The White House Responds

This is the e-mail that was sent out at 6:45 pm CST today.  (15 minutes ago)

When Discussing the Second Amendment, Keep the First in Mind Too

By Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary

Thank you for participating in We the People to speak out on an issue that matters to you.

Let’s not let arguments over the Constitution’s Second Amendment violate the spirit of its First. President Obama believes that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. However, the Constitution not only guarantees an individual right to bear arms, but also enshrines the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press -- fundamental principles that are essential to our democracy. Americans may disagree on matters of public policy and express those disagreements vigorously, but no one should be punished by the government simply because he or she expressed a view on the Second Amendment -- or any other matter of public concern.

We recognize that the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, sparked an intense, and at times emotional, national conversation about the steps we can take as a country to reduce gun violence. In fact, your petition is one of many on the issue, and President Obama personally responded by sharing his views on this important issue.

In a recent press conference, President Obama also addressed the Second Amendment and the important perspective that law-abiding gun owners bring to the public conversation on this issue:

Look, like the majority of Americans, I believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. This country has a strong tradition of gun ownership that's been handed down from generation to generation. Obviously across the country there are regional differences. There are differences between how people feel in urban areas and rural areas. And the fact is the vast majority of gun owners in America are responsible -- they buy their guns legally and they use them safely, whether for hunting or sport shooting, collection or protection.
But you know what, I am also betting that the majority -- the vast majority -- of responsible, law-abiding gun owners would be some of the first to say that we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law-breaking few from buying a weapon of war. I'm willing to bet that they don't think that using a gun and using common sense are incompatible ideas -- that an unbalanced man shouldn't be able to get his hands on a military-style assault rifle so easily; that in this age of technology, we should be able to check someone's criminal records before he or she can check out at a gun show; that if we work harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, there would be fewer atrocities like the one in Newtown -- or any of the lesser-known tragedies that visit small towns and big cities all across America every day.

So to that - I say - Mr. President.  Remember your words.  We are ALL for keeping firearms out of the hands of crazy, mentally ill, and criminally minded people.  Nobody wants that.  Not the NRA, not me, nobody wants a criminal with a gun.

Keep in mind that you are saying we should go after THE CRIMINALS GUNS.  And keep in mind that banning firearms does nothing more than make them easier for criminals to get.  Just take a look at your war on drugs.

Do not go back on your word Mr. President.  If you believe in my 2nd Amendment Right, then you will not try to use force of law to prevent me from exercising it.  I'll pass my background checks, and I'll pay my taxes.  I'll continue living my life the way I see best fit, within the scope of the law and the one true God.

Do not infringe upon my Rights Mr. President.  A so called "Assault Weapons Ban" does exactly that.  Let us sit down and discuss these matters, 1 on 1.  Bans do nothing but harm law abiding citizens.  Don't sell yourself short intellectually to think such a thing would have any impact on crime what so ever.

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Illinois Representative Contacts

I wanted to create this as an easy reference point for contacting any and all Illinois Government officials.  For those of you unaware, the Chicago Democrats have been on a rabid frenzy to pass an "Assault Weapons" ban, under the radar, many times in the last few months.

Their resolve is strong.  Ours cannot be matched.  But we should strengthen our efforts and concentrate them where they are needed most.  So this is a list of contact information for each representative as well as whether or not they support a gun ban.  I'll be updating this often, so please book mark it, share it, and comment if you hear anything from anyone.

I will personally verify, for myself, if a Representative supports or opposes before making an update.

If you do not know who your local representative is, you can click HERE and fill in your information.  Remember to thank the NRA for providing this service.

You can click each representatives name to get their contact information.

For the record, Illinois has 64 Democrats and 54 Republicans.  As this list grows, i'll tally up how many gun grabbers vs how many pledge to protect the 2nd.

