Editor's Note: This weekend we resume posting columns. One of our favorite writers, Kirk Smith, has graciously agreed to help.
Welcome Back, Kirk!
Welcome Back, Kirk!
The Right to Keep and Bear Arms
by Kirk Smith
by Kirk Smith
On May 20, 2010 Mexican President Felipe Calderon addressing a joint session of Congress received a standing ovation from the Democrats after calling for the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban. Isn’t that wonderfully fantastic? A foreign president from a corrupt country, whose citizens violate our border and laws with impunity, demands that we give up on a GOD given “right to keep and bear arms.”
For those that are historically challenged, let us begin with 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.”
Now, take the word Arms, as defined by the 1768 Military Dictionary (please note the 18th Century spelling):
“Arms are all sorts of weapons used in offence or defence; such as sword, hanger, espontoon, bayonet, firelock, carabine and pistol.”
Notice there is no reference to rifles and fowling pieces as they are not military Arms.
In the 18th century, the primary weapon of the American colonies was the .75 caliber smooth bore firelock (musket). At the time the firelock was the state of the art, rapid-fire weapon used by the British Army and the American militias.
The military strategy of that era was the use of Linear Tactics. Linear tactics had armies massing, shoulder to shoulder, and facing each other on the 18th century battlefield. Each opposing army would fire volleys, move closer, and fire volley after volley until the officer determines the opportune moment to conduct the final assault.
The firelock was the rapid fire weapon of the era and in the hands of a well trained soldier fired 3 – 5 times a minute. On the other hand, the more accurate rifle took anywhere from 1 ½ to 2 minutes to reload one round! Although the firelock was a rapid fire weapon, the smooth bore barrel made the firelock inaccurate. It was the volume of fire on the 18th century battlefield that made the firelock an effect weapon.
Once the commander determined the opposing force was effectively softened up, he would order “FIX BAYONETS!” Once the bayonet is affixed to the firelock, it becomes an ARM, and the orders from then on would refer to the firelock with bayonet as an ARM. And it is a very effective ARM in the final bayonet assault! Hence a “military style assault weapon” thoroughly demonize by corrupt leaders from south of our border and amongst our progressive comrades in Congress and the national information bureaus (ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, NPR, et al)!
Let’s review The Second Amendment to the Bill of Individual Rights:
“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.”
Again, the word Arms, as defined by the 1768 Military Dictionary:
“Arms are all sorts of weapons used in offence or defence; such as sword, hanger, espontoon, bayonet, firelock, carabine and pistol.”
Presently, the North Carolina Legislature is working to lessen the restrictions on Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP) holders, by allowing those of us with a concealed handgun permit to carry in restaurants that serve alcohol. A CHP holder however cannot consume alcohol, while carrying a firearm (like we have to be told).
Rep. Debra Ross (former Executive and Legal Director of the Communist founded American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina) proposed an amendment to the legislation requiring waiters and waitresses to ask anyone that orders an adult beverage if they are carrying a concealed handgun! Is she not from the same Communist founded ACLU fighting any desire to ask people to confirm their U.S. citizenship or show proof of identity while voting? I am so glad she is not fighting the airlines as they require picture ID to board an aircraft! If it weren’t for double standards, our elitist progressive Democrats would have no standards at all! Shame on her!
Now our progressive Attorney General Eric Holder’s three lettered monster the ATF, (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) is proposing to ban certain firearms as they “have no legitimate sporting purpose.” This is the same Eric Holder who is a former terrorist rights advocate and lawyer from a legal firm dedicated to providing Mohammad’s murderers (read: illegal combatants) Constitutional Rights as if they are American citizens!
Let’s see:
“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.”
Nope, I find no words in the Second Amendment regarding a “legitimate sporting purpose.” Not there. Of course we could always do what our leftist progressive comrades do when they find the Constitution an obstacle to their radical Marxist agenda. They simply make it up! With that said, I do believe that the founders found it rather good sport . . . shooting tyrants! Therefore any and all arms serve a legitimate sporting purpose!
