NRA member and county commissioner Greg "lumpy" Lambert is known for his pro-gun stance, but that was apparently news to an alleged robber. Police say the suspect approached Lambert, who was wearing his "Friends of NRA" cap, and feigned interest in a car at Lambert's car dealership. Lambert went inside to retrieve the sales paperwork. When he returned, the man pulled a handgun from his jacket. Lambert countered by producing his .380 pistol. "I told him to drop his weapon, and he said he didn't want any trouble:' said Lambert. The robber laid down his gun and fled, but left behind his driver's license which police used to locate and charge him. Chillingly, police linked the suspect to a murder committed 10 hours before Lambert disarmed him. (Knoxville News Sentinel, Knoxville, TN, 11/13/06)
Authorities say Bennie Hall, Jr. went outside to warm up his car before work then returned inside to finish getting ready. He left the door open to keep his car in view, but briefly entered a back room to holster the .45 pistol, he is licensed to carry. At that point he heard his car pulling away. "I looked, and the car was gone;' Hall said. He spotted the car turned around at the street's dead end, and when it came past his house, he attempted to stop it by waving his arms in the air. Instead of giving himself up, the carjacker veered directly at Hall in an apparent attempt to leave no witnesses to the crime. Hall shot into the car, killing the driver. "Mr. Hall has a right to protect himself with deadly force if his life is in danger ... Based on the totality of the evidence and circumstances, he was doing just that;' said County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Deters. (Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, OH, 11/18/06)
Two hours after closing the convenience store where she works, Sophia Lynn Stewart went to sleep in a back room. Then she heard a crash. "It was real loud, like a bomb;' she explained. Police say a prowler used a rock to break a window and gain entry to the store. Stewart grabbed her .357 revolver and went to investigate. She saw a man in a dark hooded sweatshirt behind the counter. He threw an object at her, and Stewart fired three shots, causing her assailant to run from the scene."1 belong to the NRA. They teach me how to shoot safely," said Stewart, adding she thought the suspect was too frightened for a return visit. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh, PA, 10/26/06)
Matthew Schneider pulled into his driveway and got out of his truck when three teenagers approached and began an altercation. According to authorities, Schneider told the youths to vacate his property, but they began assaulting him, even slamming the truck door on his head. Schneider, who has a concealed carry permit, reached for his .40 pistol and fired twice at his assailants. "I thought they were going to kill me if I didn't do something;' Schneider said. Two suspects fled, one of them wounded, while a third collapsed. Schneider says he prayed for the fallen suspect to survive, but he died at the scene. (Anchorage Daily News, Anchorage, AK, 11/04/06)
John Kilgore took precautions to guard his home against invasion, including the construction of a gate and a sign warning that a security dog lived on the property. As Kilgore and his family unpacked from a vacation, police say a burglar thought he saw an opportunity to circumvent Kilgore's safeguards, but apparently overlooked Kilgore's final line of defense-a loaded firearm. The family left a door unlocked as they brought in luggage, and the burglar hurried inside. Kilgore's wife stumbled upon the man in a bedroom, ran out screaming and pulled her two sons into another bedroom. Kilgore ran to his family's aid, shooting the suspect as Mrs. Kilgore dialed 9-1-1. The intruder was listed in critical condition at the hospital. (St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, FL, 11/28/06) |
Although we keep hearing that key Democratic strategists want to stay clear of "gun control" in hopes of capturing the White House in '08, we must prepare for the worst. For the worst could be Democrat-turned-Republican Michael Bloomberg-New York's billionaire mayor who is leading a clique of big city and urban state gun-ban politicians who will not allow the gun-ban issue to remain dormant for long. Bloomberg, the ultimate politician, switched parties as a convenience and as a newly minted Republican spent more than $150 million of his personal fortune to buy the office in two successive campaigns. The mayor is saying the federal gun law changes he is pushing, like reversing the federal law which bans lawsuits designed to bankrupt American gun manufacturers, is not "gun control:' According to Virginia Lam, Bloomberg's deputy press secretary, quoted in the December 8, 2006 Brattleboro, Vermont, Guardian: "He [Bloomberg] has no quarrel with the Second Amendment:' Gun banners like Bloomberg who publicly embrace the Second Amendment are illusionists, really claiming allegiance to their version of the Second Amendment. They reject any notion that the Second Amendment is an individual right secured to the people. Lam continued, "He does not wish to restrict anyone from buying a legal, licensed handgun or rifle and has never advocated to pass additional federal laws that would be viewed as being gun control:' Since when are "licensed" firearms not "viewed as being gun control?" She goes on to say that among the changes on Bloomberg's wish list is rescinding the Congressional ban on the release of federal firearm tracing data in order to "pinpoint previous owners ... . “That hard-fought, NRA-backed law stopped improper release of law enforcement information as the basis of big city lawsuits to destroy the firearm industry. Not "viewed as being gun