
To: Guntalk Sysop 8/11/94
From: Ervin See
Subj: Permission to distribute G and A article.

On Thursday 8/11/94 I personally called Kevin Steele editor of Guns
and Ammo and asked if I could distribute the article entitled  
"Freedom's Last Stand" in the September issue of Guns and Ammo to the
NRA and the Internet. He said as long as I gave credit to the
(magazine and the author)  it was OK. I also congratulated him on a
job well done. This permission was as per telephone conversation @
213-782-2222. Please distribute to all members. Thank you.

Will we remain free, or become government lackey's?

A magnificent article appeared in the September issue of Guns and
Ammo, that all true Americans should read and distribute to all
citizens as soon as possible. It clearly depicts in great detail what
each and every American citizen, who believe in the  constitution,
must be willing to sacrifice in order to remain a free, independent
and a sovereign nation. The magic question is, how many of us have
the backbone to do what is right if necessary ? How much of the talk
amongst fellow gun owners  is just i dle threats and antiquated
ideologies form our past, when liberty and freedom were more
important than social programs and government take-over's ?  I
believe that what you are about to read in this article is the
absolute truth.

I suggest that this article be copied and distribute to (ALL),  by
what ever media you can utilize for distribution, including the
INTERNET.  It's the least, you as a gun owner can do for the country
and the preservation of freedom. In case you can't do it by mail,
here it is by computer. Permission to distribute this article, as
long as the (magizine and author)  are given credit was granted by
Kevin Steele, Chief Editor of Guns and Ammo @ 213-782-2222 on
8/11/94.
 
**************Article from Guns and Ammo starts here.***********

*********************Freedom's Last Stand*********************
**************Are You Willing To Fight for Your Guns?*********

" The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the
blood of patriot and tyrants".      Thomas Jefferson

					By Stephen Weaver
	
During the latter stages of the Rhodesian Bush war, in the late
1970's a particularly salient tactical point was demonstrated to
those with eyes to see.  Embattled Rhodesia, fighting for its very
life and ostracized by virtually the entire world, quietl y adopted a
policy change for its armed forces.  As a result, the selector
switches on thousands of FN-FAL rifles were deliberately switched
from the full-auto mode to semi-automatic as  a matter of standard
procedure.  The reason was the shortage of amm unition brought about
by international sanction efforts.  The effects were startling in
that nothing changed as far as battle outcome in spite of a
better-armed and equipped enemy in increasingly superior numbers
penetrating Rhodesia from three fronts.   The communist-trained and
supplied terrorist maintained the full auto mode with their AK-47s
right up until the end.  When the final battles came. the outnumbered
and outgunned Rhodesians had never lost a single encounter; rather,
their demise came at th e negotiation table-which is a point for deep
reflection.

What this proves is that semi-auto fire is a match for full-auto in
the hands of determined and committed personnel fighting for home and
hearth.  As we stand today with the threat of legislation banning the
possession and/or manufacture of semiautomati c weapons. we had best
pause and consider this carefully. And a ban of so called assault
rifles today will become a ban on your Remington 1100 tomorrow-bet on
it.  The Second Amendment has been dealt numerous and severe
infractions in multiple, localized instances over the past
half-century.  But never before has it faced the broad onslaught we
now see. The avowed goal of those in our very government is to strip
us of our rights under the Second Amendment.  Should this occur,
however, it will ultimately be our fault, not theirs.  The reason for
this is the Second Amendment.  As an American in the middle of my
fourth decade in this life I, like many others, look around in utter
shock and dismay at the rapid unraveling of our culture. I've managed
to get to this point in life without running afoul of our laws even
once.  I am not associated with or an adherent to any group espousing
supremacist views, Nor do I advocate the violent overthrow of the
government...ant this point in time.  I will confess to  holding
numerous politically incorrect attitudes, however.

I've been fortunate to be able to live abroad in several countries,
which has given me a good deal of perspective from which to speak,
But, I speak as an American whose family has been in this country
since before the revolution. Now I look at the fast- approaching
tomorrow when I may be legislated a criminal for what is my legal
right today.  This is because I own a couple of semi-automatic
weapons.  One of them was bequeathed to me by my late father and was
purchased by him in the middle 1920's-insidi ous weaponry indeed! Yet
I face the possibility that I could wake up one day and be felon
unless I immediately turn in these weapons.  This is something I will
not do.

Those words are not written lightly or without the awareness that
someone will read them that I would rather not have reading them. 
Nevertheless I am compelled to write this, under my own name, because
I cannot, in good conscience, keep quiet on the is sue.  Should such
legislation pass in this country, I do expect the possibility that I
might not live for any great period of time there after.  For at that
point I will bear arms against the so-called government of that day. 
I will do so if I have to d o it alone and I will do it for several
very good and legal reasons.

It is legal, now, for me to write and for this to be published
because we have a first Amendment.  We have that because some
vestiges of the Constitution are still intact.  Right behind our
freedom of speech and freedom of religion our forefathers place d a
second pillar of this republic, the right to bear arms.  In many ways
it has supported and still does support the rest. I'll not go into a
long discourse about the legal basis for our Second Amendment rights.
That's been done by better legal minds t han mine and is readily
available to the inquiring mind.  I'll suffice to say that, in the
succinct words of a bumper sticker, "the Second Amendment ain't about
duck hunting."  What it is about is our culture, our country and our
whole way of life I'll n ot give that up without a fight.

