April 13, 2004

“…Considering the extraordinary character of

    the times in which we live, our attention

    should unremittingly be fixed on the safety

    of our country. For a people who are free,

    and who mean to remain so, a well-organ-

    ized and armed militia is their best security.

    It is, therefore, incumbent on us, at every

    meeting, to revise the condition of the

    militia, and to ask ourselves if it is prepared

    to repel a powerful enemy at every point

    of our territories exposed to invasion. Some

    of the States have paid a laudable attention

    to this object; but every degree of neglect

    is to found among others. Congress alone

    have power to produce a uniform state of

    preparation in this great organ of defence;

    the interests which they so deeply feel in

    their own and their country’s security will

    present this as among the most important

    objects of their deliberation.

 

         Under the acts of March 11^th and April

    23d, respecting arms, the difficulty of pro-

    curing them from abroad, during the present

    situation and dispositions of Europe, in-

    duced us to direct our whole efforts to the

    means of internal supply. The public fac-

    tories have, therefore, been enlarged,

    additional machineries erected, and in

    proportion as artificers can be found or

    formed, their effect, already more than

    doubled, may be increased so as to keep

    pace with the yearly increase of the militia.

   The annual sums appropriated by the latter

    act, have been directed to the encourage-

    ment of private factories of arms, and

    contracts have been entered into with

    individual undertakers to nearly the amount

    of the first year’s appropriation…”

 

                        -President Thomas Jefferson,

                         in his 8^th Annual Message

                         to the Senate and the House

                         of Representatives,

                         November 8, 1808

 

To All,

    The more things change, the more things stay the same:

 

In Your Dreams:

     What do you get when you put Erwin Chemerinsky, Philip J. Cook, Jens Ludwig, and Robert J. Spitzer all together at the same Fordham University School of Law forum on the Second Amendment (“coincidentally” scheduled in the same week as the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh), while at the same time the Los Angeles Times is printing articles-cum-wishful thinking in the various pages of the most popular cat pan liner on the West Coast?

 

    Answer- A time-on-target salvo to encourage wobbly Democrats to once more enter the breach on the side of gun-control flunkies in an Election Year.

 

     For example, noted political “scientist” (and we use that phrase loosely) Robert J. Spitzer spiffs up an old VPC “fact sheet” on the condition of the NRA, adds some personal “observations”, and passes it off as if it were a Presidential Daily Brief newly discovered by Richard “The Soprano” Ben-Veniste.

 

     Spitzer has written a number of books supporting gun control, a collective rights interpretation of the Second Amendment, and opposition to the lobbying efforts of the NRA.

 

    Included in Robert Spitzer’s editorial of April 12, printed in the Los Angeles Times, was the following:

 

     “…Yet for all its resources, organizational

     acumen and rhetoric, the nation’s premier

     gun organization has been shooting blanks

     lately. It is a political player whose repute-

     tion exceeds its reach. The NRA has failed

     to expand its base or to persuade that

     base to vote GOP, which it must do to

     maintain its standing with the administra-

     tion.

 

     In 2000 and 2002, the organization

     launched massive campaigns to enlist

     union members and women. Both efforts

     failed.

 

     The NRA took credit for Al Gore’s loss of

     Arkansas, Tennessee and West Virginia,

     any one of which would have delivered

     him the presidency. but among these, only

     West Virginia has any consistent recent

     history of voting Democratic….”.

 

     Spitzer then goes on to claim that the NRA has actually failed in its efforts to get certain “swing states” to go for Bush (namely Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, and New Mexico). What is more, Spitzer reports, without citing sources (Shades of Michael Bellesiles, no less) that the NRA is having declines in membership and income.

 

     Referring to an alleged waning of NRA influence with the Department of Justice, Spitzer claims that AG John Ashcroft has not gone forward with implementing an individual rights interpretation towards a variety of firearms cases. And strangely, Spitzer “disses” the NRA’s record in the Congress, noting that the failure to compromise on a military-style semiautomatics ban for getting the firearms manufacturer’s protection bill “…stunned…” the Senate.

