By Nicki Fellenzer
Well,
here we go again. Power-hungry cowards in Congress are once
again seeking to ram gun control down our throats, and this
time, our president – the man who was painted as a friend
to the some 80 million-gun owners in this country by the
National Republican Apologists (NRA) –
says he will sign it if it reaches his desk.
But my goal
today is not to take aim at the NRA for its obsequious and
quite obvious silence on the G.W. Bush promise to sign the
odious legislation to expand and make permanent the Clinton
“Assault” weapons ban of 1994 into law – although God and
Goddess know the NRA’s hypocrisy and ass kissing of the
seat of power are glaring, to say the least. No, today I’m
taking on the President himself…
· For playing political
games with our freedoms;
· For maneuvering and
dodging instead of taking a courageous stand;
· And
for trying to appease the anti-freedom maggots in congress
and at Handgun Control, Inc. (And no, I won’t call it the
“Brady Center.” They are what they are, regardless of the
name change.)
Mr.
President, you and your Republican cohorts are cowards
and hypocrites, and gun owners know it! |
Consider this:
George W. Bush is a man who ran on the premise that he was
a friend of the Second Amendment. In the 2000 elections,
the NRA drooled at the prospect of having Bush in office.
An excerpt from a story on Boston.com
tells the story quite well: “On the NRA tape, [Kayne]
Robinson calls Gore an ‘antigun fanatic’ and said electing
him would be a ‘horror story.’ But with Bush, the likely
Republican nominee, they will have ‘unbelievably friendly
relations.’”
In October, 2000, then-NRA President Charlton Heston stomped
around the country urging gun owners to vote for George
W. Bush, describing the presidential campaign as "a
holy war" for the constitutional rights of gun owners.
And now, the President to whom a large number of gun owners
gave their vote – a sacred trust to protect their rights
and the US Constitution – is underhandedly voicing his tacit
support for the permanent ban of certain types of firearms.
No, he’s not proud of his support. He’s keeping a low profile,
letting his lackeys do the talking, while keeping conspicuously
silent himself. If the ban never sees his desk, his spin-doctors
can twist the sad facts into a positive development for
the Bush Presidency: An odious Clintonesque gun control
bill was killed during our brave leader’s reign!
If Congress passes H.R. 2038, and Bush signs it into law,
you can expect a very large number of gun owners and patriots
to turn away from Bush and from the Republican party. There’s
no excuse for this heinous, unconstitutional legislation
to see the light of day – not when we have a Republican
majority in Congress and a Republican White House. Republicans
are supposed to be gun owners’ friends, right?
Apparently, they aren’t. Apparently Republicans are just
as willing to play politics with our rights as the Democrats.
According to Newsday.com,
“[House] Speaker Dennis Hastert opened the door Thursday
to a vote on extending an assault weapons ban that expires
next year, and the leader of House Democrats prodded President
Bush to urge the Republican leadership to bring the bill
to the floor.” It sure doesn’t sound like the Republicans
are any better friends to gun owners than the Democrats.
They’ll violate your rights just to appear “moderate” just
as quickly as the Democrats, hoping their tepid reluctance
will earn them brownie points.
Well, time has come to say it: Mr. President, you and your
Republican cohorts are cowards and hypocrites, and gun owners
know it!
Yes, I’m saying
it loud and clear, so that you and your lackeys can read
and revel in this fact. You have no courage. You have no
integrity. You bend to the political convenience of the
moment, because it’s the quickest road to re-election, and
you think that little red, white and blue elephant on your
lapel, your patriotic pictures on the USS Abraham Lincoln
and your war on terrorism will erase or obscure this fact
and that your membership in the Republican party will shield
you from the wrath of those you have betrayed.
You feel complacent
because you feel gun owners will support you regardless,
because you happen to be the lesser of the two evils. You
feel secure, shrouded in the Republican banner, because
gun owners have consistently and loyally voted Republican.
Well, I suggest you stop feeling secure, sir. Because gun
owners don’t appreciate cowards and hypocrites. We don’t
appreciate compromising twits, who will do anything to appear
“moderate” while trading away our rights for a few votes.
We appreciate truth, integrity and courage.
