There is No First Amendment Without a Second Amendment

There is No First Amendment Without a Second Amendment
By Alan Caruba

Don't Tread On Me
Don't Tread On Me

USA –-(Ammoland.com)- When we celebrate the Fourth of July, let’s keep in mind that the first Americans won their independence from England with the force of arms.

It was, in fact, a British effort in 1775 to confiscate military arms they believed were stored in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts that sparked the war.

The Founding Fathers were so aware of the need for an armed citizenry that, after ensuring freedom of religion, speech, press and the right to peacefully assemble in the First Amendment, the Second guaranteed their right to bear arms.

Wherever authoritarian regimes were established in the last century, they took away this right and then proceeded to kill those deemed enemies of the state.

At this point in American history, the Obama administration constitutes a threat to the Constitution in general and the Second Amendment in particular.

More than 80,000,000 Americans are gun owners.
Two of the organizations that have been fighting to protect these rights are the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), both led by Alan M. Gottlieb. Three quarters of the SAF budget is devoted to defending rights pertaining to the ownership of guns and to carry them for self-defense.

In March, the liberal Huffington Post had an article titled “Obama Looking for Ways Around Congress on Gun Policy” by Sam Stein.

“Faced with a Congress hostile to even slight restrictions of Second Amendment rights, the Obama administration is exploring potential changes to gun laws that can be secured strictly through executive action, administration officials, say.”

Since then we have learned of a U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms program, Fast and Furious, that actually facilitated the sale and transfer of guns to Mexico. How demented is that?

In May in my home state of New Jersey the SAF won a decision against officials for the deprivation of civil rights under the color of law when they had ruled that an applicant for a concealed carry permit had not demonstrated a “justifiable need” for it. In point of fact, the applicant, Philip Muller, had been kidnapped by members of a motorcycle gang who threatened to kill him. They had, however, grabbed the wrong man.

Despite support by local and state police, action on his application was delayed for six months. Morris County Superior Court Judge David Ironson issued a directive that a permit should be granted. The case is still on-going with other plaintiffs that include a part-time sheriff’s deputy, an applicant who carries large amounts of cash in his private business, and a civilian employee of the FBI with legitimate concerns of an attack from a radical Islamic group.

Currently nearly thirty such cases have either been brought or joined by SAF to stop abuses of this most fundamental right of American citizens ranging from bans on interstate handgun sales, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s imposition of a $340 fee for a permit to keep a handgun in one’s home, and a Chicago ban on gun ranges open to the public. These cases cost between $60,000 and $80,000 each!

The greatest single threat to gun ownership right now is a United Nations “Small Arms Treaty” falsely identified as an “international arms control treaty” allegedly to fight terrorism.”

“In reality,” says Gottlieb, it is “a massive, global gun control scheme. It’s a sham. It’s a fraud.” If the U.S., under the Obama administration and with the consent of the Senate, were to sign on to this treaty, it would nullify the Second Amendment.

Suffice to say that the Obama administration wants to have the power to increase federal fees on guns and ammunition, to ban guns that are imported, to extend the waiting periods for permits, to ban the use of guns on all government property, and even to make it illegal if you own a gun and smoke!

Americans do not have to “justify” gun ownership. It is guaranteed by the Second Amendment. The reality is that enemies of this fundamental rights continue to wage an assault on it.

For information about SAF visit www.saf.org and CCRKBA at www.ccrkba.org.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

About:
Alan Caruba’s commentaries are posted daily at “Warning Signs” his popular blog and thereafter on dozens of other websites and blogs. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews.

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Sam Freedom

You’re full of crap. We got muskets and ammo from the French during the revolution. The reason for the second amendment was to we wouldn’t have to go begging to the French again. The Army would get the guns from the citizens.

There aren’t 80 million gun owners in the US.

Do you actually think that, if the government wants to kill you, your gun ownership or your concealed carry permit will make any difference. Are you that delusional?

Joshua Liberty Holme

@Taurus- It's because the data are collected differently. The data on how many guns are owned is based on sales: new guns sold = more guns. The data on how many gun owners there are is based on surveys: an increased demonization of guns or a fear of possible confiscation = a decrease in reporting. Would you tell a complete stranger whether you own a gun, how many you own and where you store them?

Taurus609

I will ask this question again, maybe someone can enlighten me to the truth. Ten (10) years ago, there were 90,000,000 gun owners, and over 250,000,000 guns in the United States. Every (pro gun) article I read, lowers that number to 80,000,000 or stays the same at 90,000,000, and keeps the amount of guns at 250,000,000. How can that be, when gun ownership has increased so much just in the last three (3) years, which would relate to even more guns. I myself know of at least five (5) people who never owned guns in the past, who now do,… Read more »

bill

I keep hearing and reading about the 80 million gun owners in this country and my question is “Why are they silent”

The founding fathers believed that our rights come from God and that those rights were worth defending.

Sadly today gun owners seem to be asleep or worse ignorant of the threats against their liberty