I admit it, sometimes I read the local paper. Of course every time I do I come across things like this letter to the editor:
(Metrowest Daily News 1/10/08)
Support gun rights bill
I am writing in the hopes that those who read this message will contact their representatives in our state government to support Senate Bill 1401.
As it is now, if law enforcement or the government were to declare a state of emergency for ANY reason, they would have the right to come into your home and confiscate any firearm you possess. This is a clear violation of our Constitutional right given to us in the Bill of Rights.
The last segment of the Second Amendment clearly states "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." By keeping this law in Massachusetts, we are continuing the degradation of our constitutional rights, an issue in which citizens on both sides of the political spectrum can agree.
Senate Bill 1401, sponsored by State Senator Richard Moore (D-Worcester and Norfolk), would prohibit law enforcement or government officials from confiscating the "lawfully owned or lawfully carried" firearms of citizens during a declared state of emergency. It would also penalize those officials who choose to ignore this law and attempt to confiscate firearms.
So please, write your state legislators asking them to support this bill and let us work together to reclaim our Constitutional Rights.
ALEXANDER SHERMAN, Springfield
So being one of the declining thorns in the side against reasonable thought, I felt the need to respond in kind. It took awhile to get published but to their credit they did. The delay was more due to me not checking messages to verify 'authorship' of my letter to the Editor. They even gave it a catchy title.
A danger to civil rights
I am writing to respond to Alexander Sherman's letter of Jan. 10 regarding Senate Bill 1401 ("Support gun rights bill").
This bill is designed to protect legal gun owners from unlawful seizure of their weapons during a state of emergency. I would like to point out that if you are in an area of declared state of emergency, FEMA is the legal government body for that area.
States rights, constitutional rights, your rights do not exist. Four decades of presidential executive orders have seen to that. FEMA is the most powerful and, therefore, dangerous governmental body on this planet.
In the aftermath of Katrina, the registered and legal gun owners, NRA members of New Orleans who also happen to own houses, cars and boats found out FEMA's true authority and purpose.
All these items - guns, houses, cars and boats - are registered to a specific license and or Social Security number which is easily data mined via federal and state databases allowing law enforcement to stop specific vehicles or people and disarm the legal gun owners while they stare up at the barrel of an automatic government issue rifle.
I question the motives of this bill due to the fact that every state has become interdependent on federal funding, states rights exist only in theory. The NRA is allowed to exist as a powerful political lobby, the specific purpose it serves remains a mystery to some, but not to me.
TIMOTHY HILLIARD, South Grafton
If you search youtube.com for Katrina Gun Confiscation you get plenty of the NRA's propaganda. I laugh every time I see the old lady tackled to the floor, but I faithfully exhibit a disturbing sense of humor.
So foolish due's paying sheepeople's of the National Rifle Association, you should send me your $35 annual membership dues, and I promise I won't tell Uncle Sam you have a gun. I don't want to know.
If you have read the above letters, watched your NRA's 'Evil Government' propaganda video and you still don't get it, that's OK, send me the Lifetime Memberships dues and I will forward it to the NRA as soon as I pick up some stamps.
Pro-Unregistered Weapons
Tim
P.S In honor of a comic named Doug, I have attempted to use something called a paragraph, but I still think they waste space and are just a crutch for short attention spans...Hello, are you still reading?
