Handgun Control, Inc.
Discredits Itself
HCI says the Declaration of
Independence and the writings of America's Founding Fathers have been
discredited.
by John J. Marciano & KeepAndBearArms.com
[email protected]
Attorney General designate John Ashcroft has come under fire from a number of liberal special interest groups, most notably Handgun Control, Inc. In a January 5th
press
release, Handgun Control blasted Mr. Ashcroft for his votes on the gun issue, notably for his support for Missouri concealed-carry laws. HCI also attacked the Attorney General designate for his lack of support for President Clinton�s
�assault weapon� ban. They see him defending the ban less than vigorously from legal challenges from armed citizens or their support organizations.
The worst part of this press release is Handgun Control�s criticism of Mr. Ashcroft�s
Second Amendment views, quoted as follows:
�Perhaps most disturbing about Ashcroft's record is his extremist view of the Second Amendment. In a 1998 Senate Subcommittee hearing on the Second Amendment called by Ashcroft, the Senator said, "A citizenry armed with the right both to possess firearms and to speak freely is less likely to fall victim to a tyrannical central government than a citizenry that is disarmed from criticizing government or defending themselves.� This and other statements by Ashcroft indicate that he believes in the "insurrectionist" theory of the Second Amendment.
The idea that the Founding Fathers would have included within the Second Amendment a "suicide" provision -- one that empowers citizens to overthrow the very government the Constitution seeks to create and protect -- is ludicrous and has been widely discredited. The idea that the chief law enforcement officer of the nation would subscribe to such a belief is alarming." [Author�s emphasis]
Pay attention to the highlighted sentence. This one jumble of words sheds light on Handgun Control�s twisted perception of the Constitution. The Constitution and especially the Bill Rights protects citizens from the Government, not the Government from its Citizens. HCI�s idea of what the Constitution stands for goes directly against the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence and all that it entails.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish
it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." [Author�s emphasis]
�The idea that the Founding Fathers would have included�a �suicide� provision � that empowers citizens to overthrow the very government the Constitution seeks to create and protect � is ludicrous�� Ludicrous, huh? Considering the Founding Fathers did
state that very idea very explicitly in the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence makes it one of the central points of this country�s existence.
Make no mistake; Handgun Control�s mission is not to protect children from irresponsible gun owners, or keep felons from getting access to firearms. Handgun Control wants to disarm everyone to install a socialist government run by elitists. They give away their true nature with their own words. If they believe that a citizenry armed with the right both to possess firearms and to speak freely is less likely to fall victim to a tyrannical central government than a citizenry that is disarmed from criticizing government or defending themselves is a ludicrous idea, then how could they refute the charge that they want all Americans disarmed and helpless?
~~ New York - John J. Marciano
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KeepAndBearArms.com Addendum:
Good eye, Mr. Marciano. Let's also consider the following:
1) The Declaration
of Independence, the Federalist
Papers and the writings of America's Founding Fathers all clearly state the
the reason to have arms was as protection against Government Tyranny. We have
dozens of great, verifiable quotes to prove it including these:
"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 Convention to Ratify the
Constitution (3 Elliot, Debates at 380.)
"It is not certain that with this aid
alone [possession of arms], they would not be able to shake off their yokes.
But were the people to posses the additional advantages of local governments
chosen by themselves, who could collect the national will, and direct the
national force; and of officers appointed out of the militia,
by these governments and attached both to them and to the militia,
it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance, that the throne of every
tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned, in spite of the legions which
surround it."
~~ James Madison, Federalist
No. 46
"When the government fears the People,
that is Liberty. When the People fear the Government, that is tyranny."
~~ Thomas Jefferson
"Arms are the only true badges of
liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a
slave."
~~ Andrew Fletcher 1698
"Gentlemen may cry, 'peace, peace'--but
there is no peace. The war is actually begun! Is life so precious, or peace so
dear, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it,
Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me
liberty, or give me death!"
~~ Patrick Henry to the Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775.
"No kingdom can be secured otherwise
than by arming the people. The possession of arms is the distinction between a
freeman and a slave. He, who has nothing, and who himself belongs to another,
must be defended by him, whose property he is, and needs no arms. But he, who
thinks he is his own master, and has what he can call his own, ought to have
arms to defend himself, and what he possesses; else he lives precariously, and
at discretion."
~~ James Burgh, Political Disquisitions: Or, an Enquiry into
Public Errors, Defects, and Abuses [London, 1774-1775].
"[The American Colonies were] all
democratic governments, where the power is in the hands of the people and
where there is not the least difficulty or jealousy about putting arms into
the hands of every man in the country. [European countries should not] be
ignorant of the strength and the force of such a form of government and how
strenuously and almost wonderfully people living under one have sometimes
exerted themselves in defence of their rights and liberties and how fatally it
has ended with many a man and many a state who have entered into quarrels,
wars and contests with them."
~~ George Mason, "Remarks on Annual Elections for the
Fairfax Independent Company" in The Papers of George Mason, 1725-1792, ed
Robert A. Rutland (Chapel Hill, 1970).
"As civil rulers, not having their duty
to the people before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military
forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert
their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed
by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms."
~~ Tench Coxe in `Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to
the Federal Constitution' under the Pseudonym "A Pennsylvanian" in
the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789 at 2 col. 1.
"Before a standing army can rule, the
people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. 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
bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United
States."
~~ Noah Webster in "An Examination into the Leading
Principles of the Federal Constitution," 1787, in Paul Ford, ed.,
Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States, at p. 56 (New York, 1888).
2) But the largest private anti-rights
organization bent on disarming America says that the notion of a citizenry being
armed as a check against government tyranny -- up to and including the abolition
of that government -- is not only "ludicrous," but that it "has
been widely discredited."
When
the largest anti-gun organization in America -- who receives millions of dollars
from the social elite -- tells us that the Declaration of Independence and the
words of the people who fought and died to bring our country into being have
been "widely discredited," we must of
course wonder what their true motives are.
Therefore, we urge anyone associated with
Handgun Control, Inc. to ask themselves the following questions:
A) Why
are they lying about something that is so easily disproved?
B) If
their position is so strong and righteous, why can't it stand on the truth?
and perhaps most importantly...
C) What
else are they saying that isn't true?
Related Reading About Another Lying
Anti-Self-Defense Group
The following reports were put together by Sean
Oberle, Featured Writer for KeepAndBearArms.com:
