American Wisdom Series 

Pamphlet #203

By the mid 18th century a great majority of the colonists living in America were second, third, fourth or greater generation residents. They were born in America, most of them to originally England born colonists or direct decedents of England born colonists. They had become accustomed to the greater individual freedom that colonial life in America offered, yet were not so far removed from originally England Born decedents, as to not know or to have forgotten how unique the freedom they enjoyed was, as compared to the rest of the world.

They had freedom of religion; in fact many of their ancestors came to America for that very reason. They were free to live life as they chose, as long as they didn't harm others. In the mid 1700's after England realized how really valuable the resources in America were, they started to restrict those very freedoms. England started to demand an ever increasing share of the fruits of the colonists' labor.

In 1776 after many years of protesting England's ever increasing encroachment on the freedoms the colonists in America had come to enjoy, England made one fatal mistake. They started to, by force, disarm American colonists. First in Boston, then in the surrounding area. This was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Colonists all over the English colonies knew that if they allowed themselves to be disarmed, drastic losses of freedom would soon follow. They would become servants of government, like in England, the rest of Europe, in fact all the world. Therefore they chose to fight for their freedom while they still had their weapons.

The American Revolution started; the Declaration of Independence was written and signed; the War was won; a new Republican Form of Government was formed under the rules of the newly drafted and ratified United States Constitution. The citizens of the newly formed government were very conscious of the fact that historically, governments have a habit of ever increasing encroachment on their citizens freedoms; so they established a Bill of Rights as an addition to the Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Mason, James Madison, in fact, all of our founding fathers realized that, had it not been because, by the very nature of the new land they lived in, they were all armed and trained to use weapons, they would never have been successful in their revolution against the British.

For this reason they added an amendment to the United States Constitution to protect their Right to Individually Remain Armed. They recognized each citizens, owning and carrying a weapon, as a civic duty. Every citizen, if freedom is to be preserved, must have weapons close at hand and be trained in the use thereof.

Thomas Jefferson felt that every boy of age ten should be given a gun and taught its safe and skillful use. He said, "Gun possession shapes the character necessary to a good citizen."

They felt Free Man has a responsibility to own and be trained in the use of arms. Patrick Henry argued "the great object is that every man be armed...Everyone who is able may have a gun".

George Mason added, "to disarm the people, that is the best and most effective way to enslave them...by totally disusing and neglecting the militia". Mason also clarified, "who are the militia? They consist of the whole people, except a few public officials."

Noah Webster, composer of the first dictionary, said, "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in most of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States."

Zachariah Johnston argued, "that the new Constitution could never result in religious or other oppression because "the people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them."

If you throw a frog into hot water he will jump right back out, you can't boil him that way! If you want to boil him you must place him in comfortable cool water, he won't jump out. Turn the heat on low; allowing the water to slowly get warmer and warmer. The frog will still be comfortable. Turn the fire a little higher; the frogs body adjusts to the new temperature and he is still comfortable. Turn the heat up some more until; you guessed it, Boiled Frog!

That's where we are at today. They are slowly taking away our freedoms; and instead of being concerned, we applaud the fact that it usually seems to be for good cause! Unless it happens close to home, we don't even care!

Sirs, let me warn you, by the time enough of us, are concerned, enough, it may be too late!

Benjamin Franklin said, "They that give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Essential Freedoms are: freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom from search and seizure, freedom to do as you please with your property and the most essential of all; in fact the only truly essential one, freedom to own and carry weapons.

The Right to Bear Arms is the most essential because, it, like was true during the late 1700's, is the only freedom we have that makes it possible to win back others that have already been lost. All our freedoms are being slowly chipped away, always in the name of doing the common good, but nevertheless, hard won freedoms are disappearing. It wasn't too bad during the first 125 years of United States history, only since 1913, when the 16th amendment was added, giving the Federal government the right to collect tax on our income.

Since then, with our cash in their hand, the Federal government began to play parent to us all: thinking they and the bureaucracies they create know better than us, what is best for us.

Both of our present political parties have been in power for extended periods of time, since 1913.Both parties, Democrats and Republicans, have talked a good talk while out of power; but when in power spend more time deciding how much and on whom, they will spend the ever increasing percentage of our income, that they confiscate.

The system has become one run by career politicians in whose best interest it is to act like they are doing things for us, in order to gain our vote, while not mentioning that everything they do, they do with a small percentage of the money they initially took from us. The larger percentage of our confiscated money goes to support a hungry federal bureaucracy.

We need to take back our government peacefully. To do this, Good People must get involved in politics; as distasteful as that may seem. Some of us, here in Pennsylvania, are starting to do that. We are forming an organization to promote civic duty. We need Good People to support us. We need Good People to run for all offices; school board seats, boro/township/city offices, county offices and state offices.

We need Good People to get on board and help; even if you can't run for office, we need you to help pass out literature and man polls on election day. (Contact us at the address on the back)

If we do this, we can reverse the trend of lost freedoms.

There is one lost freedom that really concerns us In 1939 they took away our right to own automatic weapons (machine guns). Without machine guns it will be more difficult to wage guerrilla warfare, and that is the type of war the Second American Revolution will be if such a war ever becomes necessary.

This leads us to another subject; the Constitutional Right to Keep and Carry Arms doesn't define how powerful those arms need to be. When the Revolutionary War was fought the American Colonists were armed equally to the British.

We believe we can accept no less. We need to not only own knives, hand guns, shotguns and rifles; but we must have access to other military type weapons. Tanks? Yes. Other high caliper guns? Yes. Explosives and explosive devises? Yes.

Not in private hands, you say!

In 1789 Trech Coxe published his "Remarks on the First Point of the Amendments to the Federal Constitution," under the Pen name "A Pennsylvanian" He wrote, "as civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms."

The Pennsylvania Constitution states, "The Right of the Citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned."

We say "we the people" must be assured that we have arms equal to our own military. That certainly means access to tanks and explosives.

Where would we draw the line. We believe the deciding factor should be;is the weapon capable of causing catastrophic damage if accidentally discharged?If yes, private citizens should not have the freedom to possess it. Nuclear weapons, chemical weapons and biological weapons can cause catastrophic harm to large segments of the population, if accidentally discharged, so they should not be allowed in private hands. All other weapons can cause a lot of damage but not catastrophic damage; therefore should be legal for any civil minded citizen to own.

In fact, because they can cause much damage, is the very reason "we the People" cannot give them up.