William Tyler had lived alone for many years in his small house at the end of Rnob Road in Monroe County, Tenn., and this was not the first time his home had been burglarized. But one night, the phone lines had been cut and the shadowy figure outside his house was undeterred by Tyler's warning. Tyler had no choice but to wait up all night with his gun in hand. At daylight, he made his way to a local grocer to call a friend for help, who agreed to meet him back at Tyler's house. Upon returning to his house alone, Tyler found a hatchet-wielding intruder in his house, who began to attack. Tyler endured several blows to the head before he was able to escape, retrieve his gun and fire a shot. Despite this, the intruder kept coming, and it was only then that Tyler shot him. The intruder died at the scene. "It appears to have all the ingredients of a self-defense case," said Det. Sgt. Mike Morgan. (Daily News Express, Monroe County, TN, 12/12/04)

A string of armed robberies finally came to an end in Wilmington, Del., when one victim fought back. Michael Brown had been on a three-month robbery spree when he decided to rob a local liquor store. When he displayed his gun, the store owner produced a gun of his own. Brown fled, but a police officer who was patrolling the neighborhood spotted the man fleeing. He was able to track down Brown, who was found hiding under a porch. Brown was linked to at least three other armed robbery attempts and was charged with each of them. (The News Journal, Wilmington, DE, 12/13/04)

"The restraining order was not worth the paper it was printed on," said the victim's mother, but her daughter, Joy Burgess, knew it long before that night. Burgess was two days away from a court appearance in which her husband, Brian Gathing, was charged with domestic trespassing. This charge was only one in a string of charges pressed by his wife, which caused him to be jailed five times in five months. But that night Gathing cut her telephone lines and used a shovel to break her door open. Their 6-year-old daughter was asleep in the back room, and Burgess was not taking any more chances when she saw Gathing coming. Gathing was later pronounced dead at the scene from a single gunshot to the chest. No charges will be filed against Burgess, according to local officials. (Winston-Salem Journal, Winston-Salem, NC, 12/04/04)

A Lake Waccamaw, N.C., store manager was stocking his shelves 15 minutes before closing when an armed robber burst into the store and fired a shot. He then ordered the manager and other employees into the back room. One employee, however, "just sort of froze," and the robber went to grab her. This gave the manager a chance to retrieve his own gun, which he fired, hitting the robber at least twice. The slain gunman was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities believe that he was behind at least one other armed robbery in the area. (Fayetteville Observer, Fayetteville, NC, 11/30/04)

Leonard Camage of Macomb, 111., does not like to admit he is in his 80s, but even so, he was able to fight off a home intruder more than 60 years his junior. The incident began when Gamage heard banging at his front door. When he opened the door, a man shoved his way inside and began to wrestle with Gamage, who was trying to make his way to his rifle. "I have not had my hands on that rifle for five or six years," he said. "I didn't even know if it was loaded." Once Gamage had the rifle in hand, he threatened the intruder who seemed undeterred. When the intruder lunged again, Gamage shot him in the foot and held him until police arrived. (Journal Star, Macomb. IL, 12/06/04)

"He didn't know my wife was a pit bull in a skirt," said John Moss, whose wife was accosted as she was getting out of her car. Felicia Moss of Pembroke Pines, N.C., was coming home to her apartment complex one afternoon when a man with a gun walked up to her and demanded money. Moss instead pulled out her pistol and a struggle ensued. Moss then shot the thief, who fled on foot, leaving behind a stolen vehicle. Shortly thereafter, a man fitting the same description approached another woman, demanded her keys and sped off. No one has been apprehended in either incident. (The Herald, Pembroke Pines, NC, 10/19/04)

With the release of the painstakingly researched and clearly written U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ)"memorandum opinion" strongly supporting the Second Amendment as an individual right, the legal landscape for firearm owners has changed dramatically. The conclusion of this exhaustive analysis-with its 437 footnotes and citations-is remarkable:

