President Clinton is a little confused.
He gave an interview to Katie Couric last week and, in the process,
invented some new rights.
Asked what he would tell National Rifle Association leader Charlton
Heston over a cup of coffee, Clinton said: “I would say it’s — you
ought to be Moses and lead the people out of Egypt into the Promised
Land. You ought to think about how we can protect the rights of hunters
and use the good things the NRA’s done to educate children, young people
on gun safety, for example. And stop wasting your energy, when we try to
say that a juvenile that commits a violent crime shouldn’t have a gun.
Stop wasting your energy when we try to reinstitute the waiting period
for the Brady Bill, or close the assault weapons loopholes, or close the
loopholes in the Brady Bill — or, say that we ought to have a
background check for explosives, or a background check at these gun
shows. That’s what we ought to do. This is designed to keep people
alive, for goodness sakes. This has nothing to do with the right to hunt
or to engage in sporting contests.”
Not surprisingly, Katie Couric didn’t ask Clinton what he meant
regarding the “right to hunt” and to participate in sporting contests.
These are not among the enumerated rights in the Constitution, but there
is a subtle political campaign under way to convince the American people
that their right to bear arms has something to do with hunting, shooting
contests and perhaps even crime fighting. It does not.
The Founding Fathers drafted the Second Amendment, about which there
was no debate, with the understanding that an unarmed people would be a
pushover for a tyrannical government — either foreign or domestic. This
should be even more evident to us today as the U.S. deploys the world’s
most effective standing army around the world to meddle in the affairs
of other sovereign people. If the military can be used for that purpose,
why are we to assume it will not be used against the people of the
United States some day in the future? The Founding Fathers greatly
feared the establishment of a standing army — even among an armed
populace.
Besides the U.S. armed forces, there is a growing militarization of
various federal police agencies. Reports in WorldNetDaily have found
upwards of 80,000 armed federal agents working for dozens of U.S.
agencies — from the FBI to the EPA. At the same time, there is an
incessant effort to disarm the American people — or at least to
register every gun so the government knows where to find them.
I, for one, believe our federal government has already reached the
point of tyranny. It forcibly confiscates about 30 percent of my income
and redistributes it in ways never imagined when this nation was founded
on the principles of limited government and self-government. Our elected
and unelected leaders pay little heed to the Constitution. They do what
they want. Why? Because they have force on their side. What gives them
that force? Ultimately, it is superior firepower.
If Americans are ever to get their country back, make their leaders
accountable to them and to their Constitution and be permitted to govern
themselves and freely exercise their inalienable rights, they will need
to be armed. That doesn’t mean we need a violent revolution to get
there. But without at least the threat of violence that an armed
populace represents, there is no chance for progress toward freedom in
the United States. We’re on the slippery slope to tyranny and we will
continue down that path.
So, let me reiterate, Mr. President. The Second Amendment has nothing
— nothing — to do with hunting and sports shooting. Sure, I think
Americans have the right to pursue those activities in the pursuit of
happiness, but let’s not pretend they have anything to do with the
critical constitutional and freedom issues represented by the right to
bear arms.
It’s time for the NRA and other gun proponents to shift the debate
away from hunting and target shooting and back toward guns as a means of
preserving freedom.
Mr. Heston, if you ever do sit down with Bill Clinton over a cup of
coffee, and if he ever has the guts to give you that speech about the
promised land and the purpose of guns in our culture, just tell him:
“Hey Pharaoh, that dog don’t hunt.”
