The only crime jewelry store owner Gilbert Dorland previously experienced in his shop was the occasional shoplifter trying to steal an antique watch. But he reacted quickly when two armed men attempted to rob his store. The men, wearing bandannas over their faces, entered Western Jewelry and Coin at 4:19 p.m. Both drew guns and called out, "Nobody move." Dorland didn't heed that warning and drew his own gun, firing at the masked bandits and injuring one. Dorland and a friend who was in the store at the time of the robbery attempt were not injured. The would- be robbers fled in a dark green Jeep Cherokee. Police said that a man suffering from a gunshot wound later pulled into a local hospital in a vehicle matching that description. (Seattle Post-intelligencer, Seattle, WA, 02/21/04)

Perry Tatsch and his wife were sleeping when a man drove his truck through a gate on their property and kicked in the front door around 2 a.m. The intruder, later identified as Steven Ray Foster, then assaulted Mr. Tatsch. Coming to her husband's aid, Tatsch's wife managed to push Foster into the kitchen. When Tatsch then ran into his bathroom, Foster followed him and continued beating him. Tatsch's wife intervened a second time, giving Tatsch enough time to secure a handgun. Tatsch then ordered Foster to leave. The two men struggled and Tatsch shot Ebster in the chest, killing him. The Tatsches had separated for a while and Foster reportedly had been interested in dating Mrs.Tatsch, who told authorities she did not share foster's interest. (Austin American- Statesman, Austin, TX, 02/14/04)

Michael Spearman heard an unusual noise in his house one morning and went to investigate. Spearman discovered two men rummaging through his gun cabinet. The homeowner had armed himself with a .357 Mag. revolver and, when he confronted the intruders, shot at one would-be burglar, who fled. Spearman then held the other man at gunpoint until sheriff's deputies arrived. "I didn't know what to think when I saw two men in my house," Spearman recalled. "One kept advancing at me; I had to do something." Sheriff Herbie Johnson praised Spearman's quick thinking. "Every person has the right to defend themselves and their homes," Johnson said. "This man had the presence of mind to handle the situation. He captured one suspect and was able to give us a good description of the other." Johnson said Spearman's actions might help them solve several burglary investigations. (Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, AL, 01/07/04)

A liquor store clerk thwarted a robbery attempt at Latam Wines & Liquor in Tampa, Fla., when he grabbed a gun kept under the counter and aimed it at the crook. The robbery attempt occurred at 8:30 p.m. when a man wearing a bandanna over his face entered the liquor store. The masked man approached the counter and pointed a gun at the clerk who, in turn, pulled out a gun and aimed it at the would-be robber. The masked man fled the store without shots being fired and took off in a late model Camaro or Trans Am. Three other men were in the vehicle when it sped off, according to police. (Tampa Tribune, Tampa, FL, 01/10/04)

Ivory Grayson responded to a knock at his front door early one morning. The young man on his doorstep asked for Grayson's grandson. The 65- year-old homeowner replied that his grandson was not there. During the conversation at his front door, Grayson noticed a second man trying to hide from view. When the two men returned and knocked on his door again, Grayson retrieved a handgun before answering. Both men were armed, and they forced their way into the home. Grayson took cover behind a living room chair and "a gun battle ensued," reported Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Justin Risley. Grayson exchanged gunfire with one of the armed intruders and killed the gunman. He then exchanged fire with the second man at the front of the house, until the intruder fled. (Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, 01/08/04)

A series of increasingly violent incidents culminated in the death of a former handyman who broke into the home of a previous employer and his wife. James Butler returned fire, killing David Brown after Brown shot the couple, The incident occurred around 11 p.m. when Brown entered the house, armed with a handgun and rifle. He shot Butler once in the neck, and Butler's wife, Suzanne, in the arm. Butler managed to reach a handgun he kept in the home and shot Brown several times. Butler told police he had hired Brown to do odd jobs a few years ago. Last year Brown was seen peering in the Butlers' windows, behavior which subsequently escalated to threats, unwanted phone calls and break-ins. Brown had previously been charged with assaulting Mrs. Butler on Christmas Eve when she came home and discovered him in the house. (News-Leader, Springfield, MO, 02/08/04)

As oppressive as the eight long years of the Clinton Administration's war against firearm owners' rights were, they will pale in comparison to what Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry has in store for us - if he evicts President Bush from the White House in November.