The late Christian theologian Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer once made a
statement that has stuck with me for many years: "If there is no
final place for civil disobedience, then the government has been make
autonomous, and as such, it has been put in the pla ce of the Living
God."  The thrust of what Dr. Schaeffer has said here is as relevant
to the secular as it is to the Christian audience he addressed.  In a
nutshell, if you don't have a defensible bottom line, you've just
make the government your persona l god.  The context of the discourse
from which this quote was taken was the rule of law in our culture. 
In the American expression of western culture the rule of law is
embodied in the Constitution of the United States, of which the
Second Amendment is an integral part.  To an American, then, this is
our relevant bottom line, from a secular governmental perspective. 
In the words of the Constitution itself, Article VI, Section 2: "This
Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be mad e
in pursuance, thereof...shall be the supreme law of the land."

The Second Amendment is a part of these Constitution and is not in
the authority of Congress to alter save by an amending process as
submitted to the states. No 51-49 vote can legally supersede it.  All
powers in our Constitution are delegated at three  levels: Federal,
State and the People.  This is where our Second Amendment rights lay,
with the people.  Very simply, Congress would be breaking the supreme
law if it infringed on our Second Amendment right  It does not have
that legal power and never ha s.  Neither do the courts.  Banning
semiautos is a clear infringement in the same way I would handle it
when encountered in the form of some dirtball on the street.  I'm not
in the habit of handing over my guns to any criminal, regardless of
title or ele cted office.

This too is an American attitude older than our Republic,  It was
essentially a British gun-grabbing attempt that ignited our
Revolution.  The lessons of Lexington and the conviction of Concord
are sorely needed in out time.  The Declaration of Independ ence has
a lot to say about the reasons to dispose of government.  And none of
them are to be taken lightly.  In this writer's opinion we are far
beyond the of tyranny, which the minds of Jefferson, Washington and
Madison decided was their bottom line.   If we are not now on the
verge of a similar point, with similar actions presenting themselves
as strong possibilities, then we have tacitly declared Jefferson and
company criminals, and their subsequent government illegitimate.  but
history has shown thi s is decidedly not the case; the greatest
experimentation in government has not been a complete failure.  We've
just let our elected government and its bureaucracies slip from the
"chains" that Mr. Jefferson knew were the proper abode for all
government.

It is not time to scrap our Constitution, it is time to reinstate it
as the lawful rule in this country.  That is best done with the
Constitution itself.

Either we take the preamble of our Constitution seriously or we
submit to the illegitimate and illegal actions of our elected
officials as god in our lives.  Our forefathers gave us a great gift:
"We the People in Order to ...secure the Blessings of Lib erty to
ourselves and our Posterity [that's us] do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America." The Founders are
gone, but what they gave us is still alive enough to save the
"blessings of Liberty" if we've the courage to use it.  It is to this
point that I write these words and sign them with the intent of
pledging my "life, any other free Americans left who will do
likewise?

There are those who will honestly question the need to draw such a
line at this point.  In rebuttal to that I'll point to the example of
Rhodesia and the great concern of our founders over standing armies
with the need to have an equally armed Militia.  We cannot hope to
prevail against a tyrannical government armed with fully automatic
weapons when we are reduced to bolt actions or worse. We can prevail
with our semi's, and they know it-from behind every tree and rock, in
a wholly American expression  of "don't tread on me." You see, it is
not street crime driving the ante-gunners, it is the complete
disarmament of the American populace. If they've taken our semi's,
they'll eventually get the rest without risk.  Do I know what I'm
suggesting here? Yes , I do.

I am speaking of the specter of civil war while adamantly hoping it
can be avoided. It is true that one shot could ignite a civil war
under such a scenario but if so, as a Lexington, it would be a "shot
heard round the world". Because if it were to occu r our goal ought
to be the reinstitution of the Constitution and the rule of law in
our unraveling society.  Further. it should be taken to the doors of
those instigating such illegal acts that might precipitate a civil
war; their vote for such a bill wi ll mean they are to be put on
trial for treason and conspiracy to violate our civil rights.  This
would include the president who signs it and perhaps the newspaper
columnist and broadcast media who rail for its passage.

In the words of Sir Winston Churchill, whose mother incidentally was
an American, "Still if you will not fight for the right when you can
easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory
will be sure and not so costly, you may come  to the moment when you
will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a
precarious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may
have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is
better to perish than to live as slaves. ' To those who would
consider burying their semi's in the backyard, I suggest a careful
consideration of these words.  We are nearly at a critical crossroads
in the course of this nation. What we bequeath to our children (our
posterity) should be no less than what was given us, the chance to
live as free men and women. will you act when this critical moment
arrives, or bow at the feet of your newfound god-feet that would soon
be found to be wearing jackboots when they come to kick in your
unprotected do or?

	* Check original article Guns and Ammo September 1994 page 28 for
	any error in tying.
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(This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the
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