Turkey farmer Bryan Tew was driving his tractor down the road for refueling when he noticed a strange car, its trunk open, parked in his garage. Parking his tractor in front of the car, he reached into his pickup for a .22-caliber rifle. Police say that's when a man kicked open Tew's back door and stepped outside with his arms full of electronics and money. "You ever see those cartoons where their eyes get as big as saucers? That's what he looked like, Tew said. "I yelled at him and when he saw that gun, he sat the stuff down ... and ran back into the house. The suspect slipped on the linoleum inside the home and Tew held him at gunpoint for police. "A friend of mine said your body only produces a teaspoon of adrenaline in a lifetime, Tew said. "Well, I think I used my whole teaspoon. Police are investigating the suspect's involvement in several other break-ins. (The Daily Record, Dunn, NC, 02/13/09)
A suspected burglar stealthily approached a home in an area neighbors claim is suffering from increasing crime. Police say the burglar began removing a window screen, but was seen by the homeowner, NRA Life Member Charles Jemeyson, who quickly got his pistol. "If I had not had my [gun] handy, he would have come into my home," Jemeyson wrote in an e-mail to the NRA. "I fired one round ... and he went down. He jumped up and jumped a six-foot fence." Police found the suspect at a hospital suffering from a gunshot wound. (KSAT 12 News, San Antonio, TX, 03/16/09)
Sarah Nahmens and her mother often discuss personal safety and keep a .32-caliber revolver in their home. "We've always talked about defending yourself and how important that is," Nahmens said. Police say her planning paid off when two men began forcing her door open. Nahmens quickly retrieved her gun and pointed it at the door as it flew open. "It kind of kicked in and I thought, 'OK, I've got to make sure that I'm safe' ... It was either going to be me or them and it couldn't be me," she explained. Nahmens fired two shots and the uninjured suspects fled. "I commend her for protecting herself," said police Capt. Patrick Whitney. Nahmens said the incident has raised awareness in her normally quiet neighborhood. Several women have expressed interest in a "girls day" at the shooting range to practice and learn more about firearms. (Clovis News Journal, Clovis, NM, 02/06/09)
When a man armed with a gun allegedly kicked in Derrick Murray's back door and shouted that he was a police officer, Murray wasn't buying it for a second. "[The suspect and his accomplices outside] were talking in street slang," Murray explained. Police say Murray quickly retrieved a semi-automatic rifle and shot the intruder, causing him to flee. But the story doesn't stop there. The intruder ran outside, where he was run over by his own getaway car. The panicked driver then backed up, running over him a second time. The suspect will face charges pending his release from the hospital. His two accomplices are being sought. (WFIE 14 News, Evansville, IN, 03/16/09)
John Antonetz and his wife, Lydia Pace-Antonetz, were loading groceries into their vehicle in a Wal-Mart parking lot when, police say, a man wearing a disguise announced a robbery. The couple tried to run from the robber, but he struck Pace-Antonetz, grabbed her purse and pointed a gun at the couple. That's when Antonetz, a 63-year-old dentist with a concealedcarry permit, retrieved his .357-caliber revolver from the vehicle. As the suspect continued threatening his wife, Antonetz rounded the vehicle and fired several shots. The suspect, who was on parole for a burglary conviction, was arrested by the police when he sought treatment for a gunshot wound at a local hospital. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Lowell, AR, 03/25/09)
Coincidentally, another act by armed citizenry took place in a Wal-Mart parking lot in March. In that incident, police say 28-year-old Joshua Eastman was loading groceries into his vehicle when a teenage thug pointed a gun at him and demanded cash. The quick-thinking Eastman opened the door to his vehicle to form a barrier between himself and the suspect. The clever act may have saved his life. The suspect fired a shot through the door's window, which narrowly missed Eastman but propelled glass shards into his face. Eastman, a concealed-carry permit holder, drew his .32-caliber handgun, dropped below the door and shot his assailant three times. The suspect fled, but police located him nearby. (The Pocono Record, Stroudsburg, PA, 03/20/09)
Police say a robber wearing a ski mask decided to target a busy Burger King restaurant just before the dinner hour. The robber demanded money and flashed a gun wildly, endangering the lives of the many patrons and employees around him. One customer, John Landers, had seen enough. Landers told the 18-year-old robber to lower his gun and stop pointing it at people. The robber responded by shooting Landers several times. It was a mistake he'd quickly regret. Landers, a concealed-carry permit holder, drew his handgun and shot the robber, killing him. At press time, Landers was in the hospital recovering from injuries. Police say his actions may have saved a number of lives. (The Miami Herald, Miami, FL, 03/25/09) |
