Standing Guard

For those of you who are not members of the NRA or do not follow the attacks on our 2nd Amendment rights, pay attention.

Whether you agree with the anti-gun lobby or are a supporter of the 2nd Amendment this bill--S.1237--WILL affect you if it passes.

Wayne La Pierre, Executive Vice President of the NRA has this to say about the bill;

"....appropriately suspected...."

With the full support of Alberto Gonzales' U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg is pushing legislation to give the government unprecedented discretionary power to secretly decree that a citizen is banned from owning firearms.

The government would need nothing more than a "suspicion", using information it would not have to divulge--EVER.

Called "Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2007"--the Gonzales/Lautenberg bill, S.1237, drafted by the Justice Department--is the broadest power grab ever proposed over the Right To Keep And Bear Arms.

See NRA's response at: http://www.nraila.org/media/PDFs/NRA_ltr_gonzales.pdf

Harlon B. Carter, founder of the modern NRA, said, "Judge a law by the worst reading, and in the hands of the worst enemies of the Second Amendment." Think of Hillary Clinton as President and Charles Schumer as Attorney General.

Then look into Lautenberg's proposal and see what could happen to you or me if S.1237 were ever to become law.

Here is a hypothetical scenario:

Imagine you are picking up a pristine 1937 first-year Winchester Model 70. You have filled out Form 4473 at your friend Bill's shop, and wait for him to get the usual fast clearance from the National Instant Check System (NCIS). On the phone, Bill is shaking his head, very animated. He finishes his conversation and motions you over, telling you he can't transfer the rifle. You were turned down.

Bill says he argued that you were a longtime customer, a veteran, a high school teacher; he asked why the refusal? He was told only that the sale was denied. "They gave me a number for you to call," he says.

When you get home, you are still in complete shock. You call the number and are told that the refusal had something to do with "suspected terrorism" and that the government is not at liberty to say more. Terrorism? It is simply not possible!

You hire a lawyer, and he says it must be an error. Not to worry.

But the new law says, "It shall be unlawful for any person...who has been the subject of a determination by the Attorney General...to possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition..." Days later you receive an official notice that you may no longer own firearms--based on a suspicion. Your lawyer tells you to divest yourself of your firearms; however, before you can do so, federal agents arrive at your home with a search warrant and a form demanding that you surrender all firearms and ammunition.

They say you are now on the Attorney General's "suspect" list and as a prohibited person, it is a federal felony for you to possess any gun. They take your gun collection...all of it...in lieu of arrest. The agent in charge warns you to stay away from guns. They will be observing you. All they will say to your question of "why" is a reading from a card, similar to those Miranda warning cards you might see on TV: "The Attorney General has determined that you are known (or appropriately suspected) to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism, or providing material support thereof...and that the Attorney General has a reasonable belief that you may use a firearm in connection with terrorism."

A day later, your lawyer says your situation is hopelesss. You can't get your guns back. Under the law you are now a prohibited person, just like a convicted felon. He reads you the new law--which requires no criminal intent or knowledge, only suspicion: "...any information which the Attorney General relied on for this determination may be withheld...if the Attorney General determines that disclosure of the information would likely compromise national security."

You ask the lawyer, "Can't we appeal?"

He continues: "In responding to the petition, the United States may submit and the court may rely upon summaries or redacted versions of documents containing information the disclosure of which the Attorney General has determined would likely compromise national security."

At the sole discretion of the Attorney General, they can withhold anything and everything they allegedly have on you--all in the name of "national security."

You have just lost your Second Amendment rights--gun ownership is a criminal act---based on a mere "suspicion," and you cannot even find out what that suspicion is.

This outrageous scenario has not happened yet, but it could if the Gonzales/Lautenberg Brave New World-like legislation--S.1237--ever becomes law.

In creating a new criminal class of prohibited persons based on "suspicion," the same language applies to license denials, to state firearm permit denials and to sale of firearms by individuals.

The Bush administration is on record affirming the Second Amendment as an individual right, yet this bill trashes the Constitution, mocking the protections guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. It would arbitrarily take away your rights--without charges, without an arrest, without a trial and without a conviction--just because the Attorney General says so.

It denies citizens all due process of law at the sole discretion of government--something that must never happen in America.

Shockingly, Lautenberg is telling the world that he has the full support of the Bush administration and expects this measure to be signed into law.

So what are you going to do about it? Don't think this a big issue because you don't own guns?

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” (Cesare Beccaria)

"The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."--Thomas Jefferson.

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."--Thomas Jefferson.

E-mail, fax, write or call your U.S. Senator(s) and Congressmen. Insist that they oppose bill S.1237.

And tell Attorney General Gonzales to wake up and withdraw his support.

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