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A Little Rock, Ark., man saved his own life late one night when three people broke into his house. Upon seeing the intruders, Eric Penny rushed into another room to retrieve his pistol when one man fired a rifle in his direction. Unhurt, Penny returned fire, striking all three. The armed assailant was shot in the head and later died of his wounds. His two alleged accomplices, who fled the scene after being shot, were located at a nearby medical clinic. (Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Little Rock, AR, 06/ 16/03)
A Gardnerville, Nev., homeowner shot and killed a man who broke into his home. According to police reports, Walter Francis Hetrick of Antioch, Calif., broke a window next to a door at 11:24 p.m. and then entered through the door. Charles Cryderman heard someone breaking in and called police. The homeowner, armed with a .357-cal. revolver, then shot the intruder when he entered his home. Douglas County Sheriff's investigator Mike Biaggini said that a man protecting "his castle" against someone committing a felony such as home invasion and burglary is allowed to defend himself. "He was in fear of his life," Biaggini explained. "His whole family was there." (The Record Courier, Gardnerville, NV; 08/06/03)
It was not the first time R&R Jewelers of Oklahoma City, Okla. had been robbed. When an armed man demanded money from storeowner Larry Rowell, he complied and gave the miscreant some cash. But then the robber turned to the diamond display case. In the ensuing exchange of gunfire Rowell was wounded in the chest and the robber was killed. (The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK, 06/18/03)
A 76-year-old Chicago man was making his usual stop at the local gas station when things went very wrong. Charles Smith, a 27-year army veteran, was getting back into his car when he felt a gun at the back of his head. "Start the car and get out or I will kill you," was al1 the teenager, later identified as Blannie Hanes, said. Smith complied, but then confronted the teen from the passenger window, showing his .380cal. pistol. When Hanes extended his gun, Smith fired, fatally striking the carjacker in the chest. (Chicago Sun Times, Chicago, IL, 04/24/03)
When a masked bandit tried to hold up a San Dimas, Calif., convenience store, he was shot dead by the clerk who kept a handgun behind the register. It was later revealed that the robber, who pointed what looked like a .357 revolver at the clerk, was actually holding a BB gun. During the investigation, an officer of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department said, "I think it's apparent at this stage of the investigation that there were self defense issues." (Inland Valley, Ontario, CA, 06/16/03)
When a man came to his door asking to use a phone, an elderly Beaver Valley, Ariz., resident did not expect what would happen next. The visit suddenly turned deadly when the man pulled a knife on homeowner Ray Freisen, demanded his wallet and car keys and then tied him to a chair. Freisen was able to free himself and retrieve his gun, but not before the intruder stabbed Freisen's wife. In defense of his wife, Freisen shot the home invader several times, killing him. By the time medical personnel arrived, Annie, Freisen's wife of 53 years, had also died from her wounds. (Payson Roundup, Payson, AZ, 07/01/03)
A would-be robber had the bad fortune of choosing the wrong restaurant to rob when he was shot and killed by an employee at the Oriental Express restaurant in Laurel, Md. Prince George's County police spokeswoman Cpl. Tammy Sparkman reported that a man entered the restaurant about 9:30 p.m., drew a gun, demanded money and grabbed a restaurant worker. Upon seeing a coworker held at gunpoint, another employee, armed with a gun, ran out of the restaurant's kitchen and fatally shot the robber. (The Washington Post, Washington, DC, 07/14/03)
David Ronald Washington, the alleged Memphis, Tenn., "cat burglar" tied to a string of residential burglaries, was killed during an altercation with a homeowner. Washington, who had crept through a window, came face to face with the resident who shot him during the ensuing struggle. The burglary spree began in early May, and despite stepped up patrols by police, they were unable to catch the criminal. Burglary Bureau Maj. Billy Garrett said, "I hate for someone to lose their life, but for all of those innocent victims out there ... they don't have to worry about this particular guy." (The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN, 06/16/03) k |
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Freedom is never free. Since America's Revolution, our hard won liberty has always come at a great cost. As citizens, we proudly pay the price for freedom when our nation calls, and as members of the National Rifle Association we have paid to protect our liberty from being eroded from within. That's why the NRA is such a peerless force in protecting the Bill of Rights. An English friend—who helplessly watched his firearm freedom evaporate—recently told me that the difference between England's loss of liberty and our success in protecting the individual right to keep and bear arms is defined in a single name: the National Rifle Association of America. If the NRA were ever to shut down or if we ever cut back the vital work we do to preserve freedom, he warned, America could well go the way of Great Britain. In the NRA, we have a force and a power to control our destiny that never existed in England, nor in Australia, where firearm owners are now being forced to submit to new confiscation of registered guns by a government bent on total civil disarmament. NRA's strength is defined by you—by your willingness to vote; to participate in the democratic process; to make your voices heard; to influence your families, friends and co-workers; to reach out to the media with the truth. And there is something else just as important. Money. NRA cannot win without it or survive without it. And the Second Amendment will die without it. Since our stunning election victories in 2000, when we defeated the anti-gun Clinton dynasty, and in 2002, when we strengthened pro-gun majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, the media has painted our current era as a "peacetime" for gun owners. Indeed, NRA has fought hard to pass legislation to end malicious lawsuits designed to destroy the nation's law-abiding firearm industry. We have worked to undo the bureaucratic harm inflicted under the iron fist of the Clinton administration—especially against rural communities and rural citizens when it forced thousands of small, law-abiding, federally licensed gun dealers out of business. NRA spoke out to stop the Federal Communications Commission from allowing international media conglomerates to absorb thousands of independent broadcasters and print news outlets, creating monopoly ownership that could muzzle our defense of our Second Amendment freedoms. And we are at the door