DEFENSELESS

    I have been asked to say a few words at a gun rally, and I've been thinking about what I want to say because, as I told the person who asked me to speak, I am not an experienced gun owner. I have only one gun that I purchased less than a year ago. As a TEA Party person, my entire argument against the recent attack on the 2nd Amendment is just that...a constitutional issue. He said, well talk about that! Why now?
   Until recently purchasing a gun was on my to-do list, but it was low priority. If the stars aligned someday where I had the money to purchase a gun, the imminent need for a gun, and the confidence that I was able to possess a gun responsibly...then I would buy a gun. The minute that the elitist gun grabbers started messing with my 2nd Amendment rights, my God-given instinct to protect myself and my loved ones, buying a gun became high priority. Why? First, because I am an American! You don't tell Americans that you have arrived to save us from ourselves and to do so you will be infringing on our rights. We don't like that, so I thought to myself...I am going to buy a gun. If I had the money I would buy 10 guns! How dare they!! I wasn't alone. So many guns were sold in the state of Maryland that they couldn't keep them in inventory. They couldn't keep up with processing all of the new gun purchases. WE ARE AMERICANS AND YOU DO NOT MESS WITH OUR RIGHTS! Clearly.
   There was another reason. Some of you know my story of losing my only sister to a maniac with a gun. I wrote about it in detail and you can read it here in Damaged Humans Kill--Not Guns: My Story: http://liberatedconservativewoman.blogspot.com/2013/01/damaged-humans-kill-not-guns-my-story.html. I am going to talk about it again, but not in detail. I want to tell the story differently and quickly in three scenarios: what happened, what would have happened under SB281 with all of the regulations that are in the bill and including the ones that we all were able to block, and lastly what should have happened.

Scenario #1: What Happened

    My sister, Teri, had been involved in a long drawn out bitter divorce with a man who had many issues. His issues started in childhood with a learning disability and speech impediment made worse by a cruel father. His issues worsened after Viet Nam when he came home with PTSD. In the separation and divorce process there were many "professionals" such as psychiatrists, social workers, and lawyers who were aware of his anger issues. Teri, could not get anyone to protect her. All of the professionals at the VA, law enforcement, psychiatric services, and lawyers could not protect her. That is an important subject for another time.
    On Father's Day in 1993 he came to her house to pick up their 4-year old daughter for a court-ordered visitation. Her fiance was in the living room reading the newspaper. Teri and her teenage daughter were in the kitchen. He carried a long box into her house and sat it on her dining room table. As she saw him take a shot gun out of the box she called 911. He shot her dead while she was talking to 911. Her fiancé ran for the door. He was shot in the back of the head and was killed on his way out the door. The daughter by now had picked up the phone and was talking to 911. He shot her. She fell to the floor and saved her life by pretending to be dead. She saw him point the gun at the 4-year old, shake his head no, then shoot himself dead. Teri was completely defenseless in her own home. The 911 operators couldn't save her. The police couldn't get there to save her. Governor O'Malley couldn't save her. Running couldn't save her. Defenseless.
   Her three children were without a mother. Our parents were heartbroken and were never the same. I raised the 4-year old and that has been bitter sweet. There was untold misery for our family, our extended families, and our friends. There were many "walking wounded" as a result.

Scenario #2: What Could Have Happened Under SB281 (as originally proposed)

   When my sister came to the realization that no one could protect her except for herself, and knowing that he would be coming to her house on Father's Day under a court order, she goes to her local gun shop to purchase a gun. Let's just say she survived the waiting period, had time to take a course, and even though she lived paycheck to paycheck, she scraped together the money for the course and the licensing fee. She has the gun.
    He carried a long box into her house and sat it on her dining room table. As she saw him take a shot gun out of the box she tells her daughter to dial 911 (as Maryland officials suggest). Teri runs to her gun safe, manages to remember the combination under duress, gets the gun out of the box and then runs to another safe where she has her ammo. She manages to remember the combination under duress and gets to her ammo and loads her gun. We all know that it would have the same outcome. Time is not going to stop for her to get her weapon in time. Under current Maryland law she is still...defenseless.

Scenario #3: What Should Have Happened

   When my sister came to the realization that no one could protect her except for herself, and knowing that he would be coming to her house on Father's Day under a court order, she goes to her local gun shop to purchase a gun. It is only the day before he is to come, but she is able to purchase a weapon for her self-defense and takes it home. She has her gun ready,with the safety on, hidden but within reach. She sees him taking the shotgun out of the box and just as he turns and points it at her...BOOM!
   She lived, and we all lived happily ever after. End of story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    WE CANNOT ALLOW THEM TO RENDER US DEFENSELESS! You can have an arsenal of guns, but if they are not on hand at the time when you need them because of laws that go against nature, the instinct to protect yourself, you will not survive an attack.
   This is the year to push back like never before. Go to every rally that you are able to manage. Write your state and U.S. elected officials and write them often. Support those elected officials that are fighting for our 2nd Amendment rights, no matter if they are in your district or not. We have a few political warriors who are fighting for us. We need to support them in any way that we are able.
   Make no mistake--they have rendered us defenseless and they are not satisfied. They will not be satisfied until it is illegal for law-abiding citizens to own a gun. Put up a fight! Push back!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OPPORUNITIES TO ACT:

