Minuteman Monthly Issue 7 (February 2001) Thank you for subscribing to the Minuteman Monthly. The subscriber base is growing more and more every month!!! We have recently embarked upon a brand new Presidential Administration and the outlook for the Second Amendment could not be much brighter. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney will keep their Oath Of Office and protect and defend the United States Constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. The last administration sadly did not. Vice President Dick Cheney has a nearly perfect voting record in Congress for protecting the original intention of the Second Amendment. The United States Senate is, as you know split 50-50. The United States House of Representatives holds the slimmest of pro-Second Amendment margins also. We must stay vigilant in this new 107th Congress. Every bill related to crime must be paid very close attention. The United States Justice Department under the Clinton Administration and Janet Reno, purposefully misinterpreted the Second Amendment to twist its meaning into what they wanted. They postulated that the term "...well regulated Militia..." in the Second Amendment referred to active participants in the United States National Guard. And that the Second Amendment protected ONLY those firearms used in the National Guard and not even the private arms of those National Guardsmen. This notion has no basis in fact whatsoever. The National Guard did not officially exist until after the Militia Act of 1903, also known as the "Dick Act" named after Congressmen Dick. There was 111 years between the Militia Act of 1792 and the Militia Act of 1903. The Militia Act of 1903 did not have the power to change the meaning and original intention of the Second Amendment. Government does not have the power to change the meaning of a single word in the Bill Of Rights and then assert that the new definition applies to a preexisting Amendment in the Constitution. This ability to change the Second Amendment by changing the meaning of the word militia simply does not exist. ****************************************** Minuteman Monthly Safety Tip of the Month [new feature] The Minuteman Monthly safety tip for this month is to make sure you check the action of a firearm every time you pick it up. You should condition yourself to do check the firearm every time you pick it up. For a revolver, you should swing out the cylinder and make sure the cylinder is empty, every single time you pick it up. For a Semi-automatic, you should remove the magazine and inspect it, to make sure it is empty. Then open the action, by moving the slide to the rear and check the chamber. Checking a firearm every time you handle it, will totally negate any possibility that you mistakenly leave a gun loaded. Making sure I check the action of a gun whenever I pick it up, has surprised me more than once in my 30 years of shooting. Of course, we ALWAYS keep our fingers away from the trigger during this whole procedure, and point the barrel in a safe direction. I will have a "Safety Tip of the Month" in every issue of the Minuteman Monthly from now on. ******************************************* A New Spirit I feel as if a fresh, new spirit has come to America. To have George W. Bush in the White House has brought a sense of refreshment and restoration. The Inauguration Day prayers and festivities touched my soul as nothing else has during the last eight years of the Clinton Administration. The immorality, deceit and transgressions of the last administration are a thing of the past. The nearly quarterly White House scandals are gone. Instead, we have a President in George W. Bush that actually reads the Bible and an administration that will protect and defend the Constitution as they have vowed. I might be fooling myself a bit here, but I feel really good about the next four years. ******************************************* A Letter From Vermont Earlier this month, I sent out a quick note on how Vermont violent crime statistics compared with States that had stricter gun control measures. I was sent a letter from a person named Jack Anderson from Vermont. Here are a few excerpts from his letter, posted here with permission. __________________________________________ "...Living in both Washington, DC and Vermont, you [Vermont Congressmen] have a unique perspective. As you know, in 1976 gun control "Utopia" was founded in Washington, DC. Possession of handguns was outlawed. Twenty years later, "Utopia" had the most violent crime. Vermont has never had gun control laws. Along with North Dakota and our good neighbors Maine and New Hampshire, Vermont was among the lowest in violent crime rates in 1996. The 1996 FBI Uniform Crime Statistics show that Vermont with a population of 589,000 had 11 murders, 159 forcible rapes, 91 robberies and 453 aggravated assaults. Washington DC, with a similar population 543,000, had 397 murders, 260 rapes 6,444 robberies and 9,828 aggravated assaults. Did Vermont have more police protection? No, Washington, DC has 3,632 sworn police officers. At 844, Vermont has less than a quarter as many. Nationally, the population in 1996 was 265,284,000. In 1996 there were 19,645 murders (rate 7.4/100,000 people). There were 95,769 rapes (rate 36.1); 537,050 robberies (rate 202.4); and 1,209,814 aggravated assaults (rate 388.2). Now let's compare. If the gun control advocates had their "Utopia" nationwide in 1976, where would we be? If we use Washington, DC's violent crime rate and extend it to the nation in 1996, we would have had 193,922 murders instead of 19,645, almost 10 times as many. We would have had 127,071 women raped instead of 95,769. We would have had 3,148,125 robberies instead of 537,050 almost six times as many. And we would have had 3,082,865 people violently assaulted rather than 1,209,814 or three times as many. On the other hand, if we extend Vermont's rates nationally, we would have had 5,040 murders instead of 19,645. So, 14,605 people who were murdered would still be with us. We would have had 71,626 women raped instead of 95,769. So, 24,143 women would not have been physically violated and emotionally devastated. We would have had 40,853 robberies instead of 537,050. So, 496,197, almost half a million Americans would not have had their hard earned property taken from them by thugs. And we would have had 204,003 people violently assaulted rather than 1,209,814. So, 1,005,811--over a million--Americans would not have been shot, stabbed, clubbed or beaten..." **************************************** My Quick Analysis I looked at the 1995, 1996 FBI Uniform Crime Report myself and gleaned these statistics from it. Please feel free to use them in your activism efforts. Some States with strict gun control policies and their violent crime rates: California 966.0 per 100,000 Washington D.C. 2661.4 per 100,000 Illinois 996.1 per 100,000 Maryland 986.9 per 100,000 Massachusetts 687.2 per 100,000 New York 841.9 per 100,000 __________________ Average of 1189.9 per 100,000 States with permissive or no gun control laws and their rates: New Hampshire 114.5 per 100,000 North Dakota 84.0 per 100,000 Maine 124.9 per 100,000 Vermont 118.3 per 100,000 _________________ Average of 110.4 per 100,000 AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THIS, THERE IS APPROXIMATELY TEN TIMES (10X) MORE VIOLENT CRIME IN STATES WITH STRICT GUN CONTROL. Boy, does that tell a story!!!!!!! States that have strict laws regulating firearm possession, carry and transfer, have MUCH higher rates of violent crime. Please tell your family and friends, your newspapers and of course your Congressmen. Gun control laws do not work to reduce violent crime, they only serve to diminish freedom, liberty and the ability to defend yourself. ****************************************** New BookShop Thank you for the amazing success of my BookShop. My BookShop page can be found here . The Savetheguns BookShop has been open for 22 days as has received almost 200 page views per day. Here is the Savetheguns Bookshop ***************************************** John Ashcroft As of this writing, John Ashcroft has not yet been confirmed as United States Attorney General. Thank you for all your efforts in supporting him for this important office as head of the United States Justice Department. Please contact your United States Senators if you have not already done so. ***************************************** Thank you for being a part of the Minuteman Monthly and helping to save the Second Amendment from sliding towards repeal. Please forward this newsletter to your family, friends, co-workers and of course those who don't believe the truth.