 

    But what is not so strange is that Spitzer has “missed the mark” by the proverbial country mile (Must need more bench time down at the range.). For example, it was Ex-President Bill Clinton who first attributed the Tennessee, Arkansas, and West Virginia wins to the efforts of the NRA. (If Bill Clinton had real Second Amendment bona fides in Arkansas, and Algore in his home state of Tennessee, then the NRA would not have had the success that it did under any circumstances.). In reality, it is a most interesting indictment of a then-sitting President and Vice President that Spitzer, a political science professor by trade, is choosing to ignore.

 

    As for the 2003-2004 Legislative Calendar, that stunned look that Spitzer was referring to was on the faces of Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer, as they watched their signature legislation head off towards that Great Circular Filing Cabinet In The Sky. Guaranteeing that little vignette was well worth the temporary delay in the firearm manufacturer’s protection issue, especially since appellate courts have not been so inclined to accept the latest novel theories of the Torts Taliban.

 

    In fact, if the NRA was as “weak” as Spitzer asserts, then the Seasoned Solons of the Worlds Greatest Deliberative Body would have sensed it like Kofi Annan’s Boys smell mordida in a UN oil-for-food program. Instead, even Tom Daschle acquiesced on the vote to kill the frivolous lawsuit bill, given that he did not want risk alienating the “emaciated” ranks of the NRA during a tight re-election race against John Thune.

 

     As for the swing state issues, it is the Democrats that have to be worried. States that they should dominate by registration and tradition alone become financial Verduns for the Donkey Party, especially in the year of tight campaign cash courtesy of the vaudeville team of McCain and Feingold. Money that could make a difference in Florida or Ohio is instead going to be used to hold states like South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and maybe even Kall-ee-for-nee-ah (Sort of puts a new twist on the indictment of Reliant Energy, doesn’t it, though the case may prove tough to win in the end. Maybe a plea bargain might be in the offing.).

 

     Gunowners have seen some restoration of their rights during the past 3 years, despite Spitzer’s assertions to the contrary. AG Ashcroft is going to great lengths to make sure certain cities (Chicago, the toddlin’ town, for example) do not violate gun owner privacy by maintaining illegal firearms information databases. In addition, the unworkable Clinton-era sales restriction agreement on such companies as Smith & Wesson and Colt has gone the way of the rest of Andrew Cuomo’s political career (Happy Trails, to you…..). This last was not something one would have expected if Algore and His Minions had not been defeated by the Men (And Women) In Wingtips during the Florida Recount.

 

     Another point is that The Bush Administration was instrumental in making sure that a UN convention on small arms did not impinge on the rights of American Citizens to maintain the individual right to keep and bear arms (not to mention hunt rabbits with their favorite bolt-action .22.). Thanks to their efforts, the UN will have to await a change in management at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue before they can hope to avoid a Security Council veto on any relinquishing of firearms by American citizens.

 

     Lastly, President Bush personally put his touch on the preservation of hunting traditions and access to public land on a meeting held just last week at his Crawford, Texas ranch. Since the preservation of the American Hunting tradition is a significant aspect, though not the sole one, of firearms ownership in the United States, this is in itself a good deal more substantial than Professor Spitzer, the Bellesiles of the Poli-Sci Fraternity, would own up to. And while it is certain that there is a long road to travel until all gunowner rights restored to their previous luster, it is also certain that the inroads made in the Congress and the various state capitols are something for NRA activists to be proud of.

 

    Thus gunowners and sincere firearms activists are faced with yet another challenge from a Pythonesque “Black Knight”. Like that loony individual from Scene Four, nothing remains but for Pro-Second Amendment Forces (accept no substitutes) to engage, dismember, vanquish, and move on in search of a certain grail. Just remember, this is not a battle that we can “run away” from.

 

Story basis may be found at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/
opinion/la-oe-spitzer12apr12,1,5091489.story?
coll=la-news-comment

 

http://law.fordham.edu/ihtml/eventitem.ihtml?
id=4017&template=cle

 

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/12/14/
democrats_aim_for_new_support_on_gun_issues/

 

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Anthony Canales

SFVMC-NRA

 

© 2004 Anthony Canales

All rights reserved.