As senseless as those words are, nobody in the gun-ban world has written anything truer to describe the big lie by which they live. "Let's Outlaw Illegal Guns," which subheaded a manifesto on the illegal gun trade in Mexico, was published in a leftist international journal called Covert Action. It was written by Lora Lumpe, who is a close protg of Rebecca Peters globalist billionaire George Soros' U.N. gun-ban operative. Lumpe opened the piece with a description of the seizure of "the largest illegal shipment of arms ever intercepted in the United States en route to Mexico ... thousands of unassembled grenade launchers and parts for M2 automatic rifles (machine guns) ... "that she called a "PR godsend for the Mexican government. "Mexico City quickly used the news of the weapons cache to turn the spotlight away from its drug scandals [to focus on] America's gun problem." (Read, our Second Amendment freedom.) She called our country "a one-stop shop for [drug runners]," declaring the only solution is "lowering access to these weapons." To the Soros crowd, that means we lose our rights and our guns. Oh, yes, Lumpe wrote this in 1997. When it comes to gun control, there is nothing new. "Let's Outlaw Illegal Guns." That best describes the latest scam: making innocent Americans pay the price for the barbaric violence of a wealthy, international criminal enterprise-the Mexican drug cartels. The phony notion that drug cartels, equipped with helicopters, RPGs and grenade launchers, get their armament from some "mom & pop" retail shop in Yuma, Ariz., is now the mantra of U.S. Sen. John Kerry, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, among others. All of these gun-ban extremists are using the $30-billion-a-year drug-gang violence in Mexico to demand a new, draconian semi-automatic ban in the U.S. "Let's Outlaw Illegal Guns." That Orwellian philosophy fits the gun ban crowd's every lie. Try: Let's outlaw illegal straw purchases. Let's outlaw illegal international gun smuggling. Let's outlaw illegal transfer of a gun to a prohibited person whose simple possession of a gun is a criminal act, or the illegal interstate transportation of a firearm by a criminal, or a felonious false statement to obtain a firearm, or the illegal obtaining of a firearm for criminal purposes. For that matter, let's outlaw illegal drugs, illegal money laundering, illegal beheadings, and illegal killing of law enforcement officers. Wait, I have an idea. Let the Mexican government outlaw the illegal drug cartels! It would be a pathetic rant but for the fact that the media would have the American people believe that when it comes to guns, tough laws do not already exist. In truth, there is nothing involving any criminal activity with firearms that isn't covered by harsh federal felony statutes and mandatory sentences. The ideal universe for the gun-ban crowd exists on the Mexican side of the porous border-a virtual ban on private gun ownership, except for a privileged few. It is spelled out in an April 1, 2009 USA Today story that reads: "There is one gun store in Mexico. Only one. And not just anybody can shop here. "The 'Directorate for Arms and Munitions Sales; as the store is called, is run by the Mexican army .... "Prospective customers need a permit from the army that can take months to get. And once they buy a gun, there are reams of rules .... " ... the irony is clear: Mexico has some of the toughest gun-control laws in the world, yet the country's drug cartels are armed to the teeth with illegal weapons that are smuggled over the border from the United States." The point of the story was the claim that "Mexican President Felipe Calderon says little will change as long as the United States continues to make gun purchases so easy." In fact, the story has this quote: "If the United States had a system like ours, we wouldn't have so many problems here in Mexico." Just compare two contiguous cities one denies freedom, the other protects it. The streets of Juarez, Mexico-where guns are banned-run red with blood. Even though occupied by the Mexican Army, the town is ruled by violent drug cartels and corrupt government officials. It is different in neighboring El Paso, Texas, where Americans are free to own guns for self-defense. Echoing members of the Obama administration, the media is running a campaign to blame U.S. gun owners, gun stores and gun shows for the crimes of drug thugs in Mexico. Were it not for Second Amendment supporters in Congress, gun-ban groups and their allies in Congress and the White House would quickly turn our country into a clone of Mexico when it comes to our gun rights. To keep our freedom intact, first contact your congressmen and senators with a simple message: No new gun control legislation and no backdoor gun controls. If they are Second Amendment supporters, thank them for taking a principled stand against this avalanche of lies. This is very important. Second, if you know a gun owner who is not an NRA member, sign them up. Don't take "no" for an answer. If they want to keep their guns and freedom, NRA is the only insurance on which they can count! |