1.) Hagerstown TEA Party Members Meeting, January 23rd at 7:00 p.m. The speaker will be Robert Bowman, a board member of Maryland Shall Issue (MSI), the primary sponsor of the 2A Tuesday rally in Annapolis, MD on Feb 4th.
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/hagerstown-tea-party-membership-meeting-registration-7132701101

2.) 2A Tuesday Rally in Annapolis, MD. The HTP is chartering a bus. Click on the following link for more information and to purchase your tickets for the bus.
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/2a-tuesday-rally-bus-trip-tickets-9923365052

       

NEIL PARROTT ANNOUNCES NO PETITION DRIVE FOR SB281

   I think that everyone who attended the MDPetitions.com Kickoff event thought that they were going to get their marching orders to start a petition drive for the new Maryland gun control law SB281. Instead, the surprise announcement was that there would not be a petition drive. 
   Delegate Neil Parrott, the chairman of MDPetitions.com, spoke to a crowd of about 150 people. Surrounded by one state senator (Edward R. Reilly), five state delegates (Michael D. Smigiel, Sr.; Nicholaus R. Kipke; Gail H. Bates; Tony McConkey; W.E. Cluster, Jr.; and Cathy Vitale), an NRA official, several leaders of sportsman's clubs, and the Western MD Sportsmen's Coalition legislative representative (Ray Givens), Parrott said:

"God has given us rights and these rights are recognized in the Bill of Rights. This law [SB281] attempts to deny us that right [2nd Amendment right to bear arms]. This is an issue that was given to us and granted to us by God and the U.S.Constitution...we will not stand for this law."

   At this point I was expecting that he would go on to announce the petition. I think we all  were poised to applaud as soon as we heard the official call to arms, until Parrott went on to say: 

"We do not tax a right. We do not license a right. Yet this bill attempts to do both. A right is not subject to a public opinion vote. This is why we will not petition this bill for referendum."

   Wait, huh? I thought I heard him wrong for a minute. I saw everyone else glance around the room wondering if they too had heard it wrong. Then Parrott finished by saying,

"We acknowledge that this is already given to us by God, by the Constitution, and by our government. This will be settled in the courts and we expect SB281 to be overturned."

   I understand the concept of not voting on a right. It makes sense, but I'm not sure that I trust the court system, especially if a decision would get delayed long enough for President Obama to place another Liberal judge or two on the Supreme Court. I was not alone with this concern. As I walked around the room attempting to take the temperature of the crowd in response to this announcement I heard this concern repeated along with others. 
   Many thought that we should pursue both the petition and litigation. If ever there was a law that could be successfully overturned by referendum this would be it. Second Amendment advocates had united and fought hard against this bill and were prepared to work even harder to have it overturned. Ray Givens, in his remarks,  said it well:

"I stand with Neil on this decision because I understand it. However, had he decided to do a petition I know that we would have had 100,000 people not only sign it but work hard doing whatever they had to do to make the petition a success. But, instead of working the petition, these same 100,000 people will be working as hard as they can to make sure that those who voted for this bill will no longer be in office after the next election."

   I kind of had a selfish motive for wanting the petition drive. I have not seen an issue that has united people and energized grassroots activism on this level since Obamacare was first introduced. Conservatives took a few hits since then and people were getting frustrated and tired. SB281 woke everyone up again and compelled people to get out of their comfort zones and become active in the political process again. I have met many amazing people who I came to know only because we shared a passion for liberty, our Constitution, and our God-given rights. I saw people using talents that they had forgotten that they had or never realized they had them until their zeal for liberty brought them out. I think a petition drive would have kept the momentum going for this issue and other Conservative causes.
   I recently saw the rise of a fantastic organization called Responsibly Armed. There are two new Campaign for Liberty (C4L) groups, one in Frederick County and one in Washington County. The Frederick County Republican Club is on fire with a smart and energetic group of people  that are engaged in educating and advocating for Conservative issues. There is new interest in reorganizing a Frederick County TEA Party. Just over the border in Pennsylvania, the Franklin County 912 Group is very active and has been a strong supporter of the Hagerstown TEA Party. I am reading intelligent and inspiring  blogs such as the the Potomac Tea Party Report by Ann Corcoran. I appreciate those who are keeping us aware and teaching us our Constitutional history and what it provides for us in its purist form. I am really excited about the new breed of candidates I see who are going to run campaigns for 2014. 
   Yes, I thought a petition drive was necessary to get back what what stolen from us by SB281. Yes, I wanted another excuse to work with the amazing people and groups I have come to know and appreciate because of this issue. But I understand that if we allow a public vote to return a right, we could also see more rights taken from us by a public vote. I don't think we want to start down that path. Besides, I am confident that this new resurgence of zeal, talent, and dedication to our causes will continue. In fact, I get the sense that these things are all the laying of a new foundation for an important movement in Western Maryland towards defining our future as a region with strengths that other parts of the state just can not understand or appreciate. 
   OK Neil...what IS going to petition?