LaPierre Bearing Down............

XavierBreath

New member
"Of any news story since New Orleans became the first venue in America to disarm its peaceable citizens house by house--at gunpoint--nothing brought home the sheer terror of it all more than two broadcast video segments: one on ABC News and another on Fox News Channel.

Opening with scenes of police and Oklahoma National Guardsmen entering homes on a block-by-block search, you cannot watch the ABC piece without fear and anger. Everybody I`ve spoken with who has seen it had the same reaction--the Constitution has been trashed. This was supposed to be a humanitarian effort, not a shoot-to-kill military operation.

If friends might think shoot-to-kill is overblown, tell them to imagine having a locked and loaded M16 or M4 carbine leveled at them by a youthful guardsman with fear in his eyes. Then imagine someone shouting, "He has a gun!"

This is the worst case for honest gun owners come true. But I promise you, when all is said and done by NRA, these scenes will become a nightmare for the gun-ban crowd, because they give lie to their false promises that forced gun confiscation would never happen in America.
With images of police and guardsmen clearing rooms, shouldered M16s at the ready, the ABC reporter explained that they enter homes "with guns drawn with instructions to disarm anyone inside." Then the New Orleans police chief says, "No one will be able to be armed. We`re going to take all weapons." Remember, this has always been the endgame of New Orleans politicians who were first in line to take a crack at suing the firearm industry out of existence.

In the ABC broadcast, young men are sitting on a curb with arms handcuffed behind their backs, surrounded by heavily armed police. They could be any of our college-age kids. Their crime as explained by the ABC reporter: "[H]omeowners had armed themselves to protect their mansions. Residents were handcuffed on the ground, and in the end, police took their weapons but let them stay in their homes."

In the close of the ABC footage, a very young guardsman says, "Walking up and down these streets you don`t want to have to think about the stuff you are going to have to do. If somebody pops around the corner . . . ." Off camera, the reporter interrupts and says, "You mean shoot an American."

The Americans this young man might shoot are not looters; they are not criminals. They are brave people who simply refused to obey an order by the same local authorities who indefensibly failed to protect them.

Keep in mind, those officials--who ordered every decent citizen of their city to be forcibly disarmed--also sent tens of thousands of residents whose homes were destroyed to endure the living hell of the Superdome and the Convention Center; where people died or were murdered; where bodies rotted; where medical practitioners were frightened away; where gang members killed, robbed and raped at will. All of this with virtually no police presence for a week.

For citizens in neighborhoods spared the flooding and wind damage from the hurricane, the evacuation order made no sense. And arming themselves to protect their persons, families, homes and communities from roving criminal predators made perfect sense. Self-protection is the most basic human right of all.

To see the National Guard troops in this ABC segment is to see them on a war footing. They are edgy. Fearful. But this isn`t war. This is a natural disaster involving innocent Americans whom are victims of nature. These are Americans who chose to be armed so that they would not further become victims of criminal violence.

Many of these people who stayed in their relatively unscathed neighborhoods couldn`t bring themselves to abandon their pets, their possessions. They feared leaving more than staying. Think of being disarmed at gunpoint by the very people who you thought had come to help.

For any level of government--state, local or federal--to disarm these good people in their own homes using the threat of imminent deadly force is unthinkable.

The Fox broadcast brought that message home with incredible force. Seeing a burly police officer body slam a frail, elderly woman who was showing officers her home protection gun--a little Colt Police Positive--is beyond imagination. (See Marshall Lewin`s powerful story on p. 72). Her gun was taken, and she was hauled out of her home.

Law enforcement? No. Tyranny. Clear and simple. And it is a tyranny that must be stopped--never to happen again.

NRA is committed to ensuring that innocent Americans always have the means to defend themselves in their homes and neighborhoods. We will do so by enacting laws to prohibit state and federal authorities from seizing firearms from innocent citizens under a state of emergency due to a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

Self-defense is and must remain the bedrock principle of the Second Amendment.

Posted on the NRA-ILA Website: 9/20/2005

I bet there will be a lot of dollars sent to the NRA instead of Ducks Unlimited in Louisiana this year. :D
 
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Check out this picture. It goes right along with this story. Really, really sobering....
 

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It should be noted that all highlighting was done by Xavier and is not in the original article.

The related article by Marshall Lewin is here. A brief quote from the end of the Lewin article:
"The NRA will not stand idly by while guns are confiscated from law-abiding people who`re trying to defend themselves." NRA-ILA chief Cox agreed.

