Thomas Paine observed that "Tyranny is always better organized than
freedom." He also noted "... the strength and power of despotism
consists wholly in the fear of resistance."
The gun grabbers are at it again. President Clinton (the presumed
ineffective lame duck impeached president) continues to pursue his
ultimate goal of total gun confiscation.
The enemies are those who would erode Liberty and Freedom. Their
weapon is incrementalism. Although the U.S. senator from Rhode Island,
Jack Reed, has been unable to find any co-sponsors for his insidious
S2099 finesse to gift the IRS with new gun-licensing authority, the
battle is joined. Some have suggested the Reed bill is the product of
mere legislative brain flatulence. Others see it as the opening gubmint
gambit, which will be followed with "more reasonable" gun control
proposals.
Limousine liberals will often ask me, "Why are you so paranoid about
the Second Amendment?" The answer is in facts, which contradict their
preconceived opinions, but nevertheless remain facts. The list is too
long for this space, but herewith is a Reader's Digest flavored version:
In 1911, Turkey established for real gun control. Subsequently, from
1915 to 1917, 1.5-million Armenians, deprived of the means to defend
themselves, were rounded up and killed.
Senator Diane Feinstein, speaking on "60-Minutes" immediately after
the passage of the Brady Bill said, "if I thought I could get the votes,
I'd have taken them all." That's not paranoia; that is the clearly
stated objective of a liberal Democrat U.S. senator.
The Soviet Union established gun control in 1929. Then from 1929 to
1953, approximately 20-millon dissidents -- again, deprived of the means
to defend themselves -- were rounded up and killed.
April 5, 1996, Charles Krauthammer wrote in the Washington Post, "the
Brady Bill's only effect will be to desensitize the public to regulation
of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation." "Ultimate,"
as in inevitable, eventually, sometime in the future ... not now ... BUT
soon.
Forget the phony Hitler quotes, and focus on the facts. In 1938
Germany did establish gun control. From 1939 to 1945 over 13-million
Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, mentally ill, union leaders, Catholics and
others, unable to fire a shot in protest, were rounded up and killed.
Editor of the Boston Globe T. Winship wrote in Editor and Publisher
Magazine, April 24, 1993, "Investigate the NRA with renewed vigor.
Print names of those who take NRA funds. Support all causes the NRA
opposes. ... The work a day guy doesn't envision total confiscation, but
many with the real power to sway public opinion and effect change in
America do."
China has more practice than anyone does in disarming potential
dissenters. Once upon a time they banned knives and swords. In 1935
they established gun control. Subsequently, between 1948 and 1952, over
20-million dissidents, again deprived of the tools for self defense,
were rounded up and killed.
Democrat Representative W. Clay was quoted in the St. Louis Post
Dispatch of May 8, 1993, regarding the Brady Bill. He said it is "the
minimum step" Congress should take. "We need much stricter gun control
and eventually we should bar ownership of handguns except in a few
cases."
Cambodia enshrined gun control in 1956. In just two years
(1975-1977) over one million "educated" people were rounded up and
killed.
Guatemala locked in gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, over
100,000 Mayan Indians were rounded up and killed as a result of their
inability to defend themselves.
Former President of NBC News M. Gartner was quoted in USA Today, Jan.
16, 1992, as saying, "I now think the only way to control handgun use is
to prohibit the guns. And the only way to do that is to change the
Constitution." Hello?!
Uganda got gun control in 1970. Over the next nine years over
300,000 Christians were rounded up and killed.
Peter Shields, founder of Handgun Control Inc. was quoted in the New
Yorker Magazine, June 26, 1976, with what frankly crystallizes the
alleged paranoia many of us have for preserving the Second Amendment.
"We'll take one step at a time, and the first is necessarily ... given
the political realities ... very modest. We'll have to start working
again to strengthen the law, and then again to strengthen the next law
and again and again. Our ultimate goal, total control of handguns, is
going to take time. The first problem is to make possession of all
handguns and ammunition (with a few exceptions) totally illegal."
Over 56-million people have died because of gun control in the last
century. Is there an identifiable trend? A common denominator? Sure!
The victims were unarmed.
In the shadows of the recently orchestrated whizzing match between
the NRA and the president, two ignored factoids remain axiomatic.
- When law-abiding citizens have easy access to firearms
for self-protection, crime goes down. - When law-abiding citizens are denied easy access to firearms,
crime increases ... significantly.
For those who continue to insist, "Hey, that stuff could
never happen here," permit me to annoy you with two more facts.
"Operation Garden Plot" and "Department of State Publication 7277."
I had almost forgotten about Garden Plot until I got halfway through
this column. It is an old Operations Plan relating to Civil
Disturbance. Here are some selected quotes:
"If any civil disturbance by a resistance group, religious
organization, or other persons considered to be non-conformist takes
place, under Appendix 3 to Annex B of Plan 55-2 hereby gives all Federal
forces total power over the situation if local and state authorities
cannot put down said dissenters."
"Annex A, section B of Operation Garden Plot defines tax protesters,
militia groups, religious cults, and general anti-government dissenters
as Disruptive Elements. This calls for the deadly force to be used
against any extremist or dissident perpetrating any and all forms of
civil disorder."
The Department of State Publication 7277 was
Disarmament Series 5
released September 1961. It
states,
- A strenuous and uninterrupted effort must be made toward the goal
of general and complete disarmament; at the same time, it is important
that specific measures be put into effect as soon as possible. Second,
all disarmament obligations must be subject to effective international
controls: The control organization must have the manpower, facilities,
and effectiveness to assure that limitations or reductions take place as
agreed. It must also be able to certify to all states permitted at any
stage of the disarmament process. Third, adequate peacekeeping machinery
must be established: There is an inseparable relationship between the
scaling down of national armaments on the one hand and the building up
of international peacekeeping machinery and institutions on the other.
Nations are unlikely to shed their means of self-protection in the
absence of alternative ways to safeguard their legitimate interests.
This can only be achieved through the progressive strengthening of
international institutions under the United Nations and by creating a
United Nations Peace force to enforce the peace as the disarmament
process proceeds.
The cartoon character Pogo once observed, "We have met the enemy
and he is us." It is an irony that the fictional character resided in a
swamp, and the District of Criminals rests on a reclaimed swamp.
Frederick Douglass noted that "Those who profess to favor freedom,
and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up
the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want
the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. This struggle may be a
moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and
physical; but it must be a struggle! Power concedes nothing without a
demand. It never did, and it never will. Find out just what people
will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and
wrong, which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until
they are resisted with either rods or blows, or with both. The limits
of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."