In all seriousness, for the historically challenged, the Founding Fathers understood full well that evil transcends time and they understood that the military ARM was a guarantor of their GOD Given, Natural Rights to Life (self preservation), Liberty and Property. .
Make no mistake, the corrupt tyrannical governments south of our national border wish to maintain the invasion of our country, by their destitute criminal citizens and drug dealers. And that their invasion continues on unimpeded! Also to ensure the money (Property) pilfered by the criminal aliens from this country is ferreted out to their corrupt pockets!
If that means restricting our GOD Given Rights, then those tyrants have no qualms dictating their desires to our progressive leaders here in Raleigh and in Washington.
As always, I shall remain, In Search of Our GOD Given Liberties!
Kirk
8 comments:
Mr Smith,
The problem with people and gun control is that it is either all or nothing. A good dose of common sense needs to be applied. If you own a fully automatic firearm or a firearm that can burst fire (like a M16 A2) you should have to register the weapon. That currently is the law, as it has been since 1934, and it is a good law. It is also the law that you cannot purchase armor piercing "cop killer" bullets. Ronald Regan signed that law into effect in 1986 as the law enforcement officer protection act. A 203mm howitzer is an "ARM", but you would not let just anyone own one without at least checking their background.
-Randall Lee Yow
-Also the term Assault Weapon did not come form Napoleonic attacks, it came form the Sturmgewehr 44. Literally translated from the German as assault rifle. The first intermediate cartridge selected fire rifle designed to give Infantry the firepower of a submachine gun and the distance attack of a rifle. Might I suggest you give a little more study to World War II sir.
Mr. Yow,
Ah yes, the "common sense" gun law fantasy, as if all criminals abide by common sense. The story line pertains to the Mexican farce that some how the American "right to bear arms" contributes to Mexico's drug wars.
Since President Calderon assumed the Mexican throne his corrupt country's drug wars have now claimed over 35,000 lives in less than five years and each year we see the death toll increasing. Last year the total exceeded 15,000 deaths in a war that is occurring within the country south of our border. And they blame our guns? Ask Arizona how they enjoy the ever increasing kidnapping climate? Perhaps now that Bin Laden is gone, perhaps our Dear Leader will focus on our southern border's insecurity.
Your lack of military knowledge apparently contributes to your inability to recognize the difference between a personal weapon (i.e. ARMS) and a crew served weapon. Any howitzer, squad machine gun, anti-tank missile, mortar, tank, etc. are crew served weapons that requires more than one person . . . again refer to the 1768 Military Dictionary definition of Arms. That is what the founders used in writing the citizen's rights to keep and bear Arms.
Now back to the Mexican lie. . If you view any of the numerous photos of the captured drug cartel arsenals, a military eye will be able to determine that none of the arms are your typical firearm purchased in a U.S. gun store. Thus the lie, American gun stores are selling weapons to illegal aliens.
Unfortunately the national propaganda bureaus you call the media, fail to report that the weapons used by the drug thugs are military grade and often acquired from the soldiers deserting with their weapons (purchased by the U.S. Government) to serve the drug lords. Well, except the LA Times has done a fairly decent job. . but no one reports on their findings.
Randall, work with me here. My reference to the difference between the word firelock and Arm (firelock with bayonet – you can refer to “The Manual Exercise, As ORDERED By His MAJESTY, In 1764”) is to illustrate the utility of the bayonet assault, not when the term assault weapon was formally coined as a descriptive word. Also, the Napoleonic Wars were fought in the 19th Century. The linear tactics stem from the 17th Century and perfected under the Swedish leader Gustavus Adolphus. Not sure what the Nazi reference to the assault weapon is supposed to mean, as I illustrated the use of the 18th Arm in the final bayonet assault. The demonization of a particular weapon is part and parcel of the anti-freedom gun control freaks amongst us. .
