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SENDING A MESSAGE WITH A GUN: Armed Town Hall Citizens Make a Quietly Loud Statement (Guest in DC)
When some healthcare-reform opponents showed up openly carrying weapons outside Presidential town hall meetings in New Hampshire and Arizona this past week, the message seemed quite clear—socialized medicine might be on the table of discussion, they said, but the 2nd Amendment is not.
And yet, according to Larry Pratt, Executive Director of the Gun Owners of America (GOA), there was a more subtle, but much more powerful, statement that these demonstrations made.
Pratt elaborates in a column he has written for CBSnews.com today (Wednesday), in which he points out that the fact these events were so uneventful speaks volumes about the bold, yet genuine, law-abiding Americans who truly appreciate and respect the right to bear arms. And how their presence, fully loaded and in control, should not be perceived to be so newsworthy.
The following is Pratt’s first draft of the column. For a more in-depth discussion about the power these quietly loud statements exert in the ongoing debate about the 2nd Amendment, call Special Guests to schedule an interview with Larry Pratt.
He Had a Gun and Nothing Happened
by Larry Pratt
From New Hampshire to Arizona, Americans openly carrying firearms have been seen outside Presidential appearances. The most remarkable thing about this is that some find this behavior to be remarkable.
American citizens are the sovereigns in our system of government. Indeed, We the People created the government which, at least in theory, only does what we tell it to do in the Constitution. Sovereigns are expected to be armed.
The Second Amendment was added to our Constitution to insure that the individual right to keep and bear arms not be infringed. Infringement would impair the proper functioning of the militia, which had been America’s homeland security system all through colonial times and well into our republican era.
The armed attendees made it clear that they were exercising their right to keep and bear arms. Zero tolerance of firearms has become so extreme that even a picture of a gun can get a student kicked out of school. The presence of armed citizens helps correct the notion that guns are inherently dangerous.
Americans are increasingly deciding to go about openly carrying firearms even when they might legally carry concealed. Some would like to say that this constitutes disturbing the peace. It is a strange view that accepts as normal a police officer openly carrying a firearm, but finds it alarming when a sovereign citizen – the cop’s boss – does the same.
In addition to the educational value of going about openly armed, the presence of such citizens has another positive impact. Real homeland security is being maintained. The Secret Service is tasked with protecting the President and other select individuals – and nobody else.
For those who object to openly armed citizens being present near presidential events, do they have any concern for the well being of those who do not benefit from Secret Service protection?
A few years ago, I was at a conference where the governor of the state of Arizona was to speak. Shortly before the appointed time a member of the governor’s security detail came into the room from a service entrance, looked around the audience, which included at least a dozen people openly carrying sidearms, ducked out of sight and returned with the governor.
The governor’s security was aware of the armed attendees, and was also aware that the guns were holstered and obviously under control. They evidently thought that was proper gun control.
There are those who don’t like Americans owning guns at all, let alone carrying them about. They can be counted on to run about squawking like Chicken Little that the sky is falling – a calamity brought about by the presence of an armed citizen in public. We are warned that: “Somebody might grab the gun and do something bad! The armed citizen will intimidate others! Tempers will flare and blood will run in the streets!”
These are the same alarms that are sounded when any measure designed to facilitate citizens keeping and bearing arms is advanced. And the alarms are always false. One would think that consistently being wrong would be embarrassing, but one would be wrong about those who assume that common citizens are untrustworthy and dangerous.
A tip of the hat to those who have stirred the debate. And, our thanks to them for exercising proper gun control and reminding us of how homeland security should be conducted.
Larry Pratt is Executive Director of Gun Owners of America.
(http://www.gunowners.org).
ABOUT YOUR EXPERT GUEST, LARRY PRATT:
Larry Pratt has been Executive Director of Gun Owners of America for 30 years. GOA is a national membership organization of 300,000 Americans dedicated to promoting their second amendment freedom to keep and bear arms.
GOA lobbies for the pro-gun position in Washington and is involved in firearm issues in the states. GOA’s work includes providing legal assistance to those involved in lawsuits with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the federal firearms law enforcement agency.
Pratt has appeared on numerous national radio and TV programs such as NBC’s Today Show, CBS’ Good Morning America, CNN’s Crossfire and Larry King Live, Fox’s Hannity & Colmes, MSNBC’s Phil Donahue and Dan Abrams show and many others.
Larry Pratt has debated Congressmen James Traficant, Jr. (D-OH), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Vice President Al Gore, among others.
Larry’s columns have appeared in newspapers across the country.
Pratt published a book, Armed People Victorious, in 1990 and was editor of a book, Safeguarding Liberty: The Constitution & Militias, 1995.
Pratt’s latest book is “On the Firing Line: Essays in the Defense of Liberty.”
Pratt has held elective office in the state legislature of Virginia, serving in the House of Delegates. Pratt directs a number of other public interest organizations and serves as the Vice-Chairman of the American Institute for Cancer Research.
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