Knimrod
05-19-2006, 01:47 AM
Guarantee the rights of lawful gun owners
May 18, 2006
By WAYNE LaPIERRE
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
As a nation, we're reminded daily of the fearsome future we face. Terrorist attack, bird flu, hurricanes, earthquakes - disasters both natural and man-made are inevitable.
So it's worthwhile to note how government behaves in reaction to the disasters we're told to prepare for.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans leaders and other government officials ordered law enforcement officers to go door to door to confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens. At gunpoint.
That's a first in American history. No one really knows how many lawful firearms remain impounded.
There were no lights, no phones, no 911, no police protecting neighborhoods. Gangs of thugs roamed and ruled the streets.
New Orleans officials could not protect their residents. Yet they denied their residents the means to protect themselves. If ever there was a need for the Second Amendment right to defend your family and property, it was in those long, dark, dangerous weeks in New Orleans.
Katrina became the proving ground for what American gun owners have always predicted: that government bureaucrats would throw the Bill of Rights out the window and declare your freedom to be whatever they say it is.
When the Second Amendment is only as good as your mayor or your police chief says it is, you'd better find out whose side your local leaders are on.
Ask Mayor Tom Barrett to pledge that he will never disarm the lawful gun owners of Milwaukee.
That's exactly what the National Rifle Association is doing. We're asking every mayor and police chief in the United States to make this pledge: "I will never forcibly disarm the law-abiding citizens of (my city)."
Since most city officials have already sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution in their oaths of office, making this pledge should be just as effortless.
But if your mayor or police chief refuses to make the pledge, they should be prepared to explain why.
After all, you're paying their salaries and for their armed security. So they should tell you under exactly what circumstances you should agree to be forcibly disarmed.
In fact, there is no scenario in which lawful gun owners should be forcibly disarmed.
Most rank-and-file police officers and military members agree. In New Orleans, most of those officers were horrified when they were ordered to confiscate citizens' firearms.
They don't want political leaders to deploy them as instruments of tyranny to disarm their fellow citizens, which means their own friends and families.
But that didn't stop a mayor and a police chief from revoking the constitutional rights of thousands of lawful people. With no meaningful consequences.
That's why the NRA will support the introduction of state and federal legislation that makes it a crime to forcibly disarm law-abiding citizens. Violation should result in arrest and prison time.
Such tough laws are clearly necessary because there's nothing to prevent local officials from confiscating guns or otherwise subverting the Constitution at will.
No one is suggesting that local officials should not declare emergency powers to protect the population through steps that apply to all citizens. And the NRA has always led the fight to prosecute and get guns out of the hands of criminals.
But never again should individual lawful gun owners be criminalized and forcibly disarmed for the convenience of local officials. That's what such legislation will ensure.
Wayne LaPierre is executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, which is holding its annual convention in Milwaukee through Sunday.
Link to article (http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=424919)
May 18, 2006
By WAYNE LaPIERRE
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
As a nation, we're reminded daily of the fearsome future we face. Terrorist attack, bird flu, hurricanes, earthquakes - disasters both natural and man-made are inevitable.
So it's worthwhile to note how government behaves in reaction to the disasters we're told to prepare for.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans leaders and other government officials ordered law enforcement officers to go door to door to confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens. At gunpoint.
That's a first in American history. No one really knows how many lawful firearms remain impounded.
There were no lights, no phones, no 911, no police protecting neighborhoods. Gangs of thugs roamed and ruled the streets.
New Orleans officials could not protect their residents. Yet they denied their residents the means to protect themselves. If ever there was a need for the Second Amendment right to defend your family and property, it was in those long, dark, dangerous weeks in New Orleans.
Katrina became the proving ground for what American gun owners have always predicted: that government bureaucrats would throw the Bill of Rights out the window and declare your freedom to be whatever they say it is.
When the Second Amendment is only as good as your mayor or your police chief says it is, you'd better find out whose side your local leaders are on.
Ask Mayor Tom Barrett to pledge that he will never disarm the lawful gun owners of Milwaukee.
That's exactly what the National Rifle Association is doing. We're asking every mayor and police chief in the United States to make this pledge: "I will never forcibly disarm the law-abiding citizens of (my city)."
Since most city officials have already sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution in their oaths of office, making this pledge should be just as effortless.
But if your mayor or police chief refuses to make the pledge, they should be prepared to explain why.
After all, you're paying their salaries and for their armed security. So they should tell you under exactly what circumstances you should agree to be forcibly disarmed.
In fact, there is no scenario in which lawful gun owners should be forcibly disarmed.
Most rank-and-file police officers and military members agree. In New Orleans, most of those officers were horrified when they were ordered to confiscate citizens' firearms.
They don't want political leaders to deploy them as instruments of tyranny to disarm their fellow citizens, which means their own friends and families.
But that didn't stop a mayor and a police chief from revoking the constitutional rights of thousands of lawful people. With no meaningful consequences.
That's why the NRA will support the introduction of state and federal legislation that makes it a crime to forcibly disarm law-abiding citizens. Violation should result in arrest and prison time.
Such tough laws are clearly necessary because there's nothing to prevent local officials from confiscating guns or otherwise subverting the Constitution at will.
No one is suggesting that local officials should not declare emergency powers to protect the population through steps that apply to all citizens. And the NRA has always led the fight to prosecute and get guns out of the hands of criminals.
But never again should individual lawful gun owners be criminalized and forcibly disarmed for the convenience of local officials. That's what such legislation will ensure.
Wayne LaPierre is executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, which is holding its annual convention in Milwaukee through Sunday.
Link to article (http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=424919)