By Coosa Totah
I wrote the following a couple of months ago in response to an article by Tim Schmidt of USCCA and then never sent it out. I am now sending it to get it out of my drafts folder and to try to bring to light the essence of what is a “Right”.
It was originally intended to be sent to Tim Schmidt of USCCA. But like Dick Metcalf, formally of Guns & Ammo Magazine, and other so called “conservatives” who are liberal brainwashed journalists, changing their thought patterns would be harder than changing water into wine!
Texas – -(Ammoland.com)- I sat here trying to decide whether I was going to write this letter or just sever all ties with your organization. (USCCA)
I have several key very strong disagreements and many other disagreements with your stance.
First and foremost, the title of your article. How wrong can any person ever be. There is NO line, no difference, between Rights and responsibilities. They run hand-in-hand. The more of your Rights that you exercise, the more responsibility you must take upon yourself in assuring your Right does not interfere with the Rights of others.
I said Rights, not fears.
At this point I really need to talk about “Rights“, what are they, where do they come from, who owns them, who has power over them, etc.. There are many references that can be used, but, I like to use just two. The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
What is a “Right“? Thomas Jefferson described “Rights” very clearly in the Declaration of Independence. It is a “self-evident” unalienable quality of existence that we are endowed with by our Creator. A “Right” is something that we each own individually from birth to death. We do not have to work for it, except to defend it. It is already ours, individually, it is unalienable – can not be separated from the essence of us.
We have an unalienable individual “Right” to life which is the most profound “Right“. Not any or all men have the authority to take or to oppress our God-given unalienable “Right” to life, unless we grossly violate someone’s Right to the same and equal Right to life.
There are many other unalienable individual “Rights“. Some enumerated and further protected by the “Bill of Rights“. But there are many others as noted in the Ninth Amendment. ALL “Rights” being reserved individually for “We the People”, for “ALL Men“, being granted, endowed, by the highest of authorities, our Creator, above any man-made laws, legislative actions, decrees, regulations, directives, governments, or any and all other lower-than-the-Creator commandments!
The Creator’s commandments are supreme! Thus, it matters not what men may do, the unalienable “Rights” endowed upon us by our Creator supersedes, trumps, overshadows, outweighs, all else except our Creator in person!
Among all of our “Rights“, we have the “Right” of self-defense against any and all, against criminal or tyrant, who intends to do harm to us, take our property, or oppress our God-given “Rights” of liberty, intentionally or not,!!!!! We have the “Right“, or The Authority from the Creator on High, to defend ourselves. To defend ourselves by any means to include arms and firearms!
Without arms to defend our life, our life will belong to the will and wishes of the offender. A “Right” to defense without the teeth of defense is no “Right” at all.
The Second Amendment could be removed, but, it STILL DOES NOT invalidate our God-given “Right“. It only moves to oppress that which our Creator has given us.
We maybe fined, imprisoned, punished, or beat and belittled or even killed. But man CAN NOT remove or take away that which God has given us!!!!! Our “Rights” can only be oppressed or denied if we allow it and stand idle and do nothing.
The oppression of our “Rights” by man is a crime against the will and authority of our Creator! It is an act of a tyrannical government not only against the people but against the Creator who has given us those “Rights“.
ALL people, ALL Men, have the same and equal “Rights“. “Rights” belong to each of us individually. “Rights” can not be taken away, But, sometimes “Rights” must be regulated so as to allow all people to exercise their individual “Rights” equally without violating the same and equal “Rights” of others. Lets take a four-way intersection as an example. Everybody has the “Right” to pass through the intersection, but, everybody can not pass at the same time without violating the equal “Rights” of every other person. So, we pass laws to regulate how we shall each go through the intersection.
“Rights” in this case are NOT taken away, or suppressed, or oppressed, only set in an orderly fashion so ALL can exercise their “Rights“, equally. A law that would suppress, oppress, deny, or otherwise limit certain “Rights“, beyond the equal distribution of “Rights“, is generally a law of tyrants!
“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law,’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the Rights of the individual.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
You did a fine job in trying to convince people of your position in supporting our Rights to keep and Bear arms, BUT, you lost me in the following paragraphs.
