GOA Files Blockbuster Brief Before The U.S. Supreme Court!– Pratt hits the airwaves, selling the pro-gun position in the courtof public opinion Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408http://www.gunowners.org Tuesday, February 12, 2008 Gun Owners of America filed its brief yesterday before the U.S.Supreme Court in defense of Dick Anthony Heller, who was denied theright to own a gun in the nation’s capital as a result of thedraconian gun ban which exists there. In this hard-hitting brief, GOA takes aim at the weak arguments putforth by both the DC government and the Bush Administration. Butmore than that, GOA examines the favorable text and context of theSecond Amendment in great detail, while also documenting the pro-gunhistory that formed the backdrop of its inclusion into the Bill ofRights. The GOA brief even presents the greatest reason for the right to keepand bear arms, stating that “the Second Amendment right is to beexercised as a last resort to guard against tyranny.” GOA’s Executive Director, Larry Pratt, has hit the airwaves recently,appearing on many talk shows and in newspapers to differentiate theGOA approach from the sullied road the President has taken. Pratt,along with other GOA spokesmen, has argued that the “bomb” whichBush’s Solicitor General dropped last month (when he submitted hisbrief) would destroy the Second Amendment.
After all, the Bush administration’s approach is that any and allguns can be controlled or banned if a federal court finds that to be”reasonable.” The GOA approach differs from many of the briefs that are beingsubmitted to the high Court. For example, one brief which is beingsubmitted by several legislators highlights Congress’ position on theSecond Amendment over the years. This can be a useful approach, tobe sure. But while the congressional brief concedes that the DC Council mayhave gone too far, it also says it’s appropriate for the legislativebranch to pass restrictions upon our Second Amendment rights — astance which is, in principle, not too different from the one theU.S. Solicitor General has filed. That’s where the GOA brief draws a “bright line” in the sand byrepeating the amendment’s wording “shall not be infringed” over andover again. For example, our brief states: [T]he argument that “the right of the people” is subject to reasonable regulation and restriction tramples on the very words of the Second Amendment, reading the phrase — “shall not be infringed” — as if it read “shall be subject only to reasonable regulation to achieve public safety.” The GOA brief can be read online athttp://www.gunowners.org/fs0802.pdf on the GOA website. Severalpro-gun groups joined GOA, including Gun Owners Foundation, GunOwners of California, Maryland Shall Issue, Inc., Virginia CitizensDefense League, among others.
You will remember that last month, GOA alerted you to Rep. VirgilGoode’s efforts to get President Bush to pull his brief before theCourt. Thanks to your efforts, Rep. Goode has almost 50congressional signatories on his letter. While the letter hasalready been sent to the President, Goode continues to solicit evenmore signatories and is sending those names to Bush as well. (GOAwill provide you further updates and a list of the congressman whohave cosigned the letter in an upcoming alert.) Gun Owners of America is committing a significant portion of ouravailable resources as we are fighting this battle in the courts, inthe Congress and in the media. If you would like to help do your part in covering the tremendouscosts associated with this effort, please go tohttp://www.gunowners.com/heller.htm to make a tax-deductiblecontribution. Thank you so much.
Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
GOA Files Blockbuster Brief
February 14, 2008Vice President Cheney Signs On
February 14, 2008Vice President Cheney Signs On
To Congressional Amicus Curiae Brief:
Affirms Unequivocal Support Of Second
Amendment As An Individual Right
Today, in his capacity as President of the United States Senate, Vice President Cheney signed on to the congressional amicus curiae brief affirming the individual rights view of the Second Amendment. As Americans, we are grateful and fortunate to have a friend of freedom in the Vice President.
NRA And U.S. Lawmakers Join D.C. V. Heller Plaintiffs In Filing Briefs With U.S. Supreme Court: On Thursday, February 7, NRA and the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund submitted an amicus curiae brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller. This “friend of the court” brief supports a lower federal appeals court decision holding that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, and asserts that the D.C. bans on handguns, on carrying firearms within the home, and on possession of loaded or operable firearms for self-defense violate that fundamental right.
Colorado Political Scene
February 14, 2008COLORADO: Update on Pending Firearm Legislation On Wednesday, February 6 the House Judiciary Committee voted 5 to 4 to defeat House Bill 1066, sponsored by State Representative Cory Gardner (R-63). This “Castle Doctrine” legislation would have extended self-defense protections beyond the home to include businesses. In spite of this unfortunate loss, three anti-freedom bills were also defeated in the Colorado legislature this week thanks to the activism of NRA members. On Wednesday, February 6, the House Agriculture, Livestock, & Natural Resources Committee voted down two bills, House Bill 1137 and House Bill 1096. Finally, House Bill 1190 was withdrawn by its sponsor.
Mandatory Storage Bill Sent to Senate Appropriations Committee On Monday, February 4 the Senate Committee on State, Veterans & Military Affairs voted 3-2 to send Senate Bill 49 to the Senate Appropriations Committee. SB49 requires mandatory storage of all firearms. This legislation would force adults to put all their firearms under lock and key or face an undetermined misdemeanor if that firearm is later used in a suicide or crime. This dangerous bill renders homeowners defenseless and gives criminals a clear advantage in home invasions. Please contact the members of the committee and respectfully urge them to defeat this dangerous legislation. Contact information can be found here.
AFGHANISTAN GENOCIDE EXPOSED « A Soldier’s Heart
February 9, 2008AFGHANISTAN GENOCIDE EXPOSED « A Soldier’s Heart
Can you say “propaganda?” I knew ya could!
