Smith & Wesson 915, which is a 9 mm. pistol. I've subsequently sold that and purchased two Smith & Wesson 5906 9 mm. pistols, a Calico Liberty 3 9 mm. pistol, and a Russian SKS rifle. I'm considering purchasing a Taurus M608 .357 Magnum revolver and a 12-guage shotgun.

Naturally I wouldn't be willing to have firearms in my home without knowing how to use them safely, and being reasonably proficienct in their use. I usually practice at the indoor range at National Shooting Club in Santa Clara, CA.

I am a former member of the United States Militia.

Soapbox: Fear the government that fears your gun

"Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe."
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Nov. 18, 1993, AP.

Senator Feinstein claims that we have the right to "feel safe". While the constitution is intended as limit on the powers of the government rather than an enumeration of the rights of the people, it seems strange that some vague newly invented right should take precedence over the rights the constitution explicitly prohibits the government from taking away from the people.

Senator Feinstein believes that a gun ban somehow protects this right to "feel safe." I won't personally feel safer when the government takes away my guns. Can we reasonably expect the police to help us in a sufficiently timely manner when our lives are in jeopardy? Is this right to "feel safe" really more important than the Second Amendment, which guarantees us the right to protect ourselves?

"And, I know the sense of helplessness that people feel. I know the urge to arm yourself because that's what I did. I was trained in firearms. I'd walk to the hospital when my husband was sick. I carried a concealed weapon. I made the determination that if somebody was going to try to take me out, I was going to take them with me."
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) during U.S. Senate hearings on terrorism held in Washington, D.C. on April 27, 1995

I hardly need to comment on the contrast between this and her earlier quote.

Josh Sugarmann, director of the Violence Policy Center, refers to the NRA as a lobby for "Second Amendment Fundamentalists," as if the second amendment was something to be ashamed of (quoted by Lori Montgomery in the San Jose Mercury News, page 1A, May 20, 1995).

I've always believed that the Constitution and its Amendments are the most important government document of the United States, and I am proud to say that I am a Second Amendment Fundamentalist as well as a First Amendment Fundamentalist, a Constitution Fundamentalist, and for that matter a Fundamentalist for all the other ratified Constitutional Amendments.

Protect your rights - vote Libertarian

If you want more personal freedom and lower taxes, why not vote Libertarian? It is commonly claimed that voting for third-party candidates is throwing your vote away. In reality, voting for either of the entrenched parties is throwing your vote away, and with it your liberty, privacy, and money. The Libertarian Party supports the Second Amendment.

The right to bear arms

A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.: Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America
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, I Annuals of Congress 434 (June 8, 1789).
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...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 in On Crimes and Punishment, 1764
Without either the first or second amendment, we would have no liberty; the first allows us to find out what's happening, the second allows us to do something about it! The second will be taken away first, followed by the first and then the rest of our freedoms.: Andrew Ford
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, An Examination into the Leading Principals of the Federal Constitution Proposed by the Late Convention, 1787
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one 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" and "everyone who is able may have a gun.: Patrick Henry, During Virginia's ratification convention, 1788
The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation...(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.: James Madison, The Federalist #46
...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, Thoughts on Defensive War, 1775
A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves...and include all men capable of bearing arms...To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms...: Richard Henry Lee, Additional Letters From the Federal Farmer 53, 1788
The Constitution of the United States shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.: Samuel Adams, During the Massachusetts U.S. Constitution ratification convention, 1788
I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.: George Mason, during Virginia's ratification convention, 1788
God created man, but Winchester made them equal.: William Beck, Stockton, CA Councilman, who wants all law-abiding citizens to be able to carry concealed weapons

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Last updated June 19, 2011

eric@brouhaha.com

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Soapbox: Fear the government that fears your gun

Protect your rights - vote Libertarian

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The right to bear arms