control," "tracing" and "pinpoint previous owners" are all code words for universal gun owner registration, the very means essential for tyrants worldwide to disarm civilians. In addition; the paper said, "Bloomberg's initiative is aimed largely at trying to get Washington to consider overturning federal laws enacted in the past six years ... :' That means undoing every piece of pro-second Amendment legislation you and I worked so hard to bring into law. That means rescinding the protection for manufacturers and dealers against endless punitive lawsuits, reinstituting the Clinton gun ban, giving abusive power to federal bureaucrats and making private sales between law-abiding individuals a crime. In all of this, Bloomberg is using his continued lawsuits-in violation of the federal ban-to get huge media attention, all under the big lie of "stopping the flow of illegal guns:' With billionaire Bloomberg, we're not only talking about suits against large industry elements who have lawyers on call. These are legal actions to overwhelm mom and pop gun stores run by ordinary people unable to endure years of legal battles in a far-away court in New York. Many small dealers have already caved in and agreed to terms dictated by Brooklyn, New York u.s. District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein, who has ordered the appointment of a "master" to supervise every aspect of these small private businesses located in other states. So, we have federally licensed small businesses in states like Pennsylvania or Ohio or Georgia being extorted by a so-called "progressive" federal court in Brooklyn to agree to extra-legal draconian oversight by an inquisitor personally appointed by the mayor of New York. That inquisitor, a New York City-paid contractor, has specific court-bestowed power to videotape every gun store customer; to rummage through all records for any reason, at any time; to request traces on every gun sold by a dealer; and to unilaterally fine "without limitation" the gun store owner for any infraction of any federal, state "or local law or regulation:' The "master" chosen by Bloomberg to control this big-brother oversight is the former prosecutor who headed the Enron federal task force, super lawyer Andrew Weissman, now a partner with the Chicago firm representing the Violence Policy Center (V PC). This is the ultimate example of the tyranny of the federal judiciary. The most anti-gun Congress imaginable would not enact a law that gave government agents the power to videotape the ordinary private business transactions and conversations of law-abiding citizens. But Jack B. Weinstein has done it with the stroke of his imperial pen. With an unquestioning media in tow, Bloomberg claims New York City's supervision of businesses in other states is necessary because as federal firearms license holders, they have been "irresponsible:' Guns they once sold lawfully have turned up illegally in New York. It doesn't take any crystal ball to see what is next in this scheme: urban gunban politicians using the federal courts to go after "irresponsible individuals:' If Michael Bloomberg, or anyone of his group of 122-plus big city mayor-politicians, can use the federal courts to inject his personal anti-Second Amendment philosophy into the daily conduct of small business, he might try to do the same in your life. If you are a gun collector in Idaho, or Arizona or Florida or Michigan, he can claim to the likes of a Judge Weinstein that you need their big-city supervision. If you ever owned a gun that ended up-totally beyond your control, perhaps stolen-in criminal commerce in say, Seattle or Atlanta or Chicago, a Judge Weinstein in Brooklyn or Los Angeles might just bring the gavel down on your way of life, no matter where you live. Ask yourself why a super lawyer like Weissman, the Enron giant-killer, would bother monitoring a little mom and pop sporting good store in Georgia? Why is this on a par with the biggest Wall Street scandal of all time? Bloomberg's use of the courts to inject New York authority into Georgia or Mississippi or any other state under the color of court-created federal edict is the beginning of the death of the sovereignty of state governments-the death of federalism. When Bloomberg or U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and their media enablers tell the big lie that states with "weak gun control laws" (read freedom) contribute to crime in states with "strong laws" (read tyranny), they have found a way to bring their law to your doorstep, wherever you live. But this isn't just about guns. Under the concept invented by Bloomberg and Weinstein, a "master" could be appointed to enforce any court-created law no Congress would ever enact. Add to this something else about Bloomberg's big move-personal ambition. In his effort to garner support for his court-ordered gun control, he is gathering huge support from the gun ban elites and media for his yet unannounced run for the presidency-an office he coyly boasted he would pay for with his own funds, like he did in New York City elections. He was quoted in New Republic as saying,"1 could easily put up half a billion. ”The magazine pointed out that such a figure was "over one-third higher than the Bush campaign's spending in 2004:' Michael Bloomberg, the ruthless Wall Streeter billionaire, is a bully of the worst sort. If he is not exposed, he will grind away the very constitutional structure upon which all our Freedoms rest. |
With Nancy Pelosi taking over as Speaker of the House, and Senator Charles Schumer's powerful influence on the U.s. Senate, combined with the fact that many leadership positions in Congress are filled with the who's who of the gun-ban crowd, NRA members must be prepared for a long series of defensive battles in the coming two years.