Representative	Bills	Committees	District	Party
Dena M. Carli	Bills	Committees	1	D
Edward J. Acevedo	Bills	Committees	2	D
Luis Arroyo	Bills	Committees	3	D
Cynthia Soto	Bills	Committees	4	D
Kenneth Dunkin	Bills	Committees	5	D
Esther Golar	Bills	Committees	6	D
Cory Foster	Bills	Committees	7	D
La Shawn K. Ford	Bills	Committees	8	D
Arthur Turner	Bills	Committees	9	D
Eddie Winters	Bills	Committees	10	D
Ann Williams	Bills	Committees	11	D
Sara Feigenholtz	Bills	Committees	12	D
Greg Harris	Bills	Committees	13	D
Kelly M. Cassidy	Bills	Committees	14	D
John D'Amico	Bills	Committees	15	D
Lou Lang	Bills	Committees	16	D
Daniel Biss	Bills	Committees	17	D
Robyn Gabel	Bills	Committees	18	D
Joseph M. Lyons	Bills	Committees	19	D
Michael P. McAuliffe	Bills	Committees	20	R
Michael J. Zalewski	Bills	Committees	21	D
Michael J. Madigan	Bills	Committees	22	D
Daniel J. Burke	Bills	Committees	23	D
Elizabeth Hernandez	Bills	Committees	24	D
Barbara Flynn Currie	Bills	Committees	25	D
Kimberly du Buclet	Bills	Committees	26	D
Monique D. Davis	Bills	Committees	27	D
Robert Rita	Bills	Committees	28	D
Thaddeus Jones	Bills	Committees	29	D
William Davis	Bills	Committees	30	D
Mary E. Flowers	Bills	Committees	31	D
André M. Thapedi	Bills	Committees	32	D
Marcus C. Evans, Jr.	Bills	Committees	33	D
Elgie R. Sims, Jr.	Bills	Committees	34	D
William Cunningham	Bills	Committees	35	D
Kelly Burke	Bills	Committees	36	D
Charles W. Krezwick	Bills	Committees	37	D
Al Riley	Bills	Committees	38	D
Maria Antonia Berrios	Bills	Committees	39	D
Deborah Mell	Bills	Committees	40	D
Chris Nybo	Bills	Committees	41	R
Sandra M. Pihos	Bills	Committees	42	R
Keith Farnham	Bills	Committees	43	D
Fred Crespo	Bills	Committees	44	D
Franco Coladipietro	Bills	Committees	45	R
Dennis M. Reboletti	Bills	Committees	46	R
Patricia R. Bellock	Bills	Committees	47	R
Michael G. Connelly	Bills	Committees	48	R
Timothy L. Schmitz	Bills	Committees	49	R
Kay Hatcher	Bills	Committees	50	R
Ed Sullivan, Jr.	Bills	Committees	51	R
David McSweeney	Bills	Committees	52	R
Sidney H. Mathias	Bills	Committees	53	R
Thomas Morrison	Bills	Committees	54	R
Randy Ramey, Jr.	Bills	Committees	55	R
Michelle Mussman	Bills	Committees	56	D
Elaine Nekritz	Bills	Committees	57	D
Karen May	Bills	Committees	58	D
Carol A. Sente	Bills	Committees	59	D
Rita Mayfield	Bills	Committees	60	D
JoAnn D. Osmond - Pro 2nd Amendment	Bills	Committees	61	R
Sandy Cole	Bills	Committees	62	R
Jack D. Franks	Bills	Committees	63	D
Michael W. Tryon	Bills	Committees	64	R
Rosemary Mulligan	Bills	Committees	65	R
David Harris	Bills	Committees	66	R
Charles E. Jefferson	Bills	Committees	67	D
John M. Cabello	Bills	Committees	68	R
Joe Sosnowski	Bills	Committees	69	R
Robert W. Pritchard	Bills	Committees	70	R
Richard Morthland	Bills	Committees	71	R
Patrick J. Verschoore	Bills	Committees	72	D
David R. Leitch	Bills	Committees	73	R
Donald L. Moffitt	Bills	Committees	74	R
Pam Roth	Bills	Committees	75	R
Frank J. Mautino	Bills	Committees	76	D
Angelo Saviano	Bills	Committees	77	R
Camille Y. Lilly	Bills	Committees	78	D
Lisa M. Dugan	Bills	Committees	79	D
Anthony DeLuca - Pro 2nd Amendment	Bills	Committees	80	D
Renée Kosel	Bills	Committees	81	R
Jim Durkin	Bills	Committees	82	R
Linda Chapa LaVia	Bills	Committees	83	D
Tom Cross	Bills	Committees	84	R
Emily McAsey	Bills	Committees	85	D
Lawrence M. Walsh, Jr.	Bills	Committees	86	D
Bill Mitchell	Bills	Committees	87	R
Dan Brady	Bills	Committees	88	R
Jim Sacia	Bills	Committees	89	R
Jerry L. Mitchell	Bills	Committees	90	R
Michael Unes	Bills	Committees	91	R
Jehan A. Gordon	Bills	Committees	92	D
Jil Tracy	Bills	Committees	93	R
Norine Hammond	Bills	Committees	94	R
Mike Fortner	Bills	Committees	95	R
Darlene J. Senger	Bills	Committees	96	R
C.D. Davidsmeyer	Bills	Committees	97	R
Wayne Rosenthal	Bills	Committees	98	R
Raymond Poe	Bills	Committees	99	R
Rich Brauer	Bills	Committees	100	R
Adam Brown	Bills	Committees	101	R
Paul Evans	Bills	Committees	102	R
Naomi D. Jakobsson - GUN GRABBER!	Bills	Committees	103	D
Chad Hays - Pro 2nd Amendment	Bills	Committees	104	R
Jason Barickman	Bills	Committees	105	R
Keith P. Sommer	Bills	Committees	106	R
John D. Cavaletto	Bills	Committees	107	R
David Reis	Bills	Committees	108	R
Brad E. Halbrook	Bills	Committees	109	R
Chapin Rose - Pro 2nd Amendment	Bills	Committees	110	R
Daniel V. Beiser	Bills	Committees	111	D
Dwight Kay	Bills	Committees	112	R
Scott E. Penny	Bills	Committees	113	D
Eddie Lee Jackson, Sr.	Bills	Committees	114	D
Mike Bost	Bills	Committees	115	R
Jerry F. Costello, II	Bills	Committees	116	D
John E. Bradley	Bills	Committees	117	D
Brandon W. Phelps	Bills	Committees	118	D

