Officer Friendly

Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.

--both quotations by Abraham Lincoln

One of the things that Robert Mugabe, "Hitler" Hunzvi, and Adolf Hitler all have in common is their strong and effective programs of gun control.

Simply put, if not for gun control, Hitler would not have been able to murder 21 million people. Nor would Mugabe be able to carry out his current terror program.

--Dave Kopel, Hitler's Control

If you take Lincoln at his word, we're a country of laggards in the face of grave Constitutional gutting.

But you've gotta love those Iowa guys on the front cover of Brownells gun supply catalog. Such singularity of focus. The message is, if they can do it, any of us can.

I am not anti-gun, nor am I a militia-type espousing craziness, but I do fear the direction this nation has taken concerning gun control, and believe the 2nd amendment has become an illusion.

The military and police, or what we used to call the police, now share a commonality of approach. I love Brownells and have been a faithful customer for 35 years, but I do not love the continued militarization of our police forces which the Brownells MIL-LE firearms catalog illustrates nicely.

Because of this encroaching, overbearing police posture over the citizens, I contend that the Bill of Rights would be unrecognizable to the Founding Fathers. I do not want to discuss the erosion of the 1st or 4th amendments, or habeus corpus, but will concern myself here only with the assault on the 2nd amendment and its affect upon our way of life. The erosion is accomplished with the complicity of all our elected officials at the local, state and federal level.

My argument is Ranger-simple: If the police have automatic weapons, then so, too, should the citizenry.

I do not like automatic weapons, nor do I believe anybody needs them, but that is not the point. My argument stems from the fact that the police are not the military. The government fears the citizen's possession of automatic firearms, yet the police possess millions of automatic weapons and employ these in trained and equipped military-type assault teams loosed upon those citizens.

Why are the police armed like military units, and why do we accept this? Don't tell me it is to protect the homeland, or to shoot it out with terrorists. These sorts of shootouts only happen on t.v., and "24" is not modeled after real-life America.

As example, see the Rocky River Arms A-4 rifle directly above, or the VLTOR Modstock Basic Carbine Combo Kit pictured above that (pgs. 2 and 4 in the catalog, respectively.) These firearms are open to purchase by the general public, but they are also the weapons used by municipal police agencies. The only difference is the police agencies can legally convert these to full auto fire.

Who will these military weapons subdue? For recent examples, Waco, or Ruby Ridge should come to mind.

In Waco and Ruby Ridge, U.S. citizens--not terrorists--were obliterated by military-type assault teams that showed little regard for the Bill of Rights.

Waco was a compound full of U.S. citizens accused of violating federal law, and the federal juggernaut rolled over them using chemical agents outlawed in war and tanks borrowed from the Army, and every federal agent for miles around was packing automatic weapons. It should be noted that only one person was named and charged on the warrant served by the federal agents.

Even if every Branch Davidian had a Rambo-type M60, they didn't have a chance. Armed citizens cannot stand up to this overwhelming combat power of the civilian federal authority. The lesson was clear, but seems to be forgotten by our short-term memory citizenry. Bluntly, the government at any level, if they want you, can take out your wife and family, along with your dog, Tyke. Just ask Randy Weaver.

In effect, the Federal Agents used automatic weapons to kill people because the people supposedly had automatic weapons. Bear in mind that fact was never proven, as the evidence was incinerated in situ; what remained for identification was never shown to be automatic. Other evidence disappeared, similar to the missing tape in the Padilla case.

For sure they had AR-15's, probably illegally manufactured, but that shouldn't be a death sentence executed by our tax-supported federal agents. Also bear in mind that the survivors of Waco didn't exactly get what could be called a fair chance in federal court. This is old history, but the Bushes, Clintons, Edwards, Guilianis, McCains, Gores and Kerrys of this world are not in favor of U.S. citizens possessing assault-type weapon.

It is my speculation that local, state and federal law enforcement kill more Americans every year than die as a result of targeting by Islamic jihad terrorists. This, even if one factors in the U.S. soldiers deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This thought does not make me sleep better at night. In fact, I believe I'll order #100-002-670CA Chrome-lined 11 1/2 Heavy Barrel AR 15 for $239.95. I also need to order new 30 round M16/AR 15 mags with chrome silicon springs. Regular springs are so passe.