NRA Says Honest Americans Would Turn in Banned Guns by Angel
Shamaya
NRA Says Honest
Americans Would Turn in Banned Guns
by Angel Shamaya
"Bill did what
any honest, law-abiding American would do...he turned in his SKS Sporter [a
militia rifle] to the police."
�NRA video
entitled "It Can't Happen Here"
11:45 into video
NRALive.com
(Watch
It.)
April 4, 2002
KeepAndBearArms.com � The National Rifle
Association created a video to educate people about gross civil and
human rights violations taking place in the state of California. The video,
found at NRALive.com, is entitled "It
Can't Happen Here." That video is found here: http://idirector.media.ibeam.com/real/nralive/hestontv/california.ram,
and as of April 4, 2002, it's being promoted on the home page of NRALive.com.
The video was also broadcast all over California at tremendous expense.
In "It Can't Happen Here," NRA
expertly reveals the unscrupulous, capricious and unAmerican gun prohibition
taking place in California. It's enough to make a sane gun owner's blood boil. One section of the video, however, tells us that "any
honest...American would do" what Bill Doss did, and
that Bill Doss "turned in his SKS Sporter to the police." A transcript of the section of the video
recounting Mr. Doss' story is found below.
JUXTAPOSITION
NRA President Charleton Heston, on the other
hand, stood before the media and thousands of members holding a musket and
declaring "From My Cold Dead Hands!" His strong words brought
thunderous applause from the record-attendance crowd � but few people think anyone will beat
down Mr. Heston's door to confiscate his antique firearm, many suggest he should
have been holding at least an AR-15, and the confused message sent to NRA members and
gunowners at large is stark.
On one hand, we are told that if we are honest,
we'll turn our guns in, and on the other hand we're left with a fighting
message. Which is it? Which is the NRA's real position? Do we be
"honest" and turn 'em in, or do we stand and fight like America's
Founders did?
|
"So as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those words again for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you, Mr. Gore: From my cold dead hands!"
�NRA President
Charleton Heston
129th Annual NRA Meeting, May 20 2001
(source) |
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|
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ANALYSIS
NRA management telling you that an honest
gunowner would turn in his militia rifle to a dishonest and unjust
government defies the truth as espoused by America's founding fathers: the right
of the people � people like Bill Doss � to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Why is the NRA suggesting that defying evil
laws is dishonest?
The largest gun-rights organization in America telling
American gun owners that if they are "honest" they "would"
"turn in [their guns] to the police" is worse than if Martin
Luther King had told black people to sit at the back of the bus. NRA tells cops
to enforce anti-gunowner laws with zero tolerance � some
of those laws mean a 10-year prison sentence for mere possession.
And even though Heston's latest "From My
Cold Dead Hands" decree came three years after an NRA Attorney escorted a
banned gun into police hands, the NRA video is still being promoted on NRALive's
home page to this day. If Heston's decree were showing a change in
position � from surrendering to fighting � why is the video still being promoted?
What is "honest" about obeying a
gun ban? Martin Luther King told us that "one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
Mr. Heston has bragged about having marched with Dr. King in civil rights
marches. Does NRA's surrender mean Dr. King's passive resistance was the wrong
approach? Or does NRA simply wave guns around making idle and empty declarations
of fighting only when it serves their hypocritical fundraising efforts?
If obeying a gun ban was an American thing to
do, the American Revolution would never have taken place; the men at Lexington
& Concord would simply have handed them over like Mr. Doss did, and we'd
still be a British colony. Instead,
they said "You can have our cannons, but you'll have to take our balls with
them." And they meant it.
Whether or not to obey an unconstitutional gun
ban is up to the individual gun owner living under such an edict. And many
thousands of California gun owners are operating in violation of several
of the state's illegal gun edicts. If these people, many of them NRA
members, follow Heston's "From My Cold Dead Hands" advice and shoot a
gun-confiscating civil servant, will NRA ignore them, vilify them, or worse?
How does NRA reconcile "From My Cold Dead Hands" with their current and ongoing call for "zero
tolerance enforcement of all gun laws"?
NRA members deserve to have clear communication
from HQ on these vital issues.
QUESTION FOR MR. HESTON & MR. LAPIERRE:
Are you saying that we gunowners are supposed to turn in effective militia
rifles, but fight with our lives over single shot muskets? Please clarify. More
questions below transcript.
TRANSCRIPT OF NRA's
"PRO TURN-IN" VIDEO REPORT
Bill Doss, "CA Gun Law Victim"
NRALive.com
http://idirector.media.ibeam.com/real/nralive/hestontv/california.ram
The story of Bill Doss is introduced at 8:43 on
the video, just after a commercial asking for money from American gun owners.
That segment of the video begins with Mr. Doss relaying his story.
### BEGIN TRANSCRIPT ###
### BEGIN TRANSCRIPT ###
### BEGIN TRANSCRIPT ###
Bill Doss:
"Registration in this case led to
confiscation. They confiscated my firearm. No, they didn't break down the door
in the middle of the night and come and get my gun, but what they told me if
you don't turn in the gun, we are gonna break down the door and come and get
you."
Narrator, Jenny Simone (SP?),
NRALive.com's official voice and face:
"Bill Doss, retired Air Force
officer and airline pilot, followed the law, and was still declared an
instant criminal."
NARRATOR BRIEFLY INTRODUCES TWO OTHER
CALIFORNIA CASES TO BE COVERED LATER IN THE VIDEO, THEN BACK TO DOSS STORY.
OTHER BREAKS TO SECTIONS OF OTHER STORIES WILL BE IGNORED IN THIS TRANSCRIPT IN
ORDER TO STAY FOCUSED ON THE DOSS STORY.