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The time is TODAY!

People of Illinois - You are needed NOW!  This can't wait until you get off of work, this can't wait until tomorrow.  You are needed this very moment, and you simply cannot shrug this off.  You must act!

The gun ban that we're about to talk about, being voted on THIS WEEK by YOUR Illinois representatives, quite literally bans *ALL* modern firearms.  That's handguns, shotguns, rifles.  Hunting/Sporting, it doesn't matter.  They're coming after ALL OF THEM.

They have refused to enact a Grandfather Clause - and IF THIS BILL IS PASSED - they will require *ALL* Illinois Residents to turn in their firearms to the local Illinois State Police location for destruction or face criminal prosecution.

You have never been needed more than you are right now!!!  YOU MUST ACT 

REMEMBER TO BE KIND AND COURTEOUS TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE.  VEHEMENT & BELLIGERENT ACTIONS WILL GET US NO WHERE.  THOSE ARE THE TOOLS OF THE ENEMY!

Our friends at Illinois Carry are running the official story on this, and HERE is the link to their article for credit.

What's happening is your elected officials have created a nearly perfect storm to pass the largest most infringing legislation of any state in the history of our Union. 

This all takes place a time when redistricting of Illinois is happening, causing chaotic confusion with who you are supposed to call, who is your representative, and who will be tomorrow.  They're banking on you NOT KNOWING.  To call this a coincidence is nothing short of naivety. 

They have gone back to a bill that has already been voted on and approved and attached this draconian gun ban to resubmit for a vote.  This is a sneaky, snake in the grass move, and these lame duck representatives are trying to STICK IT TO YOU one last time because YOU voted THEM out of office! 

UPDATE

If you're unsure who to contact, here's some direction.  First, you'll need to know what district you live in.  For that, you just need your area code, and CLICK HERE

Special THANK YOU to the NRA for providing that function.  The Illinois State Government has removed the search function from their website as of the time of writing this article, and has forced 12,000,000 Illinois residents to all call one phone number to get in contact with their own Government.