“But there is a very fine line here when it comes to rights and responsibilities. You know as well as I do that having the right to do something is different than accepting responsibility for that thing.
We have the right to keep and bear arms.
But we also have the responsibility to ensure that by exercising our right to keep and bear arms, we are portraying ourselves and our fellow gun owners in the best possible light.”
NO, I do not know “that having the right to do something is different than accepting responsibility for that thing.” Responsibility goes hand-in-hand with the exercising of Rights!
You use the word “responsibility” as a political objective! As a progressive liberal would twist it to suit their agenda. Portraying oneself “in the best possible light” is a politicians tool of deception. Do we have a “responsibility” to place a political objective over our God-given unalienable Right? We can be courteous and respectful within limits, BUT, not to the point of denying ourselves the unalienable “Right” to exercise our unalienable “Rights“!
“… the responsibility to ensure that by exercising our right to keep and bear arms, we are portraying ourselves and our fellow gun owners in the best possible light.” is NOT a responsibility, but a diplomatic political posturing illusion to gain a perceptional favorable view of ourselves! But, this is as it goes, status quo!!!!
Lets say as a “black” man I have the “Right” to walk on the right side of the street, but, you are fearful of me. Should I then move to the left side of the street to show myself “in the best possible light” and reduce your fears? If I do there will be no progress in acceptance of my “Right” to walk on the right side of the street! And I will never be able to exercise my “Right” to walk on the right side of the street. I don’t care how much you talk about it, preach about, lecture about it, educate about it, until you do it, it will not happen! (yes, I used a modified Obama story) (and, oh, yes, I do have black heritage.)
Change Requires Pain. It requires forceably moving you out of your comfort zone frequently enough as to redefine your comfort zone to include the acceptance of my equal “Right” also. The blacks did it to break segregation.
Now, if we relinquish our “Rights” to gain favorable views “in the best possible light”, just what are we doing to our God-given unalienable “Rights“? Relinquishing them and becoming subservient to another person’s value system? Regarding our legally protected “Rights” as bad as our accusers say? We know for a fact that there will always be people who dislike us exercising our “Rights“! Period! These are the people who have been portraying us as demons, killers, murders, without any compassion for life, etc.. We will always be viewed in a very bad light by them. They are the people who have complained and persuaded our legislatures to pass so many laws restricting and oppressing our “Rights“. We have many unconstitutional laws, laws that are used by judges and lawyers to trump the Constitution and our “Rights“. They have made us subservient to their own value systems, while attempting to destroy our value system. Tyranny by any other name is still tyranny.
Over a period of time they have brainwashed the masses into accepting their arguments as having validity at the expense of our God-given unalienable “Rights”! And at the same time have instilled unfounded fear and paranoia toward us and firearms.
Fear and paranoia. Some people fear elevators. Some people fear dogs. Some people fear fear itself. Fear of a weapon or anything else is a personal phobia in the person feeling the fear. An unfounded fear is not an excuse to suppress a “Right”. It is a reason to acquire education and in more severe cases to see a professional therapist! Their unfounded fears do not trump my “Rights”! Get a life and get over it!
Second Amendment in essence – The “RIGHT” …. Shall Not Be Infringed.
So, what does the Second Amendment really say? What “Right” shall not be infringed? I realize most people think they know what the Second Amendment says. But, as much as has been posted in comments and other places I would have to say they are blooming idiots!
Without writing a whole article on the subject, just expounding upon and summarizing the Second Amendment it reads:
>The very common, disciplined, law abiding, responsible Body of Citizens within a state who volunteer on the spot, acting in a military manner, to protect the innocent, defend life, property, and liberty in the face of a public danger, being necessary for the security of a free state, The God-given unalienable Right of the people, All Men, All persons, All citizens to Keep, own and maintain, and Bear, to carry in any manner and used in the defense of life, property, and liberty, arms Shall Not Be encroached upon, approached with knowingly or unknowingly intent to restrict, oppress, limit, belittle, degrade, or any other action that infringes upon that Right!
I want you to really notice two very important things about the Second Amendment.
First, it is the only place in the whole Constitution that you find the word “infringed”. Every other law requires a solid “violated” (and gives legal exceptions).