of the U.S. Supreme Court to restore our voice silenced by the so called Campaign Finance Reform Act. With all of this, the media has ginned up the notion that there are no immediate threats to our freedom. Consider the media spin on impending automatic sunset a year from now of the 1994 Federal gun ban on semi-automatic firearms. We all read stories that victory is "in the bag." Nothing is ever "in the bag"—the gun prohibitionists are working tirelessly to keep and expand their ban to include provisions that would turn America into England and Australia overnight. The enemies of the Second Amendment are never "at peace," and the NRA can never be a "peacetime" army. We can never afford to neglect our strength, for a weakened NRA is the fondest dream of America's gun prohibitionists. Today, many firearm owners are living under a false sense of security, lulled by the media into thinking that unless the threat is immediate, there is no need to contribute funds to support the guardians of our rights. Yet, the victories we have delivered have been costly, cutting deeply into NRA's budgets. Winning takes millions of dollars beyond what individual members' dues cover. Today, if we were faced with a full-blown legislative assault, we simply would not have the war-chest to meet the crisis. When we ask for donations—either to NRA or to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action—it is out of absolute necessity. Some NRA members tell me they are tired of fund-raising appeals. And what I tell them—one on one—is the simple truth: Without your donations—without the financial support of individual NRA members, without dollars from supporters of the Second Amendment—NRA would cease to exist. If that day ever comes, the likes of the Brady Campaign, the Violence Policy Center, Americans for Gun Safety and the billionaires and foundations who bankroll them would be dancing on the Second Amendment's grave. Freedom is never free. It always comes at a great cost. Freedom fully depends on your financial and active support. It's just that simple. |
"The liberties of our country, the freedom
of our civil constitution are worth defending.... We have received
them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased
them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood
.... It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy ... if we should
suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle,
or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing
men."—Samuel Adams, 1771
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Various organizations have been important to game preservation and wildlife habitat. NRA, likewise, has been interested in plentiful game and places to hunt. Unlike most organizations, NRA is structured legally and in other ways to seriously impact government legislative and administrative policies concerning hunting. We have professionals attending the U.S. Congress, federal administrative agencies, every state legislative house and every state agency that impacts hunting. Laws and government policies determine whether and how funds taken from hunters in taxes and fees will be used. Laws and administrative rules determine whether public lands will be available to hunting on a practical basis or whether hunting will be banned or access so restricted that hunting is impossible. Laws and policies determine whether new lands will be made available or monies diverted to other purposes. Laws and administrative rules determine whether licenses and procedures will be easy to follow or so laden with red tape and bureaucracy that the most vulnerable hunters are forced to drop out. Huge amounts of money are collected from hunters in Pittman-Robertson taxes, license and stamp fees and many other federal and state mechanisms. In addition, hunters should be entitled to a fair share of other public expenditures based on taxes we pay. There are some 80 million gun owners and 15 to 20 million hunters, and all pay general taxes in addition to hunting-related taxes and fees. We have as much legitimate claim to a fair share of public funds as do bike and jogging trails, museums, art centers, parks and botanical gardens. All are good—so is hunting. NRA is the best organization to ensure that hunters, particularly the most vulnerable in our ranks, have a serious seat at the decision-making table. Hunting is under attack by organized animal rights, gun-ban and eco-terrorist groups. Only the NRA is equipped to identify their many subtle and oblique attacks and to expose and defeat them. Only the NRA has a political action committee—the NRA Political Victory Fund—with the influence and ammunition to elect pro-hunting leaders and unseat incumbents at the federal, state and hometown levels. Thanks to your NRA membership and support, our Association has achieved many victories on behalf of hunters. This past summer, NRA was able to help defeat federal legislation that would have seriously damaged wildlife management policies on federal lands across America. Thanks to you, NRA has also won battles including laws in 45 states protecting shooting ranges from "nuisance" lawsuits and shutdowns and laws in all 50 states to protect lawful hunters from harassment by anti-hunting protesters. It was the NRA that led the fight to preserve hunting on our national wildlife refuge system. In fact, NRA's effort reestablished hunting as one of the "primary purposes" of wildlife refuges. NRA provided vital support for important wildlife conservation, like the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), to establish wildlife habitat. Recent surveys by state fish and game agencies have found that unless a young person is exposed to hunting by age 14, chances are he or she will never start. NRA has programs for young people—from Shooting Sports Camps and the Youth Hunter Education Challenge to partnerships with the Boy Scouts, 4-H, FFA and other groups. These introduce more than a million youth each year to the enjoyment, challenge and achievement of shooting. A recent survey by Field & Stream magazine asked hunters to rate the job NRA does standing up for the rights of hunters and gun owners, and 86 percent of respondents said "good," "very good" or "excellent." If that's the case, then 86 percent of them—11 to 13 million—should be NRA members! From hunter safety training to wildlife habitat to introducing millions of young people to hunting to a war on red tape to protecting the rights of the most vulnerable hunters— NRA is America's hunting champion. Stay tuned for exciting new NRA initiatives in hunting. |
Your NRA is a very large and strong organization,
and that strength is applied to protecting gun owner interests.
One important component of gun ownership is hunting. Hunting
is important because 15 to 20 million Americans use their guns
in hunting. It's a key portal for young people to become acquainted
with the family of gun-owner activities ranging from civil rights
through defense of home and country to wholesome recreation.