"We`re going to do what it takes to ensure this never happens again," Cox said. "First, we`re going to go into every state that has laws allowing authorities to confiscate firearms from lawful people during a state of emergency, and we`re going to change those laws. Second, we`re going to get legislation on Capitol Hill to amend the federal disaster laws, so that governments never have the authority to confiscate firearms from peaceable citizens--whether under a state of emergency or not.

And third, we`re going to go to court to defend the Second Amendment rights of people whose firearms have been confiscated, and we`re going to get those firearms back," Cox said. "The NRA will not allow this travesty to stand."
Please note that this article and the one Xavier posted are on the NRA-ILA site and not the NRA main site.
 
Let me see, we are going to laws to protect our rights?

well that seems to be the right thing to do, doesnt it?

In fact, someone needs to file a sec. 1983 on it....get that issue up to the Supremes!!

WildoyeahAlaska
 
I dont understand your question? Do you mean to say that a law designed to enforce rights nullifies the right?

WilddizzyAlaska
 
I'm saying, why is a God given Right that I already have, being subject to any Law or soon to be interpretation of that Law. Isn't this the reason we're in trouble now. It's time to put the horse in front of the cart again.
Our Constutition is the foundation of all Law in this Country, it is the Supreme Law of the land by which we live freely. If We The People allow anyone, including Goverment Officials, to infringe on our Rights, we will no longer have Rights.
The Mayor of N.O. should be held accountable for breaking the Law, whats that saying " Ignorance of the Law is NO Excuse for Breaking It". Once that is done and a precedent is set that no one is above the Law, justice will be served to those who were violated. The Law they speak of is already there, they just need to find it again.

"Do you mean to say that a law designed to enforce rights nullifies the right?"

Laws are designed to Protect Rights, not Enforce Rights.

kenny b
 
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kenny, that's how the enforcement is achieved via the §1983 suit that Wild was talking about. By prosecution of the §1983 the plaintiffs would be enforcing the rkba. :)

Think of it as a constitutional personal injury case, a mechanism for the judiciary to remedy the violation by the executive. Same thing would happen with a 1st or 4th Amendment violation.
 
Ya gotta start somewhere.

Nothing grabs the attention of .gov like a lawsuit. Nothing draws the attention of the media like video and eye-witness accounts.

This action has both.

Let it roll and spread the word to your local media (and your fave anti-gun national media) so they can't claim ignorance.

They will bend over backwards to avoid covering this.

Rick
 
There's yet another side to this that is being overlooked. As far as the 2A goes, it has never been ruled as an individual right. The Supremes have ducked the issue for ages, and I really don't see them taking it on, anytime soon.

What this means, is that until the Supreme court hands down a definitive ruling that the RKBA is an individual right, the States can go on just as they now do. And that's only part of the problem. The other part is to get the 2A "incorporated" into the 14th. Then and only then, can we start to really make some headway.

Also, since it is easier to work at the state level than at the Federal level, the NRA is proposing to look into the state laws that delegate "emergency powers" and to try and remove from these laws, anything that would allow for the confiscation of our arms during such high stress times, like Katrina (and possibly soon to be Rita).

It's not always necessary or even desirable to take this fight to the Feds directly. Look at what we've accomplished with CCW reform.

kennybs_plbg, I hope this makes sense to you.
 
LaPierre is awesome. I recommend to everyone his book "Guns, Crime, and Freedom". It was written during the Clinton years, but still resounds today with as much force as ever. It even includes a forward by Tom Clancy, what more could you want??
 
Friday, Oct. 21, 2005 12:07 a.m. EDT
Wayne LaPierre: Remember New Orleans


National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre has a new rallying cry to spotlight the importance of every American's right to keep and bear arms: "Remember New Orleans."

In a speech earlier this week to the New York chapter of the Sportsmen's Association for Firearms Education, LaPierre painted a compelling picture of New Orleans residents left defenseless by Hurricane Katrina - as one-third of the city's police force deserted their posts and abandoned the streets to roving bands of looters and thugs.

Here is a partial transcript of LaPierre's rousing address:

"Picture your beloved hometown, the neighborhood where you live. Hold that image in your head. Now imagine that a massive natural disaster has transformed your beloved neighborhood into a putrid soup of splinters, muck and corpses. A massive natural disaster has pounded and ground your town into an ugly gravy of dead, toxic garbage. . . .


Story Continues Below


"There's no power to run a single thing that makes a sound. There's no water to bring in hydration or carry away waste. All life is stagnant around you - and dying.
"You can't call anyone. No one can call you. Phone lines and cell towers are down. 911 is gone. Police, fire, ambulance - the safety net of normal life - is completely gone. Think about what that would feel like. There's no one but you.

