 Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Issue 85 August 2008 |
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Welcome to this issue of the Minuteman Monthly Newsletter. This is the monthly communication from my Web site at www.SaveTheGuns.com. Thank you for reading this month's issue and for passing it on to a friend. Do you find it simply outrageous that Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and the Washington D.C. City Council insist upon maintaining unconstitutional ordinances in the D.C. City Code? Do you find it disgraceful that they insist upon keeping semi-automatic handguns banned within the District of Columbia and are classifying them as "machine guns"? Are you angry that the D.C. Mayor and City Council vow to maintain their trigger-lock ordinance unless one has reasonable and immediate belief that their lives may be in danger? Do you find it unconscionable that the City of Chicago is maintaining their own ban on handguns, despite the clear June 26th decision in D.C. v Heller? Are you frustrated that the City of Chicago and Mayor Richard M. Daley are thumbing their nose at the United States Supreme Court and defying the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers themselves? Do you find it disgraceful for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to keep their mandatory trigger lock legislation in place, despite the ruling in D.C. v Heller? Do you find it deplorable that pro-gun groups such as the NRA, SAF, GOA, JPFO and more have had to file lawsuits in court to get them to obey the Bill of Rights that they've all sworn to uphold and defend? Since I can remember, pro-gun groups have merely responded to proposed anti-gun legislation. We have merely been reactionary in nature. When Congress or the fifty States, state their intentions to create unconstitutional law, we respond to block it. Now we're responding to combat open defiance to the United States Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment. The time to be responsive and reactionary to the anti-gunners' efforts are over. We should stand tall, stick out our chests and put that mindset behind us. NOW, THE TIME HAS COME TO GO ON THE OFFENSE AND TAKE BACK WHAT WE HAVE LOST IN THE PAST. IT'S TIME FOR TRUE PATRIOTS TO STAND UP AND BE HEARD. IT'S NOW TIME TO ATTACK UNCONSTITUTIONAL GUN CONTROL LAWS THAT EXIST IN STATE CODES, FEDERAL LAW AND LOCAL ORDINANCES. NOW IS THE TIME TO GRADUATE FROM PRO-GUNNERS TO SECOND AMENDMENT ACTIVISTS. THE D.C. v HELLER DECISION HAS GIVEN US THE AMMUNITION WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR. WE MUST APPROACH THE DEFENSE OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT, AS OUR ENEMIES HAVE APPROACHED THE ELIMINATION OF IT. IF WE REMAIN ASLEEP ON THIS ISSUE AT THIS CRITICAL TIME, WE MUST PREPARE OURSELVES TO EXPLAIN OUR INACTION TO OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN WHEN THE SECOND AMENDMENT BECOMES A DEAD LETTER IN THE NEAR FUTURE. HONEST GUN OWNERS SHOULD NOW AWAKEN! NINETY SIX PERCENT (96%) OF AMERICA'S GUN OWNERS REMAIN ASLEEP. Read on... SaveTheGuns.com Quotes of the Month "Our ultimate goal -- total control of handguns in the United States -- is
going to take time... The first problem is to slow down the increasing number
of handguns being produced... The second problem is to get handguns registered.
And the final problem is to make the possession of handguns and all handgun
ammunition -- except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards,
licensed sporting clubs, and licensed gun collectors -- totally illegal."
"It is left, therefore, to the juries, if they think the permanent judges are under any bias whatever in any cause, to take on themselves to judge the law as well as the fact. They never exercise this power but when they suspect partiality in the judges, and by the exercise of this power they have been the firmest bulwarks of English liberty."
"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one
another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits
of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the
bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary
to close the circle of our felicity."
"There is no reason for anyone in this country --
anyone except a police officer or military person -- to buy, to own, to have, to use a handgun.
The only way to control handgun use in this country is to prohibit the guns." NOTE: Contrast and compare Bill Clinton above to Samuel Adams below. "The said Constitution
[shall] be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just
liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the
people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping
their own arms."
