From: gross@eric10.rtp.dg.com (Gene Gross)
Subject: Re: Defined: National Police Force
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 16:32:01 GMT
Organization: Data General Corporation, RTP, NC.

In article <16AUG199209163165@gergo.tamu.edu> dave@gergo.tamu.edu (Dave Martin) writes:
>>In article <bg8m__p.crisp@netcom.com>, crisp@netcom.com (Richard Crisp) writes...
>>I read this as saying that machineguns, assault rifles, grenades, rocket
>>launchers, mortars, mines etc are the only weapons we have a constitutional
>>right to posess. The rhetoric from Clinton about "weapons which have no l
>>legitimate hunting purpose" simply is irrelevant. In effect what is being
>>perpetrated on the US as a whole is an attempt at re-defining the issue
>>to be one of hunting and sporting rights versus not. This of course is not
>>what the second amendment is about. It is about the people having a check
>>and balance on the government: in other words the ultimate recall power.
>
>It's always nice to know that the Republicans imply that they have the right
>to assassinate the President if they don't get their own candidate in. You'd
>think that by this century we'd be a bit more civilized than to claim that
>we need heavy artillary in our homes just in case we need to shoot someone
>in the government. Of course, you shoot one, they shoot back, and eventually
>you have a whole lot of innocent people dead just because you think you have
>the right to shoot the President if necessary. Sorry, but that is never the
>answer here. In other countries, perhaps it might be, but it is to prevent
>such things that our government was split into its three branches. True, you
>can find instances where everything seems to lean (the President appoints
>the members of the Supreme court, or you have a Congress which is made up of
>members who are mostly aligned with the President), but that is what the
>voting process is meant to prevent.

Where did Crisp say anything about assassinating the President?  This is
at best a spurious argument and a shift in focus.

The 2nd Amendment provides the people the right to keep and bear arms.
To what end, to prevent the government from ever taking over so
completely that our freedoms and liberties are ended through
governmental action.  To say that this simply cannot happen in the late
20th century is to ignore all that has happened during this century, and
in fact, is goin on right now.

Governments are not benign creatures.  They exist as a necessary evil.
The best governments govern the least.  This is out of step with the
Democrats, like Clinton and Gore.  And to a degree, it is also true for
the Republicans. I would never trust a government to maintain my
freedoms and liberties under all conditions and circumstances.  If it
suits the governments purposes to end one of our rights, they will do so
if they think that the people will not stop them.

An armed citizenry acts as a final check and balance on the government.
If the government moved to end Constitutional freedoms and liberties,
the people can rise up in revolt.  If the government moved to turn our
nation into a tyranny, the people can rise up in revolt.  It has
happened before, and may well happen again.  This was the forward
thinking of our Founding Fathers.  Personally, I think that they were
extremely wise and visionary.

However, do not mistake the final right of the people to rebel against
an oppressive government as giving us license today to assassinate the
President or any other member of government -- no matter how much they
deserve it!  That is not what the 2nd Amendment protects as a right.

When any tyrant comes to power, it is over the bodies of those who could
not defend themselves.  The first thing any person or group bent on
tyranny must do is prevent the people from defending their freedoms and
liberties.  The teeth of the people has to be blunted and eventually
removed.  Then the oppression can start.

So, I support not only the right to keep and bear arms, but I support
the right to keep and bear arms that include automatic weapons, mortars,
grenades, shotguns (including sawed-off shotguns, which have a
legitimate useage in combat as we learned in Viet Nam), and other
similar weapons of offensive and defensive capability.  We are the
people's militia, and the last barrier to oppression, should anyone or
any group be fool enough to attempt it.

Gene Gross
De Opresso Liber
5th SFRVN, SOG-135
Airborne, Ranger
Recondo
Long Live the Tiger Stripe!! 

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