Would you like the Hello, Kitty model in pink?
The worse the violence get, the more people want a gun to protect themselves, the more gun sales rise, the happier the NRA and its corporate donors. The bad news for those of us caught in the crossfire is that the NRA uses hardball tactics to punish any lawmaker who even suggests changing that dynamic. But while we wring our hands about the intransigence of the NRA, maybe we should instead thank these thugs for being obvious enough to give away a larger game.
A look at the following comparison shows the relative economic power of the gun industry compared to banking and energy:
- $6 billion – U.S. Gun Industry annual INCOME
- $773 billion – U.S. Banking Industry annual INCOME
- $1.6 trillion – Global Oil Industry annlual PROFITS
If you think the NRA can twist arms in Congress, can you imagine the immense power of the banking and energy industries? The NRA uses strongarm tactics to get its way, throwing insane amounts of money into defeating any legislators who propose or support gun control. Meanwhile the banking and energy industries exert an even greater influence by adding the carrot to the stick of a good job on the other side of the revolving door at the intersection of the public and private spheres.
Play ball, and you will be rewarded. Push back, and we’ll crush you like a bug. TARP regulator Neil Barofsky, author of the new book Bailout, was told that if he didn’t “moderate” his tone, he would do real damage to himself – but if he was willing to stop blowing the whistle, he could be a judge.
Much of the corruption isn’t quite that blatant. It need not be to be effective. Just as it pays to smile at the boss at your office, instead of rolling your eyes and telling him he’s corrupt, both elected officials and government employees soon learn how the game is played.
So when our children question why we allowed our leaders to fiddle away our money while the planet burned from fossil fuels, perhaps you can begin by explaining that we couldn’t even muster the political will to ban assault rifles. We were too busy going to the latest screening of The Dark Knight to care.
Dear friends,
As a life member of the NRA and a retired Michigan corrections officer, I am well aware of the danger to our Constitution from enemies, foreign AND domestic. I am convinced most Americans are unaware of our freedoms enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It is NOT a bill of SOME rights. Sadly, most politicians are unaware, or are aware, but don’t care about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The mainstream media refuses to cover successful personal defense stories that cross the wires EVERY day in these United States. My spouse and I both hold Michigan concealed pistol licenses that are good in thirty five states. You would think NOW and Oprah Winfrey would be supportive of a woman’s “right to choose” self-defense. Isn’t it empowering for a woman to be competent and confident in her ability to handle a firearm and be responsible for her own protection? The police can’t be everywhere and when seconds count, the police are minutes away. I may not be the smartest man in town, but I know my wife will never be raped AGAIN! My two daughters have been shooting since age four and the youngest, now twenty six years of age is a soldier in the U.S. Army. I’m very proud of my kid, joining up in wartime, ready to fight for freedom. Shouldn’t we have a discussion about eliminating so-called “gun-free zones”, that only serve to enable a nutjob to slaughter innocents? Shouldn’t we also be talking about “Constitutional carry”, that is carrying concealed without permission from the government? The states of Alaska, Arizona, Montana and Vermont do not require permits to carry concealed pistols. If there were problems associated with this, the liberal media would be all over it, don’t you think? We don’t have to have “permission” from the government to exercise our First Amendment rights, like subscribing to a magazine, or belonging to a certain church, or writing a voice of the people letter. “Shall not be infringed” means what it says, no matter how it’s interpreted.
The NRA is the oldest civil rights organization in the U.S., with four million members.We are from all economic tiers and stand arm-in-arm to defend the Constitution. Following are a few quotes from the Founders and others. Be informed, not ignorant. Ignorance can be cured, but not stupid. Information is the key. Be informed to make a decision, not emotion-based. Hysteria isn’t productive. Panic isn’t the proper response. Arm yourself.
“A free people ought to be armed.”
- George Washington
“Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’ liberty’s teeth.”
- George Washington
“A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.”
- George Washington
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
- Benjamin Franklin
“The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”
- Thomas Jefferson
“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
- Thomas Jefferson
“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”
- Thomas Jefferson (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria)
“A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.” – Thomas Jefferson
“The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”
- Thomas Jefferson
“On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”
- Thomas Jefferson
“Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self defense.”
- John Adams:
“To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them.”
- George Mason
“I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians.”
- George Mason (father of the Bill of Rights and The Virginia Declaration of Rights)
“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe.”
- Noah Webster
“Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority … the Constitution was made to guard against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.”
- Noah Webster
“The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops.”
- Noah Webster
“A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace.”
- James Madison
“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms.”
- James Madison
“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country.”
- James Madison
“The ultimate authority resides in the people alone.”
- James Madison
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”
- William Pitt
“To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”
- Richard Henry Lee
“A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves … and include all men capable of bearing arms.”
- Richard Henry Lee
“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined…. The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.”
- Patrick Henry
I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. – James Madison
When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny. – Thomas Jefferson
“This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty…. The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
- St. George Tucker
“… arms … discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property…. Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use of them.”
- Thomas Paine
“The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”
- Samuel Adams
“The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.”
- Joseph Story
“The ultimate authority … resides in the people alone. … The advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation … forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition.” –James Madison
“What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty …. Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.”
- Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts
” … for it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of insuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion.”
- Alexander Hamilton
Statements of The Enemies of Liberty:
“Government begins at the end of the gun barrel.” – Chairman Mao
“One man with a gun can control 100 without one. … Make mass searches and hold executions for found arms.”—V.I. Lenin.
“If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.”—Joseph Stalin.
“We are taking the law and bending it as far as we can to capture a whole new class of guns.” – Jose Cerada, (White House official who specializes in gun control policy), The Los Angeles Times
“We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans …” Bill Clinton (USA TODAY, 11 March 1993, page 2A)
In closing;
“But the most foolish notion of all is the belief that everything is just which is found in the customs or laws of nations. What of the many deadly, the many pestilential statutes which nations put in force? These no more deserve to be called laws than the rules a band of robbers might pass in their assembly.” Cicero, 1st Century, A.D.
Oil companies are publicly traded companies on the stock exchange. It’s your 401K money and a whole bunch of other people’s, too! If you want to make money, buy their stock! Join in on the capitalism, unless you’re red at heart, that is. I’m jus’ sayin’. I can remember when communists were vilified in public. Now they’re enshrined. Sheesh! God help us.