"I don't look at this
lightly—that, 'Oh, because the Supreme Court's done it we're just
gonna dismiss it and all of a sudden people can arm themselves...You
have to look at a new ordinance in order to protect firemen and
policemen going to the scenes of people that arm themselves in their
home." SaveTheGuns.com Gun Safety Tip of the Month About 80% of guns that are used during the commission of a violent crime come from family and friends of a felon or through the burglary of a residence or firearm retailer. Firearms are stolen, traded through the illegal narcotics trade and burglarized from homes all the time. Upon arriving at your home, the police or sheriff will ask you for the manufacturer, model number, action, barrel length, caliber/gauge and serial numbers of the guns that were stolen. The chances of you knowing this information without having it written it down is almost nil. But do you have a written inventory of the firearms you own? Do you have clear photographs of them as well? In this month's tip, I have written up a Microsoft Word file so you can easily keep track of your collection so you can be prepared in case this nightmare ever pays a visit to your house. http://www.savetheguns.com/firearm_inventory_sheet.doc Please contribute this month if you have not done so before. More than 90,000 children have learned something about gun safety from my Web site. Please contribute when you can so I can reach another 90,000 in the future.
NRA Membership Recruiter Corner http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR017807 This link will take you directly to the checkout page at the National Rifle Association to make it easy for you to renew your current membership, give an NRA membership to a friend or family member or join the fight for the first time. Using my links will save you TEN BUCKS ($10.00) on a one year membership. The normal one year membership is $35.00, but it's only $25.00 through my special link above. A discount to the services of LifeLock to protect against identity theft has recently been added to membership in the National Rifle Association. SaveTheGuns.com is one of thousands of NRA Membership Recruiters across America. As an NRA Recruiter, I'm officially a subcontractor for the National Rifle Association of America and not an employee. I make a small commission whenever you join, renew or give an NRA Membership as a gift. Please use the link above for all your NRA Membership needs. If your NRA Membership expires within ten weeks, I encourage you to renew your membership early using my convenient link that lands right on the appropriate page at the National Rifle Association. I have written a Web page with more information on membership in the National Rifle Association. It has a list of benefits as well as membership options and prices. For your convenience the above NRA Membership link is there as well. http://www.savetheguns.com/nra_membership.htm P.S. Remember, my link goes directly to the NRA Membership check out page. Using my special link is a lot more convenient than trying to find the page yourself. As of this issue of the Minuteman Monthly Newsletter, I've recruited 307 NRA Members through this link. 143 NRA Members recruited in 2008 alone! I want to be one of the top ten NRA Recruiters for the twelve state Northeast Region which includes Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. I am now in 11th place in the entire twelve state Northeast Region. A few extra NRA memberships will put me into the top ten. Please pass this newsletter onto all the inactive, do-nothing and complacent gun owners you know. Please use my convenient links for all your NRA membership needs and pass it around to others. http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR017807 Contributions to SaveTheGuns.com Please use the following convenient link to securely use a credit card online to give SaveTheGuns.com a voluntary contribution: http://www.amazon.com/paypage/P3GXU3PIEM5ST1 (After giving a contribution of at least $5.00, you'll receive an e-mail with a link to download my e-book entitled How to Choose a Handgun.)
To write me a personal check, it's almost as easy! Write out a personal check made payable to Marc H. Richardson. Sign it and put it into a stamped envelope addressed to: Marc H. Richardson My contributors have kept this informative Web site going for more than eight years. Become a contributor today... please? Active contributors are the only thing keeping www.SaveTheGuns.com online. Thank you very much for your support! CONTRIBUTIONS SINCE LAST ISSUE... $25.00 in contributions were received since the June 2008 issue of the Minuteman Monthly. Thank you! Twenty five dollars is better than nothing to help defend the Second Amendment with. E-mail me with suggestions or comments Item of the Month This is the Minuteman Monthly Retailer of the Month. The retailer of the month for the Minuteman Monthly Newsletter is Bass Pro-Shops. Check out their new gear for 2008 today.