Surely your heart beat with progressive pride with the standing ovation given by your Democrat Comrades in the U.S. House and Senate during Calderon's call for reinstating the "assault weapons ban!"
As always, I shall remain. . . In Search of Our GOD Given Liberties!
Mr Smith,
I do not really care about Mexico. I did not bring up Mexico. Mexico's problems stem from two things; the lack of a proper government and an economy that is built around supplying America with all the illegal drugs we can do. Their problem with guns is a symptom of a much larger disease.
As to the matter of the assault weapon, you said and I quote:
"Once the commander determined the opposing force was effectively softened up, he would order “FIX BAYONETS!” Once the bayonet is affixed to the firelock, it becomes an ARM, and the orders from then on would refer to the firelock with bayonet as an ARM. And it is a very effective ARM in the final bayonet assault! HENCE a “military style assault weapon” thoroughly demonize by corrupt leaders from south of our border and amongst our progressive comrades in Congress and the national information bureaus (ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, NPR, et al)!"
Now I am not an English professor (but I am pretty good friends with one), but I know what the word "Hence" means. The dictionary definition, "As an inference from this fact; for this reason; therefore". Your use of the word "Hence" implies you hearken back to the beginning of the paragraph. That sir was the way you wrote it, and you and I both know that the modern use of the term assault rifle comes from World War II.
As to the matter of my "progressive heart" or my "Democrat Comrades". How droll of you sir. If you feel intellectually threatened call the person you are debating names. Imply they are a communist. I bet you were a waggish teenager, but sir I am not a communist (I do like Groucho Marx though). I just believe that we should enforce the gun laws we have. Like the 1934 gun control act, the 1968 gun control act, and the 1986 law enforcement protection act. The 1994 assault weapons ban was ineffective and poorly planned, it does not need to be put back into effect. I just want various groups to stop judicial challenges to the common sense laws we already have on the books.
-Randall Lee Yow
-And I will remind you Mr Smith that the NRA was founded to improve the marksmanship of American soldiers. Not to defend the rights of felons to buy Thompson submachine guns and hand grenades.
excuse mr smith's lack of response as he's still mourning the fact that president obama did in less than 2 years what his dear leader couldn't do in 8, kill the most important terrorist in our history!
i hope your next writing will include the proper amount of thanks to president obama that not only well earned but long overdue!
Mr. Yow wrote: “I do not really care about Mexico. I did not bring up Mexico. Mexico's problems stem from two things; the lack of a proper government and an economy that is built around supplying America with all the illegal drugs we can do. Their problem with guns is a symptom of a much larger disease.”
Certainly, our good friend Mr. Yow seems to miss the point, a foreign leader from a corrupt country (Mexico), addresses a joint session of the United States Congress resulting in a standing ovation by the most obscene group of progressive neo-Marxists to occupy congress in support of that leader’s call to overturn one of our most precious GOD Given Right to Bear Arms. He seems to be content with the masses of illiterate “multi-documented workers” (criminal aliens) invading our country, who bring with them third world diseases, sex-slaves, drugs, criminal activity, and all the while sapping our resources as we cater to their health, welfare, and educational needs. Obviously, he is content with the Mexican’s telling us what to do, in our county.
Mr. Yow wrote: “Now I am not an English professor (but I am pretty good friends with one), but I know what the word "Hence" means. The dictionary definition, "As an inference from this fact; for this reason; therefore". Your use of the word "Hence" implies you hearken back to the beginning of the paragraph. That sir was the way you wrote it, and you and I both know that the modern use of the term assault rifle comes from World War II.”
.
The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban forbade the manufacture and sale of rifles with features that included the bayonet lug necessary to mount a bayonet, (at the time we were suffering an extreme rash of drive-by bayonet assaults) and high capacity magazines (necessary to reload one’s rifle in a shorter period of time), and of course anything that looked “military-like” was loathed by the most ethical administration in our nation’s history!
