After hearing several bumps in the night, Claire Storms woke her husband, NRA Life member Dave Storms. He armed himself with a handgun and approached the noise. A 16-year-old wearing a bandana over his face was in the bathroom. Police said the teen had forcefully entered a window and was stealing money from Dave's wallet. "Just his eyes were showing," Storms recalled."1 put the gun on him real quick and I said, 'Back up and sit down on the pot' The teen sat down and waited for police to arrive, all the while asking to leave and begging not to be shot. Storms said some in the community feared he'd be charged with a crime for defending himself, but he knew he was within his rights. "If it was Washington, D.C., I would be in trouble," Storms said, adding that his fellow citizens "better vote for people who believe in the Second Amendment and our right to bear arms." (Presque Isle County Advance, Rogers City, MI, 08/28/08)
NRA member David Johnson was returning home from work when he saw something suspicious the door to his neighbor's recently vacated home was propped open. He found that his front door, too, was ajar, with a bicycle in the driveway and his dog running loose. Fearing a prowler was in the area, Johnson ran upstairs to get his shotgun. According to police, Johnson found a man ransacking his bedroom. He quickly pointed his shotgun at the intruder and ordered him to the floor. Responding officers arrested the intruder, who was carrying a stolen gun and has a lengthy criminal record. "[The intruder is a] poster boy for Project Exile!" Johnson wrote in a letter to the NRA. (Tidewater News, Franklin, VA, 08/13/08)
According to police, several people were trying to pry open the front door to a residence and, with his pregnant wife and two children in a back bedroom, the homeowner had just seconds to react. Noting that at least one of the suspects was armed, the homeowner grabbed his shotgun. When the door began to open, the homeowner stuck the barrel of his shotgun into the opening and fired. One suspect fell dead while his accomplices ran from the scene. "[The deceased] was wearing a full beanie and gloves," said a neighbor. "Those guys came to kill." (The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, 09/10/08)
His barking dog awakened a Baptist minister early one morning. Deciding to investigate, he grabbed his .454 Casull revolver and slid open the front door. What he found was quite alarming-a man high on narcotics was holding a brick in the air, pounding on the side of the house and shouting. The minister retreated inside, but the crazed man forced his way through the door. Fearing for his safety, the minister pointed his bigbore revolver at the suspect, ordered him to the floor and held him for police. A responding deputy had to use a Taser on the suspect before taking him into custody. (Troup County News, LaGrange, GA, 08/15/08)
Joshua Eastman was loading groceries into his vehicle in a store parking lot when a man wearing a bandana and carrying a gun approached. Police said the man announced a robbery. Eastman tried to stall him, hoping onlookers would notice and call police, but the robber grew impatient and started shooting, Eastman wasn't struck by the gunfire, but shattered glass ripped through his legs. That's when Eastman, a concealed-carry permit holder, drew his handgun and opened fire on the assailant, wounding him. Eastman fled to safety inside the store. Police found the suspect hiding nearby. (The Morning Call, Allentown, PA, 08/28/08)
"It's kind of a blur," recalls Robert Smotherman of his life's most terrifying moment. As he pulled into his driveway, two men wearing ski masks and carrying rifles ran around the corner and demanded his valuables. "I had a gun on me," recalls Smotherman, a concealed-carry permit holder. "[They] hesitated, and I took the opportunity." Police said Smotherman fired eight shots from his .45-caliber pistol, striking at least one of the suspects several times and causing both to flee. "I just took my gut reaction and went with my first instinct," he explained. The wounded suspect was apprehended; his accomplice is being sought. (Bradenton Herald, Bradenton, FL, 09/14/08) |
In all the years I have been with NRA I have never been so proud of our membership or felt so humble in your presence as during my travels in the months and weeks before this election. NRA. We are a solemn partnership; a bond between individual Americans who are always willing to fight for Freedom, and those of us privileged to work on your behalf on the frontlines of liberty. We will never let you down, just as you will never cease to do the most important part-petitioning government and communicating with others to energize the majority of Americans who agree with us. Poll after poll show that a huge percentage of our fellow citizens believe they have a Right to Keep and Bear Arms. That is why gun-banning politicians are talking our talk, while they continue to walk their oppressive walk. At one campaign stop, an NRA member said, "I wish Chuck Heston were here." I didn't even think about it when I answered, "He is with us." When I looked around at all those wonderful people I saw Freedom fighters-the heart and soul of our uniquely American culture of liberty. Chuck Heston's spirit was with them in their passion to protect our traditions of Freedom. At every single stop, NRA Institute for Legislative Action Executive Director Chris Cox and I were deeply touched by the trust, the commitment and love of NRA members for our organization and our cause. Everywhere, people responded with contributions for the battles ahead, many expressing similar thoughts, "I know NRA will be needing this." One common theme ran like a wide, strong river: people are angry that radical political agendas have melded with equally radical media coverage. "Coverage" is certainly the right word. As in giving credence to a blatant lie. The self-appointed "watchdogs" in the media are now running with the wolves to take down our Freedom like never before. We Americans are idealists. We hope that politicians will be honest. We hope that there is such a concept as media neutrality; and that a politician's record would define his views. When a candidate for high office can "cover" his entire record with a totally false claim, and never once be challenged by the mainstream media, something precious has died in America. With the advent of the Internet and of conservative talk radio, the corporate media elites have become more and more transparent. Perhaps that explains their rabid transition from any sense of fairness to their outward expressions of hatred for basic, old-time American values. Decent, ordinary Americans find their truth from a remarkable array of sources in talk radio and on the Internet sources far more reliable than the elite national media. Hard digging bloggers have filled the void of real reporting in the old media. Former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, interviewed on the Hugh Hewlett radio show, referred to blogs as "cancerous," saying, "I'm a free speech absolutist, but I think that at the same time, we have to have free speech in some