Find the perfect gift at Basspro.com
Heller News Here is a link to the NRA's political action arm called the Institute for Legislative Action or NRA-ILA. They have created a special page for District of Columbia v Heller updates. From the following Web page, you can visit a link to hear the oral arguments in the case, read all of the Amicus Curiae Briefs, download the opinion of the court and much more. Obama News Here is a link to the NRA-ILA's Web page that is completely dedicated to Barack Obama and his firm stand against the Second Amendment. Despite his current rhetoric that he supports the Second Amendment, Barack Obama has consistently opposed lawful and honest gun owners at every turn. I encourage you to look at this page thoroughly and send it to any of your firearm-owning buddies who think Barack Obama would make a good president who would support and defend the rights of America's honest gun owners. U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has made so many mistakes, gaffes, lies and has flip-flopped on so many important issues that he makes Bill Clinton look honest, John Kerry look consistent and Dan Quayle look like a spelling bee champion. He is virtually insulated from harsh criticism from the mainstream media. Make no mistake about it, a President Obama would be a friend to anti-gunners throughout the world and a domestic enemy of the Second Amendment. I stop short of endorsing John McCain for President of the United States, but a President Barack Obama would be disastrous for law abiding American gun owners and would mean almost nothing in the minds of the violent career criminal. Minuteman Monthly Newsletter Aiming Point Okay, here we go. This is a very interesting time in American history isn't it? An interesting time it is indeed. On June 26, 2008, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in D.C. v Heller. D.C. v Heller said "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self defense within the home." The city of Wilmette, Illinois had a handgun ban since 1989. In a correct and responsible move, the Wilmette City Council voted 7-0 to repeal their nineteen (19) year old handgun ban in response to the United States Supreme Court decision in D.C. v Heller. We thank them for their correct action on this issue. On July 28th, just three days before the publishing of this month's Minuteman Monthly Newsletter, Morton Grove, Illinois repealed its twenty seven (27) year old handgun ban which passed back in 1981. www.SaveTheGuns.com thanks the city of Wilmette and Morton Grove for repealing their unconstitutional bans on the ownership handguns, in a timely response to the ruling of the United States Supreme Court on this matter. If these cities had merely listened to us pro-Second Amendment activists over the years, it could have prevented many needless deaths due to a victim's inability to defend themselves properly. Many hundreds of lives have been tragically taken over the years because of a citizen's lack of access to an effective means of self defense within the home. However, the District of Columbia and the City of Chicago, Illinois are holding tightly onto their now unconstitutional restrictions upon firearm ownership under the Second Amendment. The District of Columbia regards most semi-automatic firearms as "machine guns" and maintains a ban upon semi-automatic handguns that they had passed under a separate ordinance many years ago. Any semi-automatic firearm for which a magazine of twelve rounds is made anywhere in the world is classified as a "machine gun" under the D.C. City Code. Classifying a semi-automatic handgun as a "machine gun" because of an arbitrarily chosen magazine capacity is preposterous and absurd and should be repealed without hesitation. Even Dick Heller himself, the plaintiff in D.C. v Heller was turned away at the police station when he attempted to register his semi-automatic handgun. According to current rules in Washington D.C. and according to the Washington D.C. Police Department, nearly any handgun that is "bottom loading" is classified as a "machine gun" and will remain prohibited under D.C. code. On July 28th, the same day that Morton Grove, Illinois repealed their own ban on handguns, Dick Heller launched a second and brand new federal lawsuit against Washington D.C. in conjunction with lawyers from the National Rifle Association. In this lawsuit, he hopes to force Mayor Adrian Fenty and the Washington D.C. City Council to once again remove unconstitutional restrictions on the Second Amendment, which continue to outlaw most semi-automatic pistols and still maintain their unconstitutional mandatory storage