A Nation Of Laws And Guns

From Human Events--Guns & Patriots:

A Nation of Laws and Guns


by Jim Pontillo



06/29/2010





The adversaries of the Constitution seem to have lost sight of the people…These gentlemen must here be reminded of their error. They must be told that the ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone…Let us not insult the free and gallant citizens of America with the suspicion, that they would be less able to defend the rights of which they would be in actual possession, than the debased subjects of arbitrary power…the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation…forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition… - Excerpts from Federalist No. 46 (Madison)



Way back in 2004 Martha Stewart received five months prison time for insider trading—no, wait a minute—there was no charge of insider trading ever levied. Martha Stewart received five months prison time for inaccurate comments made to a federal investigator under duress; she was prosecuted and found guilty of “Obstruction of Justice”.



In 2007, Scooter Libby was found guilty of leaking the name of “covert” CIA agent, Valerie Plame—no, wait a minute—that was Richard Armitage in the State Department who was never charged with anything. Scooter Libby was found guilty of “Obstruction of Justice” for incorrectly recalling conversations with Tim Russert.



Prison terms were charged in both instances, and in both instances, under dubious circumstances. Martha Stewart was essentially found guilty of lying to a federal prosecutor, who had lied to her during the same conversation, and Scooter Libby was found guilty, not for revealing the identity of Valerie Plame, ostensibly the crime under investigation, but for having a bad memory.



I remember being disgusted by both of these cases perceiving the government's motivation had much less to do with justice than it had to do with government maintaining its omnipotent power.



Debating these appalling cases, I have been assailed by only one theme in defense of the government position:



We are a Nation of Laws.



Were we a Nation of Laws when President Clinton was impeached, but not convicted, after declaring he did not have sex with that women, only to find presidential DNA splattered all over a certain blue dress?



I don’t recall the media fawning over Ken Starr’s terrific work protecting our “Nation of Laws”, quite the contrary.



I’m all for a Nation of Laws when the laws are applied without prejudice or agenda, but to watch America’s jurists indiscriminately apply law, or worse, to watch them discriminately apply the law, you realize how little power and freedom we have as mere “gallant citizens”.



Our founding generation knew all too well, laws instituted among men would not serve the public good if authority for those laws did not emanate from the people. The right to bear arms which has been disparaged and condemned by leftists, and has caused European’s without this right to insult Americans as gun nuts in a gun culture are oblivious, or envious, that this uniquely American right is the one counterweight which Americans posses to insure their freedom from tyranny.



With horrendous rulings directed at individuals specifically for their ideology, it makes you wonder whether the right to bear arms is enough to protect us. A little lunacy among the accused, toting guns, directing their rage toward corrupt jurists might help.



At a time when we were a homogenous people, with mutually concurring values, the right to bear arms kept a cohesive society. Today, with multi-culturalism run amok, there is little cohesion and guilt or innocence is often nothing more than a function of venue. If Scooter Libby was tried in Orange County California instead of Washington D. C. he would have received a Not Guilty verdict, and it would not have taken ten days. We would have been done in two hours.



I wonder, how dedicated are the American people to the idea that we are a Nation of Laws when our President and our Congress push through law that is clearly against a majority will of the people, and arguably against the spirit of our Constitution?



Obama's Health Care bill forces people to buy a product from a private company whether they want the product or not.



Cap and Trade is a scam that gives government preferred entities (General Electric for example) a monopoly to trade "Carbon Credits" enriching those in power on the backs of middle class Americans.



Reinterpreting the concept of "Eminent Domain" now allows politicians to take private property from one individual and give it to another, and not just for "public" use.



All of it done under a Nation of Laws.



I can’t imagine how much more insult the American people are willing to endure under the “enterprises of ambition” by our politicians, but I do know, gun ownership and an understanding of our American Founders’ vision will have positive and deliberate effect on the psyche of our populace and can subdue the overzealous and prejudicial effect of this ambition.



When law is abused to achieve political ends where do the gallant citizens turn? Quite possibly to their guns. Careful examination of Madison’s Federalist No. 46 reminds us of the founding generation’s recognition that ambition within the bureaucracy is dangerous and can only be countered by a population who is armed and willing and able to resist tyranny.



In a nation with guns the gallant citizens have a fighting chance. James Madison knew it, Benjamin Franklin knew it, and George Washington knew it.



Whenever we hear our elected representatives and our nation’s jurists invoke the lofty, "Nation of Laws", we should shudder. Nazi Germany was a Nation of Laws, Stalin’s Soviet Republic was a Nation of Laws, and China under Mao Zedong, was a Nation of Laws.



How well were the gallant citizens served by the “debased subjects of arbitrary power” in these nations bound by laws?



Great, the State paid all citizens’ funeral expenses right after their trip to the gas chambers.



FMK Firearms can be viewed at www.fmkfirearms.com.







--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim Pontillo owns and manages a small plastic manufacturing plant in Southern California. He is the producer of the FMK Handgun which is engraved with America's Bill of Rights. FMK Firearms can be viewed at www.fmkfirearms.com.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------