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The Next Civil War

There's a lot of talk these days of "The Next Revolution" or "The next American Civil War" and, while I believe those days are very near and upon us, I do not believe it will be a war of guns and ammo.  It will be a war of ideas and rhetoric. 

We've already seen the beginning of it with the latest Assault Weapons Ban being proposed in the Senate.  This new Assault Weapons Ban, among many other things, is essentially saying this:  Law Abiding Gun Owners are Guilty until Proven Innocent.  They are Criminals.

Don't believe me?  Think I'm being hyperbolic?  The new AWB (Assault Weapons Ban) imposes rules that require registration of all firearms with local law enforcement.  What other group of people have to register with local law enforcement and maintain open channels of current residence?

• Child Molesters
• Rapists
• Murderers
• Parolees

Just to name a few...

So...now a law abiding gun owner has to be put on a national, and public, list along side men and women who sexually molest children?  Are these people insane?  In what way does that save lives?

93% of *ALL* firearms used to commit a crime in the United States of America, are ILLEGAL firearms.  Meaning the person who used that firearm to commit a crime was not allowed to have it in the first place.

If the words mean nothing - let's try a pie graph

So.  You see that light blue slice?  That's the number of crimes committed with a firearm owned by a law abiding citizen.  7%.  That's a might small piece of pie...let's put that into perspective.

If you go buy a large pizza from some place like Papa Johns, you're going to end up with 8 slices of pizza.  Each piece of that pie represents 12.5% of the overall pie.  The % of legal firearms used in crime is less than 1 piece of pizza in a size large.  So, as we can see, so far the rationale seems to be that we can reduce that 7% to something less, by stripping tens of millions of other law abiding citizens of that right.  So *maybe* it falls a few points?  Maybe?  But how many of those 7% were "non assault weapon" guns (we'll get to that term later)  We don't know right now, i'm sure the data exists somewhere, but it's buried, and for me, completely irrelevant.

The AWB is saying "Lets not worry about the 93%, let's go after the 7% and take it down to 5"

So it's going in the face of common sense and the spirit of the law.  They're taking the lazy minded way out of things...but why?  Because, as I said earlier, this is a war of rhetoric and ideas.  These people feel strongly about their ideas, and no amount of fact will change their mind - this is their cause, they feel it makes them important, and it'd be one hell of a trophy on their wall.  The 2nd Amendment.  Stripping guns by enforcing laws with guns.  Doesn't sound very democratic.

But it doesn't end there.  Let's look at this AWB a little closer.

The term "assault weapon" first off, is a pejorative.  It's a politicians word.  It doesn't mean anything.

There are "assault rifles".  Those are the rifles that people typically envision when they hear the term "Assault Weapon".

But what's the difference you might ask?  Well, the AWB sets out to ban anything that LOOKS like an assault rifle.  They'll tell you "Assault Weapons are bad" and then talk about what an assault rifle can do, making you think something like an AR15 can do the same thing.  It can't.  Simply put.

You can read another article on this on Not A Blog if you're interested in more indepth detail about the difference between semi-auto and full-auto.

Click Here to Read More

So, once again, we have a war of rhetoric.  Intentionally false and misleading language to force a conclusion on uneducated minds.  If this were about saving lives, why the need to lie and deceive?

That's because this isn't about saving lives.  It can't be.  If you look into the numbers yourself, you'll see why.

"Assault Weapons Ban" bans guns like the AR15, semi-auto AK47, pistol grips for shotguns, etc.  It doesn't ban weapons used in most murder:  Handguns.  Cheap ones.  So if this is about saving lives, why are we banning the weapons that are used to kill the LEAST number of people?

For a lot of the information we're going to go over, please reference the available chart.  This is information taken directly from the FBI Crime reports available HERE.

Click Image to Enlarge

Now, keep in mind, the FBI does not record data on "hunting rifle vs assault rifle" because they are smart enough to understand there isn't a difference.  A rifle is a rifle.  A handgun is a handgun.  Only uneducated ignorant people believe otherwise.  So lets start with the 20 year average.