ordinances. The National Rifle Association has filed suits in many areas of the country, including San Francisco and Chicago. But we simply cannot do what we need to do with only 4% of America's gun owners involved in the fight. Join the NRA today. In this new lawsuit, Dick Heller and two other plaintiffs allege that Washington D.C. continues to violate the Second Amendment as well as the letter and spirit of the D.C. v Heller landmark decision on June 26th. This new lawsuit is not expected to be resolved quickly either. The new lawsuit is in response to Washington D.C.'s Firearms Control Emergency Amendment Act of 2008. Just about everyone who has seen this newly passed act will easily recognize that it still clearly violates the right to keep and bear arms and even more specifically violates the majority opinion in D.C. v Heller. SEE THIS EDITORIAL IN THE WASHINGTON
TIMES Dick Heller was able to register a revolver with the Washington D.C. Police Department on July 18th, but was turned away when the attempted to register a Colt 1911 .45ACP, because they consider it to be a "machine gun" under the preposterous and absurd D.C. code which was clearly written and passed by a group of adults with barely the intelligence of a third grade child. The Mayor of the District of Columbia Adrian Fenty and the D.C. City Council are clearly still infringing upon the Second Amendment and are also still in direct violation of the decision in D.C. v Heller. In addition, they are still insisting that their mandatory trigger lock ordinance will remain in place, despite the majority opinion in D.C. v Heller being openly against it. The City of Chicago has gone even further. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and the Chicago City Council insist that the decision in D.C. v Heller does not apply to the City of Chicago and that it only applies to the District of Columbia. SEE THIS ARTICLE IN THE CHICAGO
TRIBUNE They insist that they can maintain their unconstitutional ban on handguns, even though suburbs of Chicago have voluntarily repealed their own bans. The Mayor of the City of Chicago has vowed to fight the case in court at the expense of the citizens of Chicago. Chicago leaders have vowed to maintain their unconstitutional restrictions upon the rights of the same tax paying citizens who are paying for the obstinate litigation in the first place. If that doesn't make Chicago Second Amendment supporters angry, I don't know what will. So here we sit. What is the next step? What should pro-Second Amendment supporters do? We MUST crank down the vise of public opinion on the elected leaders of both Washington D.C. and Chicago. The only people who will apply the vise of public pressure are people like you, the reader. What can we do?
The contact information for all of them is posted below for your convenience. One thing is for certain, complaining amongst ourselves and preaching to our own choirs will accomplish absolutely nothing. Discussing these alarming developments over a cup of coffee at your local gun club won't make a difference at all. Merely reading this newsletter and nodding your head with me, will do nothing towards making a real difference. Moaning and lamenting among ourselves while Washington D.C. and the City of Chicago remain steadfast in open defiance of the Bill of Rights and the United States Supreme Court is useless, futile, pathetic and unpatriotic. Do we sit and wait for the new court cases to be decided? Do we wait to see if D.C. v Heller gets "incorporated" by the 14th Amendment so it applies to cities and states? I'm not one to sit back and wait. To take a wait-and-see approach is very wrong-headed in my opinion, we must be more pro-active than ever before. Both of these mayors and their city councils should be recalled and replaced for their open and brazen defiance. What would America be like today if Samuel Adams, John Hancock and the Massachusetts Militia took a wait-and-see approach in the spring of 1775? I was recently told by a pro-gun supporter that we have "no power" to affect change in these city governments. I was told that we cannot do anything about it. I was told that the remedy lies strictly with the people of Washington D.C. and the people who reside in the City of Chicago to change their own leadership through the election process. I say that to sit back, watch and complain amongst ourselves as any duly elected entity defies both the Bill of Rights and the United States Supreme Court, is totally un-American. Certainly, the residents of Washington D.C. and the residents of Chicago have the power to change their local governments, but our own actions here can be almost as effective. True patriots like you and me cannot sit idly by and watch this charade. I cannot, in good conscience do nothing while these locally elected bodies thumb their noses at the United States Supreme Court and the protections embodied in the Bill of Rights. Millions of American servicemen and women have perished on battlefields all over the world, fighting for your and my right to say what we wish to public officials on matters of public policy. "An unconditional right
