Now is not the time for readers of this site to sit idle. This is a time to get involved. There are several ways that you can help steer perception and policy during this time when the Bill of Rights seems to be under attack. Here are a few suggestions…
Join the NRA and the GOA
Pardon the double negative but, you can’t afford not to join the NRA. Ideologically, I align more closely with the Gun Owners of America but acknowledge that they simply don’t have the resources of the NRA. The NRA has handled these last several days with class and restraint (unlike the anti-Bill of Rights lobby who were dancing in blood as the news broke from Newtown). The NRA can do a lot of good with your membership dues. If you don’t like the magazines and mailings, ask them not to send them and they won’t. The NRA and GOA are going to lead this fight. They have become quite good at making sure that you are heard. Join today.
Contact Your Representatives
It is easier than ever to contact your elected Representatives. Do it early and often.
You can easily send letters to your Representatives on Congress.org. Additionally, the President has solicited everyone’s thoughts on gun violence on WhiteHouse.gov.
If you don’t know what to say, Military Arms Channel posted a great letter to get you started:
Greetings,
Due to the recent events at Sandy Hook elementary school we now face renewed threats to our Constitutional rights. While I understand how painful the loss must be for those touched by this tragedy, blaming firearms or their owners and punishing them is not the answer to the challenges we face as a nation.
We already have laws that were violated by a man who was likely psychotic and heavily medicated. This man was stopped by the mandatory background check from purchasing firearms. He then decided to murder his mother and take her legally owned firearms to commit this tragedy.
If your true goal is to protect our children, then enact legislation that will do that. Banning firearms that are rarely used in crime (less than 1% of the time) is not going to stop such tragedies, that was proven in 1999 when the Columbine shooting took place under the 1994 ban. Do something meaningful, please. Make committing the insane easier. Put armed security guards in our schools. But do not strip us of our rights and property by passing additional anti-gun laws that have historically had no positive effect on crime in our nation or others.
Thank you,
SIGN YOUR NAME
Educate Yourself So You Can Educate Others
You can’t engage in the public discourse in an intelligent way if you don’t know what you are talking about. It is time to hit the books. Hillsdale College has some excellent videos that can start you on your way to understanding the basics of the Constitution of the United States of America. The JPFO has an excellent resource that will help you understand the context in which our Founding Fathers understood the Second Amendment complete with references to the Federalist Papers and pre-Constitution precedence for the God-given right to bear arms. Do not be swept up in the erroneous arguments that the Founding Fathers couldn’t have foreseen modern weapons. The modern weapons of the time are exactly what the Founding Fathers sought to protect.
This is the least that you can do. Get out there and kindly, intelligently, and firmly represent gun owners everywhere. Our freedom depends on you.
Great suggestions… the other folks I regularly send some of our funds and membership dues to is the Buckeye Firearms Assoc. here in Ohio and Second Amendment Foundation…
http://www.saf.org/
Dann in Ohio
Sent a revision of your well written letter to all my congressmen, thanks!
I joined the NRA on Friday. Imagine the message it would send if thousands of people did before the end of the year.
Thank you for making this post. I will be mailing copies to all of my elected officials. It is difficult to make our case to a large portion of the anti-gun populace. They are largely ignorant about firearms, our community of lawful gun owners and wholly ignorant to the facts. While I believe strongly in the 2nd Amendment and Section 21 of my state’s constitution, I know that simply leaning back on “it’s my 2A right,” will polarize the issue to most of these folks. I think that is evident in the media backlash from the “…from my cold dead hands” line of Heston, and certainly from the response to the NRA statements of this weekend.
While I know that the loss of any innocent life is tragic, I believe that if the facts and figures are brought into the light regarding the extreme statistical anomalies that these incidents represent we may make some in-roads. Make no mistake, we are being vilified and painted as co-conspirators in these events by the media.
Some links to share:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-20
http://8minutesoffame.com/america-freedom-vs-freedom/
http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/an-opinion-on-gun-control/
Done and Done.
Ben, your first link with statistics suggests that Congress should ban “Hands, Fists & Feet” (5.7% of murders) before “Rifles” (2.6% of murders). But, I think they miss the opportunity to pass a comprehensive “Appendage Assault Ban”.