Letter to the Editor "I am fearful"

BY: DALE E. CARPENTER, JD
January 16, 2013

To the Editor:

I am a lawyer, a civil-rights advocate, and a war veteran...and I am fearful; not at the prospect of dying at the hands of some mad-man with an "assault' Rifle" (as tragic as they are, you are more likely to be struck by lightning multiple times than to be killed in a mass shooting); I am fearful at the prospect of an all-powerful federal government run amuck. I am deeply troubled by a government that is failing at its primary function -- to protect our liberties ("Inalienable rights") enshrined in the amendments to the US Constitution; a Constitution that our government officials have all sworn to "support and defend"; an oath that is too often ignored. 

Ever since the events of 9/11 ("never let a crisis go to waste") the rights of US citizens have been repeatedly violated and abused in the name of public-safety and security. A Sampling:

• Warrantless wiretaps as well as electrionic capture of all citizens' digital communications in an NSA database (4th amendment) 
• Indefinite detentions of US citizens without charge of judicial review, authorized by the NDAA (4th, 5th, & 8th amendments)
• Warrentless searches of US citizens by the FBI, authorized by the Foreight Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act (4th & 5th amendments)   
•  Presidential assassination lists targeting US citizens among others (4th, 5th, & 8th amendments)
•  Invasive warrantless searches by federal TSA agents, not just in airports, but in train and bus stations, and on Interstate highways (4th & 5th amendments)
• Religious liberty violations -- federal regulations forcing religious entities to pay for abortion drugs in violation of their strongly held beliefs (1st amendment).  

 Not to mention the nationalization of our healthcare system via the so-called Affordable Care Act, which compels citizens to purchase commercial insurance products or pay a penalty (in violation of the commerce clause, but upheld as a "tax" which it expressly disclaimed to be); Or the militarization of the police and federal domestic agencies with their armored personnel carriers, military weaponry, black helicopters, surveillance drones, and their no-knock raids in the middle of the night (E.g. FDA guns-drawn raid of an organic-food co-op to confiscate yogurt made with unpasteurized milk)

And now, a full frontal assult on the 2nd Amendment by Diane Feinstein, Joe Biden, and others of their ilk. Proposed legislation would criminalize/ regulate the possession or transfer of nearly all modern rifles (semi-automatic & Magazine fed), and create a national registry of gun owners (Gun registration has been a precursor to gun confiscation by nearly every tyrant of the 20th century). FBI crime statistics report that far more people are killed each year by fists, feet and hammers (or other blunt objects) than by all rifles of any description, but no one is proposing the registration or regulation of hammers.

Once you know the facts, you might suspect that this "gun control" effort is more about "control" than it is abou gun safety. it appears that they simply want a government monopoly on the use of force (You should ask yourself what possible use the TSA would have for its recent purchase of 450,000,00 -- that's right, 450 million - rounds of .40 caliber, hollow-point, hand-gun ammunition).  Mao TseTung, said it: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."

It might be prudent to remember that the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired as British red coats attempted to enforce King George's "gun control" edict ("executive order") to confiscate muskets, ball and powder (the "assault weapons" of the day) at Concord, Massachusetts.