to say what one pleases about public affairs is what I consider to be
the minimum guarantee of the First Amendment." Now is the time to seize the moment. The time to stand up and act has come. The blood of patriots should be hot enough at this point to directly contact these locally elected officials directly and let them know that they are not allowed to contemptuously defy the ruling in D.C. v Heller and the Bill of Rights. Let them know that firearm bans and mandatory storage laws are now off the table. There are other methods of regulating lawful firearm purchases that can be employed, however, outright bans and mandatory storage ordinances are now gone forever. We can do something. We should do something! Who among us are satisfied to sit and observe this battle from a distance? If you were involved at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 when the Revolutionary War began, would you be content in watching the battle from a nearby hillside? I think not! The time to decisively act has come for fellow Minutemen and Patriots. We should not delay our efforts any further. We can no longer afford to be reactionary. We can no longer afford merely discuss these issues amongst ourselves. The phone banks, fax machines, mail boxes, e-mail inboxes and city council meetings MUST BE OVERWHELMED AND OVERLOADED by the few thousand remaining patriots left in the United States of America. Are you one of them? Be focused, be specific, be aggressive, don't cuss, don't threaten, don't ramble. But ACT. We can make a difference, even if we are not residents of Washington D.C. and Chicago. Overwhelming contact from the American people is the only thing that will really make a difference, besides the election process itself. In the days of Samuel Adams, elected officials who openly defy the Constitution would be dragged from their homes after dark and then tarred and feathered in the streets. Let us now simply contact them and tell them that we, the American people are unhappy with their decisions and their leadership. If you remain satisfied to observe this battle from the nearby hillside, simply close this newsletter here and go your own way. If you consider yourself a patriot, rush to the stonewall with "musket-in-hand", get out a pen, start an e-mail, fire up your browser and use the following contacts I have provided for you. If you do nothing else, forward this newsletter to everyone in your address book. Perhaps there are still some patriots left in these United States of America. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ WASHINGTON D.C. MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL CONTACT INFORMATION and here for individual members: IF WE DON'T SEIZE THIS OPPORTUNITY NOW AND TAKE BACK SOME OF THE RIGHTS WE'VE LOST, FUTURE GENERATIONS OF AMERICANS WILL WONDER WHAT YOU WERE DOING INSTEAD OF FIGHTING FOR YOUR RIGHTS. IF YOU'RE NOT INVOLVED IN THIS BATTLE IN SOME MEANINGFUL WAY, YOU SHOULD BE PREPARED TO TELL YOUR GRANDCHILDREN AND/OR GREAT GRANDCHILDREN WHERE THE SECOND AMENDMENT WENT AND WHAT YOU WERE DOING WHEN IT WAS REPEALED AND RELEGATED TO 'DEAD LETTER' STATUS. 96% of America's honest gun owners are not members of the National Rifle Association. More than 85% of America's gun owners have done nothing to defend their rights. Are we to meekly be led into darkness by those who would demolish and rewrite our Constitution? The time to stand up and act has come. The time to rush into action is here. Those who merely observe this battle from a nearby hillside, unwilling to protect their own rights need to awaken and act. JOIN THE NRA AND FORWARD THIS ON TO YOUR NON-NRA FRIENDS AND FAMILY. http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR017807 Closing Comments Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read the Minuteman Monthly Newsletter. I encourage you to pass it on. You may use this newsletter as you see fit. You may post it, blog it, print it, forward it and publish it. The only thing I ask is that somewhere in your material, make sure the URL www.SaveTheGuns.com appears prominently. Thanks,
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