a wider constituency which would be much more powerful if it wasn’t dismissed as a parochial interest.
You have said it all. You are the reason that people in this country are against gun ownership. You are the reason I thought the entire premise of “sign my petition because women are now gun owners” was so wrong. wow. all the anti gun people need to do is to read your paranoid comment to gain further commitment to outlaw guns. Female gun owners like myself– calm, rational family women who enjoy marksmanship and hunting–can’t thank you enough for further poisoning non gun owning folks against gun ownership.
Violet, I am not attacking you or singling you out. I am just now going down the list of posts (in here) and came across yours. Without addressing most of the points you make (I am tired of talking about them), let me just make one little point that so many folks (such as yourself) seem to be overlooking with regards to a “tyrannical government” and our (all of us Americans) right to keep and bear arms.
I have served in two branches for over 26 years (Army National Guard AND the Navy). When we (us military folks) serve, we learn all about “lawful orders” VS “unlawful orders”. We also swear an oath to “support and defend the constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic”.
Do y’all realize that us military folks are the sons and daughters of….ummm…Y’ALL. Do y’all really believe that your own sons and daughters would somehow go robot on your asses and turn mad dog on the very people we have sworn to defend…TO THE DEATH IF NECESSARY. The
I am curious, and not being condescending. But what tyranny is being imposed on you at the moment? I mean, we’ve had slavery and the lack of a woman’s right to vote in our past and I think we are pretty free right now, generally. Yes, I am against gun bans, but we’ve survived them before and I don’t fell less free in every aspect of life, just gun ownership. This country is still pretty great and I think the whining that we are less free is relative. I guess your situation could be different, but here we all are expressing ourselves without government censorship with people we do not agree with. My taxes are staying the same, I have a roof over my head and a family that is safe. Look at the rest of the world if you want to see real tyranny…
Don’t be such a spazz and a tool, William Bond. Right now is not the time to be so reactionary! As Americans, divesting ourselves of ALL OF OUR Constitutional Rights and welcoming in tyranny begins with one step, and such is the step which your screed so roughly describes.
Assault rifles are absolutely wonderful for sporting use as well as for military/law enforcement. They are accurate, light weight, easy to maintain, and a joy to use. shoot and hunt with. I have several and love them and I will not give them up just because idiots do bad things with them. Even though I can load them up with high capacity mags, I don’t, I just will put a few in for fun shooting or hunting. Usually the m30ost at one time would be 5 but it could be loaded up to 20 or 30. The magazine capacity will not stop these things from happening and stricter gun laws and controls will not stop them either. People that are set on doing these evil, vile shootings will get the weapons and ammo from somebody somewhere, somehow. Law abiding citizens should never have to be punished for something that criminals commit. When someone is coming at you with an assault type weapon, you better hope that you have adequate firepower to protect what you have. Yes, I agree that these shootings are really really bad and somehow must be stopped but TRYING to take away my guns is not the way.
In history, has a president ever been attacked by more than one gun wielding maniac at a time? Then why do the dozen armed personel following him carry high capacity magazines? The truth is, you and I are more than 1000 times more likely to be attacked than the president. You know why? I can tell you it isn’t because of a lack of gun control. It’s because he has a half dozen personel carrying weapons with high capacity magazines and that my friend is a deterent. What ever gives him or any other person the idea he / she deserves it but my famliy and I don’t?
As an individual citizen, I am more likely to run into an armed assailant than a police officer. They are generally gone once the police have arrived. Do you think the police have moved from 6 shooters to high capacity magazines just “because”. No, they know that carrying the best available weapon for self defense is just a smart thing to do.
I do not have the funds to supply myself with an armed entourage so I have to turn to the next best thing and purchase a high capacity firearm. My family is precious to me and I firmly believe it is my duty to them to provide the best protection I can afford and a single shot .22 LR is just not IT.
Your first paragraph is just too dumb for a response.
Your second paragraph is partially correct. You may have an encounter with an armed assailant. While one cop is taking your statement, another cop is searching for the subject. You may have an encounter once ever, the cop may have one every day. Police went from revolvers to semi-autos in the 1980s due to encounters with Mac-10s, Uzis, and AKs that the drug cartels were using.
So carrying your firearm 7/24 will keep your family safe? What does your wife think? My gun came first, then marriage, so my wife had to concede on it. Are your kids going to tell everyone you carry a gun? They always do. Either you are “the man” or a shameful coward. You never know how children will perceive things, and peer pressure from the other kids. Just something to consider before the plunge.
Well, if it is about the guns then why don’t we solve the problem the same way we did with drugs. Make them totally illegal and that will solve the problems……
An assault weapon is a weapon that has select fire capability, for those who don’t have a clue (i.e.: you) that means it can be switched to fully automatic. I too am a gun owner, and I have a few, pistols, revolver, shot guns, rifles, and none are assault rifles, though 2 have 30 round clips. I can fire my shotgun as fast, is it an assault weapon? The violece does not come from the gun, but the person firing it. Oh, and more deaths were attributed to hammers than guns last year, so I guess we need to make a ban on hammers too?
Too bad they have already closed the petition so no more people can sign it.
I see that??
I followed the link to the petition, but it appears to be closed for signatures now that it has been responded to. Is this normal? I was able to sign other petitions, so it isn’t an issue with my account.
LaRue
I think (am pretty sure) that this idea about having an online petition at WH dot GOV is a pretty poor idea, unless, of course, the plan is to allow our online numbers to be systematically suppressed by an IT savvy executive who is already on the record as being an advocate for more onerous Gun Control laws than the ones we already have (and that are ‘mysteriously’ not being enforced). During the campaign he very carefully had nothing-much-to-say on the subject during the outfall from the Colorado Movie Theater spree. This Sandy Hook mass-homicide and possibly engineered ‘tragedy’ is simply his very first post-election opportunity to enact a more fascistic brand of anti-democratic agenda. A new layer to Bush’s anti-American USAPatriot which can dismantle the Constitution and Bill of Rights once and for all. I don’t necessarily think that Barack Obama is a fascist himself, but as an avowed foe of the Second Amendment he is certainly an excellent instrument for their use in attacking our bedrock Constitutional Right.
guns are not criminals, they have no agenda, politicians on the other hand…………well i dont have to say it