"... [0]ur examination of the original meaning of the Amendment provides extensive reasons to conclude that the Second Amendment secures an individual right, and no persuasive basis for either the collective-right or quasi-collective-right views. The text of the Amendment's operative clause, setting out a 'right of the people to keep and bear Arms,' is clear and is reinforced by the Constitution's structure." (www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm)

Simple enough. But what makes this landmark opinion so important is what supports it-overwhelming legal scholarship. Released in mid-December, DOJ's findings have been largely ignored by the mainstream media, not out of loathing, but out of fear. What they fear most is not its conclusion, but the quality of research that gives it such depth.

The ban-the-gun crowd is always talking about "sensible first steps," but for those among us who are not yet gray at the temples, let me tell you about the most critical first step in our legal and historic defense of the Second Amendment.

It happened with the birth of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (ILA)-now celebrating its 30th anniversary. Harlon Carter, lLA's first executive director, told his brand-new staff that without a body of scholarship, the Second Amendment might be rendered moot by a future U.S. Supreme Court. As with a lot of things about the future, he was right.

Until the appearance of the gun-ban movement in the late 1960s and the enactment of a series of onerous Federal antigun laws, the meaning of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms had been a given, or at least an assumption. In 1975, pro-Second Amendment research was thin, so Carter and his staff set out to find a core group of scholars, writers and legal experts dedicated to the same bedrock cause-protection and preservation of the Second Amendment.

In truth, they found each other. The creation of a no-compromise lobby-through NRA-ILA-was a magnet. Today, the members of this pivotal "think tank" are at the top of their fields and among those whose studies and influence has given such impeccable credence to the DOJ memo. Among this expanding core are: Stephen P. Halbrook, Don B. Kates, Jr., David T. Hardy, Robert Dowlut, Glenn Harlan Reynolds, David B. Kopel, Joyce Lee Malcolm, Nelson Lund, Ray Diamond, Eugene Volokh, Sanford Levinson, William Van Alstyne, Robert J. Cottrol, Clayton Cramer and David I. Caplan. And these talented people are mentoring new generations of legal scholars and writers whose work will be of critical value today and in the future.

Equally valuable and equally incalculable have been the contributions of NRA members from all walks of life- practicing and supporting the Second Amendment-who have made this turning point possible. Little that has been done to secure our firearm liberty-in the legislative realm, in the political arena, in the courts and in academia-would have been possible without your dedication and perseverance-pooling resources, combining talents and providing crucial funds to achieve our shared victories.

Had NRA not been strong politically, winning major victories in multiple election cycles, including the election and reelection of President George W. Bush ... Had NRA not worked to transform Congress and state legislatures so we could take back lost ground, like reforming the onerous provisions of the 1968 Gun Control Act, assuring the sunset fell on the Clinton gun ban, and enacting state preemption statutes ... Had NRA not aggressively pursued passage of right-to-carry laws in 38 states and hunter protection laws in 50 states ... Had NRA not done its utmost to promote Project Exile and encourage firearm ownership through its 178 education and safety programs .... Had we not done all of those things, the Second Amendment would be on the scrap heap of history.

Some believe these milestones have been achieved through the natural course of history when, in truth, we have prevailed because we left nothing to chance. Ever.

Just as our past forms the basis of our strength today- we have much work left to do: supporting judicial nominees who believe in the Second Amendment as an individual right; stopping the abuse of the courts by greedy trial lawyers and gun-ban politicians; and working to assure that our children will possess and exercise the same Freedom we enjoy today.

We must harness every resource at hand to assure the sanctity of the Second Amendment into the future, once again fighting on principle, setting a clear vision and raising the financial contributions that will continue to turn enormous threats into freedom's successes.

Each of us must tell the NRA story-the scope of NRA's accomplishments-in asking fellow gun owners to join our cause. That story must start with where we have been and what we have achieved from milepost to milepost in Freedom's name.