The American people have spoken, and many of them wanted change. But while certain things that voters were focusing on will no doubt change, there will also be some unintended consequences that voters did not have in mind when they cast their ballots. The first casualty of the new order is United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, a great friend to the Second Amendment. A fearless defender of America, Ambassador Bolton first earned the wrath of the left when he boldly declared to the U.N. that, under President Bush, the United States would never join any treaty or agreement that compromised the Second Amendment right of the American people to own their private firearms. The media savaged him, and the left assailed him, yet this unrelenting protector of our liberties stood firm. He served this nation with honor. Yet the new Senate leadership has flatly declared that he will never receive a vote for confirmation, and so now at the end of his recess appointment Ambassador Bolton has stepped down from office. This is no doubt only the first of many fine public servants whose nominations will fall prey to the partisan sniping and political maneuverings that will dominate the next two years of our national life. Good legislation on firearm issues will also have a rough time getting through the new Congress. While our legislative team is the best in the business and has great relationships with members of both parties, there are now committed opponents of the Second Amendment in key leadership positions who have the power to put formidable obstacles in our path. Most importantly, it is the third branch of government, the judiciary, which is in the greatest danger from the new, anti-gun leadership. Committed anti-Second Amendment Senators Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein are now in the majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Barbara Boxer will support them in the majority on the Senate floor. These senators, antigun one and all, will have tremendous impact on the fate of the president's judicial nominees. Good judges who are committed originalists and textualists, who interpret the Constitution as written and as originally understood, who enforce the plain language contained in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and who refuse to invent new so-called rights that the language does not support-these judges will be the targets of a ferocious and concerted effort by the far left to stop President Bush from restoring our nation's courts. The Constitution gives the president alone the power to nominate federal judges. The president should continue, as he has done in the past, to nominate the very best judicial candidates. And the Senate-both Democrats and Republicans-must support the president in exercising his Constitutional charge. Senators from both sides of the aisle who believe in the plain words of this nation's founding document and the integrity of our federal courts, must insist that the Senate take up and vote on the president's judicial nominees. If there is a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court over the next two years, President Bush should continue to nominate strong textualists like Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sam Alito. The American people must not allow a vacancy on the High Court to go unfilled. If the White House holds firm, the American people will demand a confirmation vote from their senators. If the new Senate votes the president's first nominee down, he should send another strong nominee. Eventually, those who oppose judges who revere the Constitution will run out of firepower, and we will see another good justice confirmed. On this and many other issues, we will be challenged. NRA has friends and allies from both parties who say they are willing to support legislation that will protect hunting and self-defense, improve range access and make sure the government cannot take your firearms. Many newly elected Democrats in the House and Senate pledged to us their commitment to the Second Amendment. We will call upon them to be true to their word, show by their actions that they are friends of freedom, and when necessary stand against anti-gun majority party leaders, so that our Second Amendment rights are preserved. Remember, 2008 is approaching. We are already on the move to do the job you expect of us. The NRA has been around for 136 years, through good times and bad. We're still here, and we're not going anywhere - neither are you. Together, we will press forward in the unrelenting pursuit of freedom's victory, and we will succeed. |
The balance of power has shifted in the recent elections, and we must understand what that means for our Second Amendment rights and other constitutional liberties.