USA -(Ammoland.com)- As we head into the holiday week, visiting with loved ones, cooking traditional family meals, and doing last-minute gift shopping, I wanted to take a moment and say thank you.
Thank you for your support, for your loyalty, and for your trust. And for our members, thank you for your financial support. We simply could not function on such a high level without you.
Buckeye Firearms Association has had a good year winning battles large and small in our ongoing mission to protect and advance your Second Amendment rights.
But I want to remind you that while we all talk a lot about guns, it’s about more than that. There’s something much bigger, much more important than the gear you have in your gun safe. Everything we do is really about…
The spirit of independence.
The ideal of self-reliance.
The celebration of tradition.
The discipline of marksmanship.
The satisfaction of putting food on the table.
The obligation of protecting ourselves and our families.
The pride of collecting and gunsmithing.
The camaraderie of friends, family, and teammates.
And the sheer joy that comes from the doing of something, and doing it well.
It’s about the history of a free country and how such a valuable prize requires such a high price and eternal vigilance.
It’s about the faith in our founders who knew all too well that no country or king can be trusted with too much power and that evil can overrun any government from within or without.
It’s about equality, not the feeble equality of words but the vigorous equality of citizens who stand firm in the face of adversity and refuse to be the helpless victims of predators, bigots, and madmen.
When we pay our dues to the NRA, and write our letters to the representatives, and cast our votes for the candidates who vow to protect the Second Amendment, we’re fighting for something that’s far more than a gun, something that lives deep within us and puts a lump in our throats and brings tears to our eyes.
When former NRA President Charlton Heston held aloft a muzzleloader from the Revolutionary War and in a loud, firm voice declared to the world that it could only be taken from his “cold, dead hands,” every gun rights supporter knew exactly what he was talking about. And it wasn’t about that rifle.
It was a challenge. But it was also a prayer, a voice lifted up in steely resolve calling to Americans like you and me who hold in our hands something more powerful than a gun, something that must be cherished and guarded.
It’s something no one has ever invented a word for but which we all know to be true.
It’s that something that “they” just don’t get. And they never will. But they are not our enemies. They are simply people who don’t understand. Our true enemy is us. We are the enemy of our own freedom and liberty if we forget what that something is.
Because if we let that something wither and die, they will take it from our cold, dead hands. And our children will never hold it or even understand it. And America will never be the same.
So as you tear the colorful wrapping paper off those gifts on Christmas morning, and as you gather with friends and family on New Year’s Eve, please remember that “something” that makes it all possible. And makes it all worth the effort.
And remember our men and women in the armed forces, the police and emergency responders, and all those who put their lives on the line to protect that something so that you and I can enjoy peace and freedom every day.
From all of us here at Buckeye Firearms Association, may you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Dean Rieck
Executive Director
About the Buckeye Firearms Association:
For more than 12 years, Buckeye Firearms Association has worked to defend and advance the right of more than 4 million Ohio citizens to own and use firearms for all legal activities, including self-defense, hunting, competition, and recreation.
BFA works to pass pro-gun legislation, educate the public through ongoing media relations, provide high-quality firearm classes, and make available a wide variety of resources for gun owners. We even work with other pro-gun organizations around the country to help them further their mission.
And while anti-gun groups get their funding and support from wealthy activists or big corporations, BFA gets its funding and support from citizens like YOU who value their Constitutional rights and are willing to stand guard with us today and every day.
Will you stand with us? Membership is only $35 per year.
And when you join today, we’ll give you a Pocket Constitution so you can remember what we’re fighting for. Because it’s not just about guns. It’s about a unique and powerful set of ideas that make America the world’s home of liberty and freedom.
Sounds like a worthy organization!