If you had
any gonads at all, you would stand up and say, “I
want to ban all the so-called ‘assault’ weapons and I will
support any legislation which accomplishes this goal,”
and then allow law-abiding and freedom-loving citizens of
this country to turn away from you, as you know they will.
But no, you
won’t do that, Mr. Bush, because politics are apparently
much more important to you than principles. You want reelection
so bad, you can taste it, and it appears you’ll do anything
– even sell law-abiding gun owners to the socialist wolves
– to get it.
The legislation
you are too afraid to state your support for is a pernicious
piece of garbage that will do nothing more than place further
limits on our freedoms.
H.R. 2038 –
the “Assault” weapons ban will do nothing to stop crime.
Prior to the Clinton ban, a Bureau of Justice Statistics
survey reported that in 1991, about 8 percent of state inmates
had possessed a so-called “assault” weapon. Care to guess
how many carried said weapon in the commission of a crime?
LESS THAN ONE PERCENT.
A Virginia
inmate survey conducted prior to the 1994 ban showed that
while about 10 percent of incarcerated criminals ever owned
an “assault” weapon, none had carried it at the scene of
a crime.
Meanwhile,
in 1997 – four years after the Clinton ban was passed –
1.5 percent of state inmates and 1.7 percent of federal
inmates admitted to having used a weapon made illegal by
the Clinton ban.
Both numbers
are insignificant, but some are more insignificant than
others. More criminals used the banned “assault” weapons
during the commission of their crimes after the ban than
before. Even now, the number of criminals who use “assault”
weapons is pathetically small.
So what is
the purpose of this ban?
Is it to reduce
crime? Apparently not, since said weapons are rarely used
to commit offenses.
It bans, among
other things, pistol grips, folding telescopic stocks, threaded
barrels, forward grips and barrel shrouds – none of which
make a gun any more or less “dangerous” and none of which
pose any threat to law enforcement. And yet, the legislation
carries the deceptive name, Assault Weapons Ban
and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2003, even
though it has no hope of “protecting” the already protected
elite – the police, who are, of course, exempt from the
bill’s provisions.
What you are
tacitly supporting, Mr. Bush is nothing less than an attempt
to ram yet more gun control down the throats of the American
public. It’s not about crime, it’s not about protection,
it’s about control, and if you are not part of the solution,
then you are part of the problem –
- a problem
we, gun owners, plan to battle and win.
If you are
not to be a part of it, so be it. But at least have the
courage to stand up and admit it, instead of hiding from
the truth.
Admit that
you would support an ineffective and unconstitutional ban
on firearms for a political purpose.
Admit that
you are too cowardly to stand up to Schumer, McCarthy, Feinstein
and their weak-minded socialist brethren, because you’re
afraid you’ll lose votes.
Don’t sit in
the White House and have your lackeys proclaim what a great,
courageous independent minded leader you are, because you’re
willing to part with the NRA on this issue. What you’re
doing is not courageous; it’s stupid, ineffectual and manipulative.
Our rights
are not yours to maneuver for your political gain.
Our Constitution
is not up for debate.
Our freedoms
are not your bargaining chips, Mr. President.
Stand up, be
a man and admit your support for this unconstitutional monster
that aims to take firearms out of the hands of the law-abiding.
Or if you don’t support this bill, have the courage to say
so and face the mealy-mouthed, hand wringing wrath of Brady,
Nosanchuk, Diaz and their socialist ilk.
You won’t get
a pass on this, Mr. President. Your political games with
our freedoms paint you as a coward, a manipulator and a
traitor. It’s time for you to do the right thing. State
your position, and face the consequences like a man.
Nicki
Fellenzer
Nicki is a US Army veteran, who spent nearly four years
in Frankfurt, Germany on active duty at the American Forces
Network. She is a former radio DJ and news anchor and a
Featured Writer and Newslinks Director for Keepandbeararms.com.
She is also a contributing editor to the National Rifle
Association's newest monthly magazine, Women's Outlook and
writes occasionally for the Libertarian Party. She resides
in Virginia with her family. We are also proud to have Nicki
as regular contributor to Armed Females of America.
Copyright
© 2003 by Armed Females
of America. All rights reserved. Permission to redistribute
this article for noncommercial purposes is hereby granted,
provided that it is reproduced unedited, in
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credited.
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