Freedom of Speech
Pastor Martin Niemöller
You've probably heard his poem First They Came... in original or modified form at some point or another. I had seen a version of it in reverse order of losing our Bill of Rights, something along the lines of:
When they took the 4th Amendment, I was silent because I didn't deal drugs.
When they took the 6th Amendment, I was silent because I am innocent.
When they took the 2nd Amendment, I was silent because I don't own a gun.
Now they have taken the 1st Amendment and I can say nothing about it.
While the original obviously has much more impact both in verse and when you take into account the history of the author and reason he wrote it, the amendments version does illustrate a good point.
As we slowly lose our rights (just Google American loss of liberty or anything like that and you'll find plenty of shocking results aside from warrantless wiretaps and opening of postal mail as well watch lists among many other things), this poem reminds us that the loss of liberty does not come overnight, it is a slow but steady process until one day it is too late. Hopefully the Supreme Court will start the ball rolling in the right direction with their pending decision on the 2nd Amendment.
People often forget, that while the 1st Amendment is at the very core of America, so is the 2nd and without it, the 1st is worthless.
And people also sometimes forget that the Bill of Rights is about
individual rights. Don't take my word for it, Thomas Jefferson wrote it himself "A bill of rights, is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference."
Jefferson's position gained advocates, and a compromise was reached. State legislatures agreed to ratify the draft document with the understanding that the first national legislature meeting under the new constitution would pass amendments guaranteeing individual liberties. That is precisely what occurred. By 1791, these 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, had become part of the supreme law of the land.
Now if you're still with me, read this:
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms REPORT
of the SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION
of the UNITED STATES SENATE NINETY-SEVENTH CONGRESS
Second SessionFrom the preface:
We did not guess at the purpose of the British 1689 Declaration of Rights; we located the Journals of the House of Commons and private notes of the Declaration's sponsors, now dead for two centuries. We did not make suppositions as to colonial interpretations of that Declaration's right to keep arms; we examined colonial newspapers which discussed it. We did not speculate as to the intent of the framers of the second amendment; we examined James Madison's drafts for it, his handwritten outlines of speeches upon the Bill of Rights, and discussions of the second amendment by early scholars who were personal friends of Madison, Jefferson, and Washington while these still lived. What the Subcommittee on the Constitution uncovered was clear — and long lost — proof that the second amendment to our Constitution was intended as an individual right of the American citizen to keep and carry arms in a peaceful manner, for protection of himself, his family, and his freedoms. The summary of our research and findings form the first portion of this report.
...
Both as an American citizen and as a United States Senator I repudiate this view. I likewise repudiate the approach of those who believe to solve American problems you simply become something other than American. To my mind, the uniqueness of our free institutions, the fact that an American citizen can boast freedoms unknown in any other land, is all the more reason to resist any erosion of our individual rights. When our ancestors forged a land "conceived in liberty", they did so with musket and rifle. When they reacted to attempts to dissolve their free institutions, and established their identity as a free nation, they did so as a nation of armed freemen. When they sought to record forever a guarantee of their rights, they devoted one full amendment out of ten to nothing but the protection of their right to keep and bear arms against governmental interference. Under my chairmanship the Subcommittee on the Constitution will concern itself with a proper recognition of, and respect for, this right most valued by free men.
Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman
Subcommittee on the Constitution
January 20, 1982
Labels: opinion, shooting
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Instead of reaching for a phone, she should have been reaching for a shotgun
I don't know about you, but 1) I've called 911 and gotten a busy signal and 2) even if you got someone, you think it might take more than 1 minute for help to arrive?
Why is it people feel that their personal safety and well being should be someone else's responsibility? Without a doubt it is a horrible thing that happened here, something that could have been prevented if she had a firearm and knew how to use it; and at the very least she could have fought back.
Calif. Woman Slain While Calling 911
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, March 20, 2008
(03-20) 18:52 PDT West Covina, Calif. (AP) --
A woman made a 911 call from her suburban mansion to report an attempted break-in, but her pleas were interrupted by gunshots, then silence: She had been shot to death.
The woman told the dispatcher late Wednesday morning that someone was trying to break into her home in upscale West Covina, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Dan Rosenberg said.
"Deputies heard gunshots followed by silence and an open phone line," he said.
Investigators combed the neighborhood Thursday outside the three-story house with a tennis court, pool and four-car garage. Investigators examined the opening mechanism of the driveway's black iron gates, and later a repairman worked on the gates.
The victim was identified as Hsiao Hsu, 45, said Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Hernandez.
Sheriff's deputies responding to the call entered the home and found the victim. She was pronounced dead at the scene. One or more males were reported seen running away from the house, the Sheriff's Department said.
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune carried a report describing a man who came to the scene about an hour after the shooting and asked deputies, "Is my wife OK? Did you find the guy?"
The man collapsed and cried out, "No! No! No! She just called me, you lie," the newspaper said. A patrol car drove the man away.
A KABC-TV report showed an investigator in the neighborhood examining what appeared to be a handgun under a shrub.
The house is east of Los Angeles in an unincorporated area where many homes stand well back from roads, with tall hedges and gates. Horses stood quietly in a corral at one neighborhood home Thursday.
A neighbor said a couple recently occupied the home, described on real estate Web sites as being nearly 6,000 square feet and having recently sold for more than $2 million.
"They moved in only about six months ago. I've only seen them drive in and out," said Ronald Wheeler, 57, who lives across the street.
Irene and Jesus Marquez, who live nearby, said the family has two children.
"They were really nice, good people," said Irene Marquez.
Labels: opinion, shooting
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
US Civilian Marksmanship Program
http://www.odcmp.com/
Did a practice shoot this last weekend for the CMP. I had never gone to an organized event like that before and it was a lot of fun. I have to admit, right off the bat I was concerned about even getting a shot on the paper, I mean I'd never shot at anything past 100 yards before and even that was with a powerful scope. For the CMP you can't use optics so I had to pull my scope, well at least I thought I did, one of the guys told me I could have left it and just kept the caps on, dang... I had it zero'd nicely at 100 cest la via.
Anyway, my irons were last zero'ed for 50yd so I had to make some adjustments, but after 5 clicks back I was good and zero'ed for 200 yards, too cool. 
Anyway, after a brief sight-in stage we got to it. We did the standard fare stuff, standing (offhand), sitting and prone (laying down). I was actually quite shocked at how accurate you can actually be at that sort of range with only the iron sights.
The different stages had different rules, like 60 seconds to fire 10 shots offhand, 70 seconds to drop from standing to prone and fire 10 shots, there was also a slow prone, 20 shots in 20 minutes session. That one was especially grueling, but it was nice to have the extra time to really setup your shot.
I'm still curious to see how I scored, I have 4 of my targets so I could run some totals, but hey I was just glad to participate it was a load of fun and hey, I know I bagged at least 1 ten ring! :) At 200 yards with iron sights and from the sitting position, not bad, well, for me at least.
Here's how they score:
Expert ----- 90% and above (450 and above on a 50 rounds for score course)
Sharpshooter ----- 80% to 89% (400 thru 449)
Marksman ----- 70% to 79% (350 thru 399)
Unqualified (Unclassified) less than 70%.
Oh and I made that hat I'm wearing in the pictures, more on that later though.
Labels: shooting
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Pastor Martin Niemöller 
