Other
Metcalf
Articles:
AN INDIVIDUAL RIGHT
By Geoff Metcalf
December 24, 2004
NewsWithViews.com
"The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it." --Thomas Jefferson
Guess what? The Second Amendment, ("A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.") has, does, and will secure "an individual right to keep and bear arms."
You knew that. I knew that. However, a cabal of leftists remains in denial over what even their own Constitutional scholar had concluded.
Notwithstanding the itching and moaning and gnashing of teeth from the left wing radical fringe, it is an empirical fact that our God given inalienable right to keep and bear arms is FACT.
The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel has officially concluded the Second Amendment "secures an individual right to keep and bear arms." Duh!
Despite having been dated Aug. 24, the 93-page document was just released. 'Someone' delayed the release for apparent political reasons. This is passing strange considering even liberal democrats acknowledge one of the key components that cost Al Gore his presidential dream was his having embraced the Chuck Schumer/Diane Fienstein/Babs Boxer anti-gun mantra.
The belatedly released research notes, "examination of the original meaning of the Amendment provides extensive reasons to conclude that the Second Amendment secures an individual right, and no persuasive basis for either the collective-right or quasi-collective-right views."
As Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan M. Gottlieb observed, "Henceforth, all Americans will know that the claim by anti-gunners that the Amendment only protects some mythical right of the states to form militias and National Guard units is an outright fraud."
Please note the 'allegedly unbiased' mainstream hasn't said "Jack" about this epiphany.
Even, liberal darling and Harvard Constitutional Law Professor Laurence Tribe acknowledged the obvious in 1999 (and again the mainstream media silence was deafening).
Tribe is arguably the most influential living American constitutional scholar. In 1999 he concluded, "the federal government may not disarm individual citizens without some unusually strong justification."
Tribe confirmed it includes an individual right, "admittedly of uncertain scope," to "possess and use firearms in the defense of themselves and their homes."
The personification of the Metcalf Bromide of "Some people just don't want to be confused with FACTS that contradict their preconceived opinions or prejudices." Is, and has been, the ant-gun crowd.
In 2002 when a legal brief was filed by the Justice Department declaring that this protection extends to an individual's right to keep and bear arms irrespective of their involvement in a state militia the gun control crowd threw a hissy fit. Sonic wedgie time: "The worst fears about Attorney General Ashcroft have come true: His extreme ideology on guns has now become government policy." said Mike Barnes, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Despite his extensive liberal bona fides, Tribe (begrudgingly and belatedly) concluded that the Constitution ensured to each American a right to "possess and use firearms in defense of themselves and their homes."
The Second Amendment never has meant 'Jack-spit' about bird hunting or target shooting. Such leftist babble was disingenuous, duplicitous and an outrage to defend the indefensible.
The fact is the Second Amendment was specifically intended to provide American citizens with the tools necessary to rise up and overthrow an abusive government. It was written by men who had just done that very thing.
The first three battles of the American Revolution were not about taxation, or representation, or even the list of grievances delineated in the Declaration of Independence....the first three battles of the War for Independence were over gun control. [read: Lexington 1775] When Captain Parker faced off the British on the Green in Lexington it was to prevent the British from confiscating "power and ball".
"There should be no doubt," Gottlieb concluded, "that those who have campaigned for restrictive gun laws or outright gun bans have been working to rob Americans of a constitutional right, a civil right. The time has come for America to re-examine every restrictive federal and state firearms statute, every local ordinance and every regulation, and start erasing those that were written solely to infringe on the rights of individual, law-abiding citizens to peaceably own firearms of their choice, without ever again having to explain why." Despite his righteous indignation, I hope Alan isn't holding his breath.
It was again Thomas Jefferson who said, "The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themsleves against tyranny in government."
The entire report is available at [link]
� 2004 Geoff Metcalf - All
Rights Reserved
"Geoff Metcalf is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host for TALK AMERICA and a veteran media performer. He has had an eclectic professional background covering a wide spectrum of radio, television, magazine, and newspapers. A former Green Beret and retired Army officer he is in great demand as a speaker. Visit Geoff's Web Site: www.geoffmetcalf.com. While you're at it - pick up a copy of Geoff's latest book! E-mail: geoff@geoffmetcalf.com
The fact is the Second Amendment was specifically intended to provide American citizens with the tools necessary to rise up and overthrow an abusive government.
