====================================================================== The Atlanta Declaration: Every man, woman, and responsible child has a natural, fundamental, and inalienable human, individual, civil, and Constitutional right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- handgun, shotgun, rifle, machinegun, \anything\ -- any time, anywhere, without asking anyone's permission. ====================================================================== L. NEIL SMITH'S \LEVER ACTION\ LETTER NUMBER 08b DEAR LEGISLATOR ... == A Guest Editorial == How much American history do you remember? The Americans who drafted the Constitution had recently won a war against a State. That State had taxed them obnoxiously -- although at a lower rate than America's productive class is taxed today. It had viewed them as objects, as tools, as raw materials. It had used them and the products of their lives to prop up a decaying, oppressive, class-ridden society which many of them -- our ancestors -- had come here to escape in the first place. (It often seems today that people in the eastern United States view westerners the same way; it's also the way people in any large urban area seem to view those who choose to live elsewhere.) While possible, that State ignored the Americans' attempts to redress their grievances. When they could no longer be ignored, it threatened them and used violence against them. (And isn't this much like the way the I.R.S. and other agencies treat those today who attempt to redress \their\ grievances?) The Americans who drafted the Constitution, in particular the first Ten Amendments -- known by those who care as the Bill of Rights -- were hostile and suspicious toward any State. They knew from firsthand experience the atrocities that States are all too inclined to commit. Unfortunately, that's a lesson many have forgotten. It's a lesson many more have never learned, thanks to an "education" system controlled by the very entity the Constitution's framers were so hostile and suspicious toward. Thanks to those with a vested interest in maintaining power. Others interested only in their own peaceful, productive lives, have not forgotten. Nor have they failed to notice the decay of a culture once dedicated to the idea that human beings have an inherent, inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Second Amendment to the Constitution was meant to guarantee the freedom -- and the means -- to defend oneself \from the State.\ Its words are not ambiguous, nor is their intent: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, \the right of the people\ to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." "Regulated", in the language of the 18th Century, means "equipped and prepared", not "controlled by the State". "Militia", historically and legally, describes a volunteer \ad hoc\ group of individuals, not a standing army, nor a police force, nor those of whom the State approves. Nor does it mean the National Guard -- the very moment it becomes organized, it ceases to be a militia. "Security" means "maintenance", not the hide-and-seek paranoia of 20th Century conservatism. Nor the suffocating big-brotherism of 20th Century liberalism. And notice, in the amendment, that it plainly has more to do with the word "free" than with the word "state". In the context of the Second Amendment, "the right of the people", a phrase which comes so quickly to the tongues of both political camps under other circumstances, is usually quoted, " ... ". But ignoring words will not make them go away. Nor will hypocrisy make anyone forget them. "To keep and bear arms" means "to own and carry weapons" -- \period\. "Shall not be infringed" means "shall not be encroached"; "shall not be violated"; "shall not be contravened". But you know all of that. I know you do. Are you aware, though, that under Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Sections 241 and 242, your attempts to deny rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment, in violation of your oath of office, are punishable as a felony? Are you aware of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, Section 3, which states: "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United State,, \or under any State\, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, \or as a member of any State Legislature\, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof ... "? We're both aware, of course, that you control the State and that the State controls the courts. That didn't save King George. Sincerely, Cathy L. Z. Smith ===================================================================== L. NEIL SMITH'S \LEVER ACTION\ LETTER NUMBER 08b 111 EAST DRAKE ROAD SUITE 7032 FORT COLLINS, COLORADO U.S.A. 80525 Cathy L. Z. Smith, the wife of science fiction author L. Neil Smith, is well known to Libertarian readers as the editor of \APAlogia: a Journal of Unanimous Consent\. L. Neil Smith is the award-winning author of 16 novels including \Henry Martyn, The Crystal Empire, BrightSuit MacBear, Taflak Lysandra, The Probability Broach,\ and the forthcoming FORGE OF THE ELDERS trilogy, beginning with CONTACT AND COMMUNE. 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