Kerry, who poses as a hunter and publicly wraps himself in a mirage of the Second Amendment, is among the most solid "F" candidates ever rated by NRA. Throughout his 20-year stint in the U.S. Senate, he has been a faithful vote for the gun-ban movement since he was elected as the junior member from Massachusetts, under the tutelage of Teddy Kennedy. On issues directly affecting Second Amendment rights, Kerry has voted 51 of 55 times against you on the floor of the Senate.

For all we've read lately about how enemies of the Second Amendment are shying away from the "gun control" issue in this election year, a series of votes in the U.S. Senate in March changed all that, with Kerry eagerly taking center stage. In working to sabotage S. 1805, the NEA-backed legislation to stop the endless series of predatory lawsuits aimed at strangling the law-abiding firearms industry, Kerry read the gun ban lobby's script to a tee during floor debate.

Heeding the advice of political strategists on how to play gun-rights voters as witless fools by claiming to be one of us, John Kerry told the Senate: "I believe strongly in the Second Amendment. I believe in the right to bear arms as it has been interpreted in our country.'' He added, however, "There is no right to have access to the weapons of war in the streets of America." Kerry was among those who cast the deciding votes on what proved to be killer amendments to the gun industry lawsuit tort reform: Sen. Diane Feinstein's 10-year extension of the Clinton semi-auto ban and a new version of Sen. John McCain's so-called "gun show loophole" bill that would criminalize now-legal private sales at gun shows.

His appearance in the Senate broke Kerry's missing-in- action streak that saw him routinely absent on the issues he touts as central to his presidential campaign. Goring gun owners was too important to miss.

During his Senate appearance, Kerry directly attacked NRA while heaping accolades on the Clinton gun ban. The attack is part of a campaign of vilification. Kerry and his surrogates will attempt to discredit the good reputation of our organization and any who support our goals of protecting America's unique Second Amendment freedoms. It will be part of what promises to be dirtiest quest for the White House in American history. It is a campaign of demonization on one hand and deception on the other.

That effort includes a malicious series of the Brady Campaign's Blizzard of Lies ads that try to paint NRA as a hate group. It includes efforts to besmirch the character of leaders such as Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who superbly led the Senate floor fight on behalf of the nation's gun owners.   We are seeing the return of "smear and destroy" politics as practiced during the darkest days of the Clinton Administration.

When Kerry hypocritically talks about his newfound support for the Second Amendment, there are two words he never utters. He never says the word "individual," and more importantly, he never repeats the all-important word of the framers-"keep." As we all know, the Second Amendment says, in part: "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Keeping arms. That means you and me-ordinary private men and women owning guns for protection of ourselves, our families and our nation.

Kerry's personal version of the Second Amendment fits right in with what the ban-the-gun crowd wants-a future declaration by a stacked Supreme Court that the Second Amendment is not an individual right, but the right of states to organize militias. Remember Kerry's words ... "I believe in the right to bear arms as it has been interpreted in our country ... ." (emphasis added). The unflinching claim of the gun banners is that courts have already interpreted the Second Amendment as a collective right of slates. Make no mistake, that is what John Kerry is saying.

Further proof of that trickery came during Kerry's Senate speech supporting the Clinton gun ban on semiautomatic firearms when he told the Senate and the nation, "For those who want to wield those weapons, we have a place for them. It is the U.S. military."

There it is. It fits perfectly with his long-time voting record and his mantra about the "right to bear arms.'' Americans can bear them in the military, but American citizens possess no right to keep them in their homes. Our homes. Kerry and his gun-ban cohorts know that if he can take the White House by fooling gun owners, he will have the power to destroy the Second Amendment once and for all.

At stake is the control of government by those who have no regard for the guaranteed rights of individual Americans he and who see the next four years as a historic opportunity to change our system from a government of the people, by the people and for the people ... to a system in which the people are merely servants of government. And at the heart of that profound change is who will fill the certain vacancies forthcoming in the United States Supreme Court.

Between now and the November 2 elections each of us must act daily, one-to-one, to convince fellow gun owners not to buy John Kerry's vision of America's future.