kind of a context." (emphasis added) In 1996, Brokaw said, "I also believe strongly that the Internet works best when there are gatekeepers. When there are people making determinations and judgments about what information is relevant and factual and useful." Those chilling thoughts give an insight into battles we will be called upon to fight in the near future-battles to save not just the Second Amendment, but the First Amendment. The two are entwined as the essential keys to our liberty. One does not exist without the other. With Barack Obama's campaign, we saw a total disregard for open and free speech. Broadcasters that ran truthful, accurate NRA Political Victory Fund ads were threatened with legal action. lnternet sites critical of that candidate were attacked and shut down by the massive use of spam buttons. Talk radio shows were inundated with threatening calls demanding that guests be denied the opportunity to speak. Truth-just plain facts-were labeled as "smears." As a result of the political shifts in Congress, these attacks on open discourse will be expanded. There will be a major effort to "regulate" the Internet. And there will be direct attacks on the NRA as an American institution. Given these threats, individual NRA members are asking what they can do to help us safeguard the future of our Freedom. The immediate answer is to sign up at least one new member. Our power is in our numbers, but it is more than that. NRA members possess something critically important, a willingness to fight no matter what the odds. If each of us does that one thing sign up one patriotic American who cares as much about Freedom as we do-we can be prepared to win victories in the uncertain future. And I promise you this: in the coming months and years, as individual NRA members fighting together through our great institution, we will be victorious. Our greatest strength is you. Together with the partnership that is the NRA, we will hold the line against every threat from every quarter. Attacks on the Second Amendment will be stopped. Attacks on the First Amendment will be checked. Together, we are the one force in America that can provide the fortitude to keep Americans a free people. |
Introduce Someone To Hunting This Season As a lifelong hunter, this is the most enjoyable time of the year for me and if you are a hunter, too, you probably feel the same way. No matter where you live or what you hunt-deer or ducks, quail or cottontails, grouse or geese, elk, moose or squirrels-hunting season is probably in full swing in your neck of the woods right now, just as it is in mine. I hope you will be able to get out there, enjoy Mother Nature and have some fun. And, please, share the fun with someone new to the sport. Hunting occupies a very important position in our culture and our country. It has been a proud American tradition since the beginning. And that's a good thing, because hunting exercises and edifies many of the best values and virtues that make America unique in the world. Hunting teaches and exemplifies basic American values-self-sufficiency, independence, personal ethics and individual responsibility-all of which are necessary for a person to be a safe and responsible hunter. Likewise, providing food for your family while being a responsible steward of our shared natural resources, and supporting healthy, sustainable wildlife populations, both philosophically and financially, are also part of being a responsible American hunter. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, hunting means exercising and taking a personal stake in your fundamental Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Every time you go out to the woods, fields, marshes and mountains to hunt, everyone of these vital ideals is strengthened and sustained. And by giving just one other person just one chance to participate in our hunting heritage, you could double the size of your personal contribution to freedom from one dedicated defender of freedom to two. Imagine the impact if 14 or 15 million hunters followed your lead, swelling our ranks to 28 or 30 million! Hunting has attracted millions of Americans to the NRA and to a broader understanding and more passionate belief in the Second Amendment as the ultimate guarantee of our freedom and personal safety. When it comes to hunter safety training, NRA wrote the book back in 1949. Today, NRA programs bring American hunters like you the best safety and skills training available anywhere. For example, NRA's Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) trains young men and women not just in shotgun, rifle, muzzle loading and archery, but also in orienteering, wildlife identification and advanced hunter safety drills that have helped make America's youngest hunters the safest hunters in the field. To date, more than 1 million youngsters have met the YHEC challenge, and each now has a much deeper appreciation of the need to conserve and protect America's wildlife and the habitat in which it lives and thrives. If you're an established hunter and you want to hone your own skills while helping others do the same, you can do so through NRA's Hunter Clinic Instructor Program with courses on wild turkey, whitetail deer, Western big game hunting and much more. Today, 2 million American women hunt and 4 million more enjoy target shooting. And every year more women get their start through NRA's Women on Target hunting excursions and instructional shooting clinics. The NRA Great American Hunters Tour, and its 40-head collection of North America's highest-scoring whitetail mounts, including Boone & Crockett's all-time No.1 "typical," brings hunters the latest tips and techniques at sportsmen's shows nationwide. For more information on how NRA's many hunting programs can help you reach out to first-time hunters, please visit www.nrahunterrights.org, www.nra.org or call NRA's Hunter Services Department at (703) 267-1500. Your NRA is America's foremost defender of hunting and hunters' rights, and hunters are among America's most important stakeholders in the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. So I ask you to do your part to keep this precious American heritage alive and thriving by introducing someone new to our hunting traditions this year. There are many men and women, young and old, who would enjoy hunting and cherish Second Amendment freedom much more if only a parent or grandparent, spouse, aunt or uncle, neighbor or friend would offer them the opportunity to try hunting just once. I say "just once" because just one trip to the field; just one morning in a duck blind, goose pit or tree stand; just one day in the woods or watching a good dog work is all it takes to turn just one great hunting experience into a lifetime as a responsible American hunter enjoying the exercise of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. And once they have enjoyed "the exercise of the right," those new hunters will surely become brand-new defenders of our precious Right to Keep and Bear Arms, as well. Yes, take a youngster hunting, but don't forget his mom and dad will enjoy becoming a part of America's great hunting heritage, too. |