Now please refer back to the definition of ARMS from the 1768 Military Dictionary, the firelock was the rapid fire, state of the art military weapon at that time and it has a bayonet lug, necessary to mount a bayonet for the final bayonet assault. My Scottish-military heart swelled with pride after learning of the last combat bayonet assault by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Iraq, killing 35 of Mohammad’s murderers. It should be apparent to the educated mind, that the characteristics of the 18th Century Arms and tactics are the same in the 21st Century.
Perhaps Mr. Yow could show us the copyright that the Nazis have that gives them exclusive rights to the term “Assault rifle?”
As always, I shall remain, In Search of Our GOD Given Liberties!
Mr. Yow wrote: “As to the matter of my "progressive heart" or my "Democrat Comrades". How droll of you sir. If you feel intellectually threatened call the person you are debating names. Imply they are a communist. I bet you were a waggish teenager, but sir I am not a communist (I do like Groucho Marx though).”
Today’s progressive Democrat party and select RINOs undeniably promote class envy and class warfare. That is right out of the writings of Marx and Engels. The progressive Democrat party and RINOs support big-government intrusions that are extremely anti-capitalistic, anti-business, anti-family, anti-freedom, anti-religious values, and violates the very tenets that the United States Constitution protects. That is the right to LIFE, LIBERTY, and PROPERTY. Mr. Yow can always defect.
"I just believe that we should enforce the gun laws we have. Like the 1934 gun control act. . ."
You would support The 1934 gun control act as it was the spawn of the hideous 18th Amendment Prohibiting the Manufacture and Sale of Alcohol in these United States. The consequences of that Amendment created such delights as organized crime syndicates that ran bootleg liquor as well the resulting high profile mass killings with then legal, full auto rifles.
Let us not forget the illegal bootlegging spawned the illicit wealth of the corrupt Kennedy clan whose legacy continues to diminish our freedoms! The 1934 Gun Control Act came into being after the first Neo-Marxist (FDR administration) came to power. And don’t forget Franklin Roosevelt, whose family’s wealth stems from the Chinese Opium trade, surrounded himself with advisors that admired the Soviet Union.
The 1968 gun control act, and the 1986 law enforcement protection act. The 1994 assault weapons ban was ineffective and poorly planned, it does not need to be put back into effect. I just want various groups to stop judicial challenges to the common sense laws we already have on the books.
1968, 1986 and 1994 laws all stemming from Democrat and RINO dominated Congress all under the guise of "common sense."
Finally, Mr. Yow needs to get his facts straight. The National Rifle Association was founded by former Union Officers, who discovered during the late War Between the States, the marksmanship of those Southern boys was pretty darn good, and that the urbanization of the Northern states was diminishing the marksmanship skills of those Yankee boys. The NRA set out to foster civilian marksmanship amongst the men and women of the late 19th century so as to improve the marksmanship of future soldiers.
As always, I shall remain . . . In Search of Our GOD Given Liberties!
Anonymous forgot to mention the programs and policies that the Bush Administration used to glean the intelligence (no longer allowed today due to the Executive Orders of our Dear Leader and the investigation of those intellegence officers by the Jihadi friendly Holder Justice Dept.) that lead to the masterful execution by our fine troops!
I have been mourning this past week's contradiction after contradiction coming from this incompetent White House. Remember, our "frequent flying" dear leader had to sleep on it before making a decision.
Truly gutsy! Please nominate him for another Nobel Peace Prize!
Kirk,
Surely you don't believe anyone on the left who spent 8 years trying to demonize President Bush, impeach him for waterboarding, calling him a traitor and our troops "Nazis" and murderers, would give President Bush any credit at all for Osama Bin Laden's death?
Of course not. The truth is if PBO had spent more time with the Joint Chiefs of Staff instead of golfing Osama Bin Laden would already been dead and many people would still be alive. We apparently knew where he was for two years. Why now? And what's a few bodies in a grave? That many less ObamaCare has to cover.
Sheila
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