NRA Owes Its Success To You As you know, NRA's bylaws limit the president to a maximum of two one-year terms. This means that by the time you read this column, it is likely the NRA Board of Directors will have selected my successor, the 60th NRA president. It also means this is my last chance to speak directly to you, our members. So please bear with me. When first elected NRA's 59th president, I told the Board of Directors I would use my time as your president pursuing four interrelated priorities, as follows:
Every month for the past two years it has been my honor and privilege to speak to the membership through this column. And every month I have asked you to assist me in some way to address each of those four priorities. Each time I have asked you to assist me in this endeavor, you have responded in a positive and meaningful fashion, and I thank you. Throughout the last two years, I have frequently asked NRA's membership to work together and with others to ensure that the politicians on Capitol Hill, in your state houses and city halls, fully understand that you and your NRA will do whatever is necessary to defeat any attempt by any government to strip away your rights or infringe upon the rights of future generations. I thank you for your enthusiastic support of NRA's efforts to protect, defend and expand our God-given Right To Keep and Bear Arms. NRA has been successful because of you, its members-thank you! Likewise, I have frequently written about the need to recruit new members to the NRA family, and each time you have done your part to build NRA's membership into a strong and effective voice for freedom. Through your efforts, active-duty military personnel, law enforcement officers, hunters, shooters and other American patriots who understand the importance of a strong and effective NRA are flocking to our cause and adding their names to NRA's membership rolls. Again, NRA has been successful because of you, its members-thank you! In several of my columns I have spoken to you about a wide range of NRA programs, from hunting and competitive shooting to gun collecting, just to name a few. In each case I have suggested that our members should introduce youngsters, women, family and friends to these programs, and you have responded. For example, through your efforts, NRA now sanctions .50 BMG rifle matches in conjunction with the Fifty Caliber Shooters Association, conducts NRA's Black Powder National Championships in conjunction with the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association on their grounds in Friendship, Indiana; sanctions multi-gun and three-gun matches nationwide in support of several groups that have asked to become part of our programming, has branched into NRA Tactical Police Competitions in addition to the standard PPC competitions; and expanded NRA's long-range rifle program to include F-C1ass national and international competitions. Not only that, but NRA's services to hunters and shooters with disabilities have expanded exponentially over the past two years. Again, NRA has been successful because of you, its members-thank you! During the opening hours of my term as your president, I issued what became known as the Freedom Challenge. I called upon patriots and members like you to help raise new cash, pledges and documented expectancies during my presidency for NRA programs and projects, and to grow our endowments to the point where they can move into the future on a solid financial footing. I have used this column to tell you about the Freedom Challenge, the Voice of Freedom and other similar and related topics, and you have listened. I am happy to report that, as I write this column, we are confident that the Freedom Challenge will be successful. Once again, thank you! It has, indeed, been an honor and a privilege to serve you as the 59th president of the greatest patriotic organization in America. I thank you for the opportunity to serve, but I have one last request before I go. My final request is that you never lose sight of freedom; that you always remember that freedom is not free and that it must be won anew every day; that you always remember that united we can accomplish anything; and that you give my successor all the support necessary to successfully continue our all-important fight for freedom. American firearm freedom is under attack on many fronts. Obama, Biden, Holder, Clinton, Pelosi, Feinstein and other federal officials have evil designs on that freedom, as do others, like mayors Bloomberg, Daley and Fenty, and governors like Corzine and Rendell, plus scores of legislators from coast to coast. They are all biding their time, waiting for the right opportunity to strike-and strike they will, unless we are united and prepared. I sincerely hope that the next NRA president will have the financial resources and grassroots support necessary to fight for American firearm freedom whenever and wherever needed, and that you will unite as a mighty force behind the 60th president of the National Rifle Association of America. Thank you for all that you do for NRA. And thank you for all the support you have given me during my time as your president. |