Second, the Second Amendment is totally inclusive of ALL governments and PERSONS! It states flatly that “The Right … Shall Not Be Infringed” (without exceptions). Period! It is directed at everybody. It is a “Right” and no government OR person has the authority to infringe upon that “Right”! Now, I know our judges and lawyers don’t see it that way, BUT, if you read the Founding Documents, writings, speeches, letters to other Founding Fathers, etc. with an opened mind for the truth it will reveal itself. Read everything for comparison.
“The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be tremendous and irresistible. Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American … the unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.” Tench Coxe
Tench Coxe served in the administrations of the first four Presidents – Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison. He corresponded with Madison, the composer of the Bill of Rights, and some of the other Founding Fathers, some corresponded directly with him. Some of his letters were forwarded by Madison to Hamilton during the writing of the Federalist Papers. He was supportive and contributed to the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Even though he did not play a direct role.
Note the “Militia are ourselves”, the Militia are the people themselves! Coxe compared the Militia to “any possible army”. The Militia is not a regular army. The “swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier” and “The unlimited power of the sword” as being “in the hands of the people.”!
Also, look at the exception clause in the Fifth Amendment of the Bill of Rights. It specifically states “…in the Land or Naval Forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger,…”. Since the land or naval forces are not generally used for times of domestic public danger, then the Militia is much different than standing military forces and responsible for acting in cases of public danger, “being necessary for the security of a free state”. The Militia of 1787 are the people themselves.
“Arms” refers to any weapons that can be carried. This includes knives, swords, tomahawks, clubs, rifles, pistols, etc.. “… swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier,…”. Any arms that can be carried and used by a single person or a single soldier. (Atom bombs excluded!)
There are two basic definitions of “bearing arms”. One involves the actual act of fighting against a foe, “bearing arms” against an enemy in battle. The other refers to the carrying of arms on your person so as to have the arms constantly at hand in preparation for an unseen need to use them. The “bearing of arms” in the Second Amendment incorporates both definitions because if you are not carrying arms you will not have arms to “bear against an enemy” when you meet that enemy!
Many of our adversaries have latched onto the idea that “bearing arms” means actual battle against an enemy and has nothing to do with “carrying of arms”. Thus, they have attempted to regulate and control the “carrying of arms” to affect the actual use of arms. By doing so they have infringed upon our “Right” to self defense.
Lets say you have a undeniable “Right” to drive a car. Now the car is parked across on the other side of a city park. To get to that car you must walk on sidewalks and across grassy areas. Laws are passed that prohibit you from walking on the grass. Other laws are passed that require a license to walk on the sidewalk. Even though you still have an undeniable “Right” to drive that car, you are greatly hindered by laws which then in essence prevent you from getting to your car and actually driving it.
In Texas there are a group of “catch22” laws. First, you can not carry a handgun openly. Second, you must have a license to carry a handgun concealed. Thus, you MUST have a license to carry a handgun, PERIOD! Rifles are legal to carry openly, SO, the Open Carry Texas are carrying rifles! It IS the ONLY LEGAL way to carry openly!
We have an undeniable “Right” to self defense, but, laws have been put into place to prevent us from equipping ourselves with the necessary implements to do so. In essence, our “Right” to defend ourselves has been infringed upon!
In addition, certain people have vilified us and the means by which we need to defend ourselves to the point of instilling fear into every ignorant person that the mere sight of us is the groundwork for a tragedy.
How do you fight such an insidious, falsifying, villainizing, constantly disseminating propaganda machine? Well, I say make waves, push their comfort zone until they move the zone boundaries to include our “Right” of self defense along with the implements necessary for the task.
When blacks were required to relinquish their seats on a bus to whites and finally said no more, it pushed the comfort zone of whites to accept their “Rights” as human beings. By repeatedly refusing to relinquish their seats they stood their ground. They made waves. They were vilified. It was a hard fight and people even died. In the end the comfort zone of most whites moved to accept the “Rights” of blacks as equals.
We are fighting for our “Rights”. We are fighting for what is already protected by the Bill of Rights.
You may say it is not the same, but, I submit it IS the very same – we are fighting for our “Rights”! Our “Right” to be equip with the necessary implements to sufficiently defend our “Right” to life, to liberty, to property! We are fighting for the “Rights” that our Founding Fathers defined and laid down for us during the founding of our country.