"The shadows of armed looters and thugs begin combing the streets with hard eyes and hungry looks. They take what they want. They rape who they want. They kill at will.

Every exit is impassable, so leaving is impossible. But staying is unimaginable. Life has been reduced to merely breathing, devoid of the barest essentials. Your throat throbs for water. Your gut aches for food. And both hungers are eclipsed by the inevitable fight for survival against those who would take your home, your wife and your life.

"It's a hellish nightmare of hopelessness, helpless terror - bigger than your brain can almost imagine . . . .



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"You hear nothing but the buzz of mosquitoes, occasional shouts for help - and gunshots and looting in the dark.
"But you have a firearm.

"At dawn, a few neighbors emerge from their houses. Some of them also have guns. And you get together with them and you agree to take a stand - just as good people have done since civilization was formed.

"Until civilization returns, you band together to protect those who can't protect themselves. You realize suddenly that you're part of the militia in the truest historic sense of the word.

"You've got a lot of single mothers with kids on your street. . . . Everyone's doors and windows are wide open - they've been destroyed.

"So you tell the single mothers: 'If you have any trouble, just scream. We'll hear you. We'll be there.'

"You spray paint sheets of plywood with big red letters - 'We are home. We have guns. We will shoot.'

"And you know, because even the New York Times carried a picture of it - that's exactly what they did in neighborhood after neighborhood all over the Gulf states. Not in some foreign country - here in the U.S.A. Roving gangs see your sign, they see your guns and what do they do? They stay away.

"Those guns and nothing else during that time gave the hopeless hope . . . In the midst of all that misery you're struck at that moment by the beauty and the salvation of second amendment freedom in the United States of America . . .

"The armed authorities finally arrive. The blame a broken levee for your predicament. But then, something you couldn't imagine happening, happens. They destroy the one thing that was standing there between you and anarchy - the second amendment.

"They start confiscating firearms from the law abiding. Swat-style teams start swarming block-by-block as if on a war footing. They're tense, they're jumpy and they're trained for urban warfare . . .

"Keep in mind, these military folks, these police folks - they were on our side. They didn't want to carry out this order that was given by the police chief of New Orleans . . . In fact, they were outraged over what they'd been ordered to do.

"A reporters asked one of them - 'You mean [you might have to] shoot an American?' And the soldier said 'yes.'

"But the Americans he was talking about shooting, they weren't criminals. They were brave people who were simply left behind when the hurricane hit in one of the most corrupt cities in the United States of America.

"New Orleans was the first city in American history to disarm peaceable American citizens door-to-door at gunpoint. And I'll tell you this as we sit here today - it must be the last . . . .

"With your help, the National Rifle Association is going to make sure it never happens again. We're going to go state-by-state and change every state law that has some type of emergency powers statute that allows authorities to regulate or confiscate guns from law abiding citizens when an emergency is declared . . .

"The example of New Orleans is going to become to worst fear of those who want to ban guns in the good old U.S.A. Never again can the anti-gunners claim that honest citizens don't need firearms because the police and the government are going to be there to protect you . . .

"And we've got a good slogan that you're going to hear from one end of the country to the other. And that slogan is: Remember New Orleans . . .

"The next time anyone says to you: 'Are you just afraid or paranoid?' Look them straight in the eye and say: Remember New Orleans.

"If they ask you, 'Why does anyone need to own a gun?': Remember New Orleans.

"If they say to you, "Why does anyone need a high-capacity magazine?" Look them straight in the eye and say: Remember New Orleans.

"What's wrong with a 15 day waiting period? Remember New Orleans.

"What makes you think the government would ever confiscate your gun? Remember New Orleans.

"Is the second amendment relevant in the 21st Century? Remember New Orleans.

"That's our battle cry and let's never, ever let them forget it."

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/10/21/00957.shtml
 
I heard LaPierre first hand.

He gave the "Remember New Orleans" speech at the SAFE Right to Carry event on Long Island event and I must say, he gets your blood going. Now send in your memberships! I just sent my firstt quarterly life membership payment!
 
Our United States Constitution is based on NATURAL, INALIENABLE RIGHTS. Natural Rights are those bestowed upon us just by being born. Inanlienable are those that are not to be messed with. The U.S. Bill of Rights was almost not factored into the Constitution by Thomas Jefferson because of the fact that they were well known that people had these rights that no one could strip away from them. Jefferson was asked/told to put these rights into the Constitution just for future reference as well as being able to say that "Hey, look, the government even says that these rights are created by God and who are we to mess with him?" I wish anti-gunners would understand this.....geez....

Sorry for the rant.....
 
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