Common Sense Was the NRA Too Embarrassed To Stand Up For American Values? Commentary by Richard W. Stevens, Esq. Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership Ashamed to be a firearms owner? If you are, then the anti-gun propaganda is working. The National Rifle Association was so embarrassed that the organization cut short its Denver, Colorado, April 1999 convention. Does the NRA have the courageous leadership necessary to defend the right to keep and bear arms? After two despicable teenagers murdered 13 people in their high school near Denver on April 20, the NRA decided it would be politically smart to shorten its imminent three day convention to one day. What a mistake! By doing so, the NRA seemed to be admitting that firearms were somehow a "cause" of the killer teens' vicious crime. The NRA telegraphed its shame to the world. Certainly the eyes of the gun phobic world would have focused on the NRA convention located so near the campus of death. With the spotlight on, the NRA could have taught America a lesson in courage. Even on short notice, the NRA could have revamped the whole program. Set aside the duck blind seminar, the camping tips and the sporting clays clinic. Instead, imagine the news cameras capturing a celebration of America's highest values and the benefits of firearms: Fifty citizens, drawn from the NRA's "Armed Citizen" files, each one personally telling the story of how they owe their lives to having a firearm loaded and handy Black citizens explaining how the Ku Klux Klan terrorized the Civil Rights Movement until the armed "Deacons" started providing private protection to black and white civil rights activists Holocaust survivors and scholars testifying about how a small squad of armed Nazis could round up and murder huge groups of unarmed people -- and how the armed resistance fighters fought back at the Warsaw Ghetto Media and culture analysts pointing out how modern "entertainment" trivializes human suffering and death, and makes endless money titillating teens' interest in torture, mutilation, rape, terror, destruction and murder Refugees from genocide and oppression overseas, recounting through tears what horrors they witnessed and endured, and why they risked everything to get to the United States ... to live in freedom Criminology researchers detailing how civilian firearms ownership deters violent crime Inspiring speakers like Charlton Heston, Alan Keyes, and others, reminding America of its moral and religious roots, and exhorting us to again honor the Ten Commandments and the Bill of Rights as the standards that elevated America to greatness Imagine an NRA Convention fearlessly presenting these ideas! The gun prohibitionists would have nowhere to hide. Responsible gun owners lost that chance to stand tall for human rights, morality, and public safety. Meanwhile, folks like Sarah Brady and Charlie Schumer don't speak up for teaching strong moral values, such as the Sixth Commandment (forbidding murder), in public schools. They don't demand that parents explain their children's bizarre and anti-social behavior. They don't rail against Hollywood's multi-million dollar mass murder movies. The gun prohibitionists instead wait for a well-publicized disaster and then feed their political action machine. They rattle on about magazine capacities, trigger locks, and "ugly" guns. They seem to care only about their fear of guns, not about the decrepit moral values of deranged youths. We must not let the gun prohibitionists capitalize on the monstrous acts of a couple of Nazi wannabes to build political power aimed at scrapping our Constitutional rights. If the NRA won't do it, then you must join with us and act now. Call JPFO at (414) 673-9745 or click on http://www.jpfo.org/. Check out our strategies for destroying "gun control" -- and saving America. This is a war we must win! -------- Thank these sponsors for this column: Fred's -- Military M-14 Stocks & Access. Fulton Armory -- Precision M1 Garand, M14, M1 Carbine & AR15 Weapon Systems Hodgdon Powder Company, Inc. JPFO members & supporters -------- JPFO P.O. Box 270143 Hartford, WI 53207 Ph. (414) 673-9745 Fax (414) 673-9746 http://www.jpfo.org/ Common Sense appears in the first issue of each month of Shotgun News. Look for it, read it, enjoy it, tell others about it. (C) Permission to reprint for non-commercial purposes granted P.O. Box 270143 Hartford, WI 53027 -- Webmaster Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership http://www.jpfo.org/ _________________________________________________________________________ Topica. Home to The World's Best Email Lists. http://www.topica.com/t/1