The Platform of the American People
February 3, 2008This is an interesting study to be sure. How much is practical and easily doable remains to be seen. It is in PDF so you will need a reader. I do agree with a lot that is in there, such as immigration issues. But the parts that give more government money (taxes that you and I pay) are anathema.
Economics
February 3, 2008Those that have read this blog and other forums that I have participated in over the years know that I am an unabashed free marketer. How did I get that way? By education that is how. Two college courses in particular had a tremendous impact on me. If you have the time, and enthusiam, read these texts in order to gain a solid foundation in economic theory.
Karl E. Case
Category: Economics – Macroeconomics – Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780130957337
ISBN10: 013095733X
Published: Prentice Hall
Publish Date: 1998-06-01
Edition: 5 Illustrated
Pages: 595
Binding: Paperback
Dimensions: 0.93 L x 8.56 W x 10.01 H
Weight: 2.99 lbs
Copyright year: 2004
Robert Spencer
February 3, 2008Robert Spencer is one hell of an author. His books on Islam are eye openers to be sure. Yes, I know that he is on my blog roll. Read his books.
Robert Bruce Spencer (born 1962) is an American writer on Islam. He has published seven books, including two bestsellers, on topics related to Islam and terrorism. He founded and currently directs the Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch websites that focus on Islamic terrorism-related events and various Jihad-activity worldwide.[1]
Gunney Bob prolific writer as well as a great radio host.
February 3, 2008source: http://www.850koa.com/pages/shows_gunny-books.html
Gunny Bob is one hell of a great writer. If you aree an avid outdoorsd person like I am his books are required reading. In fact, my very former girl friend called him a “damned enabler of fishing addiction!” His book on fishing structure is probably the best that has ever been written, period.
Be sure to listen to him on 850KOA radio in the evenings.
Ayn Rand Reading
February 3, 2008Perhaps no other person that lived during the most recent century has had more social impact than Ayn Rand. Her writings changed the way that people looked at everything from politics to philosophy.
Ayn Rand (IPA: /ˈaɪn ˈrænd/, February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982), born Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum (Russian: Алиса Зиновьевна Розенбаум), was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher.[1] She is widely known for her best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism.
She was an uncompromising advocate of rational individualism and laissez-faire capitalism, and vociferously opposed socialism, altruism, and other contemporary philosophical trends, as well as religion. Her influential and often controversial ideas have attracted both enthusiastic admirers and scathing denunciation.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand
Some other Ayn Rand resources.
http://www.aynrandsociety.org/
First entry for “Books”
February 3, 2008The very first entry is about a classic series of American literature.
The Foxfire books are a series of anthologies of articles from Foxfire magazine. The first book of the series was published in 1972. As of 2004, the most recent is Foxfire 12; also as of that date, there are nearly nine million copies of the various books in print.
The series is an effort to document the lifestyle, culture, and skills of people in southern Appalachia in a mixture of how-to information and first-person narratives and oral history. Topics covered in the books include apple butter, banjos, basket weaving, beekeeping, butter churning, corn shucking, dulcimers, faith healing, fiddle making, haints, ginseng cultivation, hide tanning, hog dressing, hunting tales, log cabin building, moonshining, midwives, old-time burial customs, planting “by the signs”, preserving foods, sassafras tea, snake handling and lore, soap making, spinning, square dancing, wagon making, weaving, wild food gathering, witches, and wood carving.
Eight of the first nine of the books were edited by Eliot Wigginton, a high school teacher at the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, who set up the Foxfire Fund, based on articles his students had written that were previously published in magazine form. The magazine was named after foxfire, the bioluminescent fungi sometimes seen in a forest. The magazine was founded in 1966 by Wigginton, who was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship in 1989.
Though conceived primarily as a sociological work, the books, particularly the early ones, were a commercial success as instructional works. Members of the back-to-the-land movement used them as a blueprint for their attempts to return to a life of simplicity. The publication is an imprint of Random House and has become a project of Rabun County, Georgia High School.
[edit] List of the books
- The Foxfire Book, 1972, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-07353-4
- Foxfire 2, 1973, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-02267-0
- Foxfire 3, 1975, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-02272-7
- Foxfire 4, 1977, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-12087-7
- Foxfire 5, 1979, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-14308-7
- Foxfire 6, 1980, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-15272-8
- Foxfire 7, 1982, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-15243-4
- Foxfire 8, 1984, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-17741-0
- Foxfire 9, 1986, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-17743-7
- Foxfire 10, 1993, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-42276-8
- Foxfire 11, 1999, Anchor. ISBN 0-385-49461-0
- Foxfire 12, 2004, Anchor. ISBN 1-4000-3261-X.
- The Foxfire 40th Anniversary Book: Faith, Family, and the Land, 2006, Anchor. ISBN 0-307-27551-5.
Related books include:
- Memories of a Mountain Shortline, 1976, Foxfire Press; 2001
- Aunt Arie: A Foxfire Portrait, 1983, Dutton. ISBN 0-525-93292-5
- The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery, 1984; 1992, University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4395-4
- The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Toys & Games, 1985; 1993, University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4425-X
- A Foxfire Christmas, 1996, University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4618-X
- Teaching by Heart: The Foxfire Interviews, 2004, Teacher’s College Press. ISBN 0-8077-4539-1 (hardbound), ISBN 0-8077-4538-3 (paperback)
- Foxfire’s Book of Wood Stove Cookery 2006
Conservative Libertarian Outpost 