Doss:
"Immediately you're a criminal, by
owning, by definition, an assault weapon, which, I mean, is, it's really a
sporting rifle."
Narrator:
"Looking through these records, Bill
Doss still can't believe it. When he and his wife decided to move to
California, he checked with the authorities to see if his gun, an SKS Sporter
rifle, was still legal.
"First, he called ATF in
Washington."
Doss:
"The agent I talked to was very
informative and said no, it was not listed, and I said, well, uh, 'can you send
me any information.' And he said sure. He said 'I'll send you pages out of my ATF
manual.'"
Narrator:
[showing letter] "This was the document ATF sent to
Bill. A page and picture from its official manual verifying that the SKS
Sporter was legal. But just to be safe, Bill Doss decided to contact the
California Attorney General's office in Sacramento. He sent along his
correspondence from ATF, and within 10 days, Bill got a letter back."
Doss:
[showing letter] "This is the letter
from the Attorney General, uh, saying that the SKS Sporter with detachable
magazines are not an assault weapon in California. So with the cover letter
and the drawing with it annotated OK, I had every reason to believe that
bringing the SKS Sporter into California was a perfectly legal action on my
part."
Narrator:
"Perfectly legal, that is, until the
rules changed � because the Attorney General changed his mind, and changed
the definition of an assault weapon.
Doss:
"Total confusion. It was like 'this
letter is not really addressed to me, it's really not the gun we're talking
about, there must be a mistake.'"
Narrator, At 11:45 in video:
"But it was no mistake."
"In the end, Bill did what any
honest, law-abiding American would do. These photos are a reminder
of the day he'll never forget � the day he turned in his [militia rifle!]
SKS Sporter to the police. Suddenly, Bill got this letter [showing
letter] warning him that his SKS Sporter was now illegal to own."
Doss:
"I think mine is a classic case.
They had my name as an owner of an SKS Sporter. When it came time for them to
redefine the SKS Sporter, they knew where to find me. That's
registration."
LATER IN VIDEO, Narrator tells us:
"Senate
Bill 23 [now the law in California] could add hundreds of rifles, shotguns
and handguns to the list of banned firearms."
### END TRANSCRIPT ###
### END TRANSCRIPT ###
### END TRANSCRIPT ###
FOLLOW-UP COMMENTARY & QUESTIONS FOR NRA
MANAGEMENT
SB
23 � introduced on Pearl Harbor Day in 1998 � was signed by Governor Gray Davis and Chaptered by
Secretary of State
Bill Jones (the same losing
candidate NRA backed for the recent California gubernatorial primary) as Chapter 129 in the Statutes of 1999.
It became law on January 1,
2000. And it does indeed ban more firearms, magazines and creates new classes of
victimless felonies. People who follow the law � as NRA puts it, be
"honest" and "turn them into the police" � can expect zero
reimbursement. (See Section
15 of SB 23.) Does that mean the NRA will say that any honest American
would turn them in to the police? And even if they don't, will they continue
their current calls for "zero tolerance enforcement"
of gun bans? Or will they continue to raise money on how they are defending the
Second Amendment, hundreds of millions a year, but continue to avoid
doing whatever it takes to win a Supreme Court case on behalf of longsuffering
gunowners?
Following are a few statements found
on the official website for the State of California:
Quick Facts Gun Safety
(source)
"California's gun safety laws are among the
toughest in the nation. In his first year in office, Governor Gray Davis signed
a series of laws restricting the manufacture, importation, or sale of
"unsafe handguns," and required all firearms sold in the State be
equipped with trigger locks. Governor Davis also signed laws that increase
regulations for gun shows, limit gun purchases to one a month, and institute the
toughest ban on assault weapons in the nation."
"California has the toughest assault weapons ban
in the nation. It bans the manufacture and sale of 'copycat' assault
weapons, defining the term assault weapon through generic characteristics
concerning the capacity and functioning of the weapon."
"Saturday Night Special Law bans handguns that
fail basic safety standards."
"Governor Davis also issued an Executive Order
requiring State agencies to destroy all firearms confiscated or out-of-date."
"California has prohibited the purchase of more
than one handgun per month."
"High-capacity magazines that are capable of
holding more than 10 rounds are prohibited."
"Persons moving to California who intend to
bring with them any pistol, revolver or other concealable firearm must report
the weapon or sell or transfer it to a licensed dealer or a law enforcement
agency within 60 days."
MORE QUESTIONS FOR NRA MANAGEMENT:
Do you want ALL of California's gun
prohibitions enforced with zero tolerance?
If so, do you want gunowners to be
"honest" and turn all of the banned guns over to the oath-breaking
police like Mr. Doss did?
If so, how do you reconcile this fact with
your alleged defense of Liberty? Of the Second Amendment?
Is Mr. Heston's "From My Cold Dead
Hands" decree a mere marketing ploy � to rile up the gunowners so
they'll send you more money?
Is there ANY gun law you'd encourage The
People � the ones mentioned in "the right of the people to keep and
bear arms shall not be infringed" �
to ignore, to defy, to openly violate? If not, then what will stop our
aggressors?
If a coalition of gun rights groups begins
openly calling for outright civil disobedience � violation of the laws you
want enforced � will you vilify them, castigate them, turn against them even
if they are comprised of your own members?
What is the true meaning and purpose of the
Second Amendment?
NRA management should answer these questions if
they expect the continued support of patriots who CAN answer these questions. Is
there anyone from HQ who will? [email protected]
NRA CONTACT INFO
1-800-672-3888
[email protected]
More info on concerns with NRA
management:
http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/NRA