Any person or business that has a problem with our “Rights” is an enemy of liberty, a sympathizer of tyranny. And by taking stances against our “Rights”, knowingly or unknowingly, they are showing their true colors and identifying themselves as a foe to our individual “Right” to life.
If I have a “Right” to do something, whether it is to carry a firearm or sit at the counter in a restaurant, who has the authority to tell me I can not do it? I have as much “Right” to carry a firearm as I have to sit at a counter in a restaurant! If someone does deny me my “Right” by laws or by intimidation or by coercion, is that legal under the Bill of Rights? Does anyone really have a power or authority or a Right to degrade, suppress, or infringe on our “Rights”? Does anyone or any organization have the power to use our “Rights” to facilitate a compromise?
The NRA plays political games with our “Rights” for the advancement of their personal agenda and power. I withdrew from the NRA in 1984 because of this. I signed up again last year because of Glenn Beck and others, thinking the NRA must have changed – THEY HAVE NOT! I am sick and sorry I signed up! But, I intend to use my life membership to speak my mind about and to the NRA.
The NRA and others have been doing this for years. Using our “Rights” as bargaining chips. Some tyrant would come along and say I’m going to do 1-2-3-4, and the NRA would step in and instead of saying “NO” they would say we’ll not contest and give you 1-2, “if” you do not do 3-4. Thereby giving away our “Rights” a sliver at a time.
This is like a burglar breaking into a neighbors house and you catch them. The burglar says “I’m going to take 1-2-3-4. You say, look I will not say anything if you take just 1-2, and you leave 3-4 alone. It’s NOT your house! You do not have the Right or the authority to bargain with another person’s belongings! It is NOT your “Rights” to bargain with, they are MINE, they are OURS, not yours.
Have you ever heard the story about the man who wanted to buy horses from a ranch owner and the ranch owner said “no, I do not want to sell my horses”. So, the man goes to the rancher’s neighbor and the neighbor says he’ll get the horses for him. Well, robbery by any other name is STILL robbery! Even if it is covered up under stacks of deceptive tyrannical laws, it still a crime against our God-given unalienable “Rights”!
They like to call it diplomacy, but, IT IS STILL BURGLARY!!!! The “Rights” belong to us! Government or anyone else has NO authority to deny us our “Rights”, except by the perceived authority they have stolen from us in the first place!
Besides the blatant violation of our God-given unalienable “Rights” it is absolute lunacy to think restricting, denying, oppressing the “Rights” of law abiding people will control the actions of criminals. If you are not a raging lunatic, then you MUST be a manipulating power hungry tyrant to want to deny us and to infringe upon our “Right” to the self defense of our life!
And THAT is what you and people like you are doing to our “Rights“! Giving them away in the name of the illusion of political posturing! Our foes do not care that we try to create an illusion of looking good “in the best possible light”! They want our firearms! They want us to be subservient to their wishes! They want us under their control! They want us to be controlled by the government! They want to deny us our God-given “Right” to defend ourselves! My “Rights” belong to me, not you. You either fight for ALL of our “Rights“, or you are as guilty as the burglars and tyrants who are stealing them from us under the delusional pretense of safety!
“It is in vain, sir, to extentuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace–but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! ” ~ Patrick Henry
I just wonder what part of “The Right (a God-given unalienable Right above any man-made laws)… to Keep (own and maintain) and BEAR (to carry in any way we choose and to use) ARMS (plural) SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED” is it that they do not understand?
It is dumbfounding that such apparent intelligent people do not have the competence and cognitive ability to understand the written words of our Founding Fathers in the terms and definitions of 1787.
- The Federalist Papers
- The Declaration of Independence
- The Constitution of The U.S.
- Speeches
- Newspaper articles
- Letters to fellow Founding Fathers
- etc.
All of these sources brought together supplies the background, the meaning, and the reason for the Second Amendment so as to further protect a sacred God-given “Right” of defense against criminals and tyranny.
OR do they understand and are just trying to manipulate us, control us, at the expense of our “Rights” for their own agenda? And you and others like you are falling head over heels for it.
As for me, “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,” I “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”