In the 20 year span of 1991 to 2010, the United States had:

• An average population of 282,541
• An average # of murders totaling 16,728

Of those 16,728 murders 510 were done with a rifle.  And remember, that's a rifle of ANY KIND, not just one of those so called "Assault weapons".  That's 3%.  That's less than half of the 7% of legal firearms used to commit crime earlier.  So why are we going after rifles?

Why is it not handguns?  Handguns represent 67% of murder in the United States, according to the FBI.  But, the AWB doesn't seek to ban those, just certain types.  The very expensive types that common criminals don't use to commit crimes to begin with.

According to the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF for short) the most common firearm used in crime is a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver.  A gun not on the ban list.  Well, why not?  It's used to kill more people than any other gun there is, according to the United States Government.  I'll tell you why not.  It's not a scary gun.  Look at it.

Smith & Wesson .38 Revolver

Don't get me wrong.  I love that gun.  In fact, I love all guns.  Never met a gun I wouldn't love to own.  But again, I submit, if this is about saving lives, why isn't the gun responsible for the most murders on the last of banned weapons in the latest AWB?

This one gun is responsible for more murder than all rifles combined.  In fact, while we're comparing murder to rifles, lets take it a step further...

In that same 20 year time frame, 4 times as many people were murdered with a knife than any kind of rifle...  No bans on knives are being proposed.  You don't need a permit to own a knife, no matter how large or sharp.  No matter how small and concealed.

In fact, more people died from a blunt object (baseball bat primarily) and pure brute force (beaten to death) than were murdered with a rifle in a 20 year span.

Yet...we're going after rifles.  But not just any rifles.  "Assault Weapon" rifles.  Scary Black Rifles.  We're going after rifles that *LOOK* like this

But functions and fires the same round as this

They both fire a round that looks like this

The .223 is a 55 grain round.

So, one version is banned, the other is not.  Well...what about this rifle?

Weatherby Vanguard

The Weatherby Vanguard fires a 30-06 round.  How much bigger is that, you ask?  Let's see them side by side.

The 30-06 is a 180 grain bullet (compared to 55 from the 223).  Where I come from, that's a much larger bullet.

Yet...nobody is banning that round.  Well, why not?  It's larger.  A lot bigger.  It's *THE* quint essential military round - it was used to destroy Nazi German in WWII.  It's a nazi killer through and through...yet it's not being banned in the AWB.  Just the 5.56 (.223)  (Click here to read up the history of the 5.56 and why it's the NATO round of war)

So...we're not banning firearms used to kill people.  We're not banning the biggest rounds with most power...then what are we banning?

We're banning the firearms seen in movies.  Demonized by the media.  We're banning firearms that are easy to ban because they're easy to manipulate images of in the minds of uneducated, irresponsible, apathetic masses.

If this were about saving lives, we'd be looking at an all encompassing piece of legislation that looked at stiffer penalties for criminals.  While I would not support it, we would be looking at a piece of legislation to outlaw the .38 revolver.  It wouldn't be about disarming citizens, it would be about deterring common criminals from ever wanting to commit a crime.

There are many FACTS to be discussed, but one stands above them all - The more law abiding citizens in an area that are armed, the less crime.  That is a fact that simply cannot be argued with - AT ALL.  If you're interested in some other Facts - you can click HERE.  And don't worry - they're all backed up with evidence.  This isn't the Main Stream Media.  I actually source my information with official and credible sources.

But lets pretend for a moment, for arguments sake, that rifles were the problem.  We have something in our nations history to compare this to.  The 1994 Assault Weapons Ban which was, if you didn't know, written by the same person.  Senator Feinstine of California. 

The 1994 AWB (commonly referred to as the Clinton AWB) spanned from 1994 to 2004.  Here's some information about the time frame during the AWB, and the time frame, so far, afterwards

So DURING the last Assault Weapons Ban, an average of 557 people were killed with a rifle.  In the years after the AWB expired, an average of 404 people were killed with a rifle.  So an average of 153 more people were murdered, every year, during the time frame in which assault weapons were banned, than in the years after the ban expired.

Can someone please explain that?  An AWB didn't work last time, and even according to the Government its self, the AWB did nothing and banning hi-capacity magazines did NOTHING.  You can read more on that HERE.

And in case you're wondering why did I include "Automobiles" in this graph...if this is about saving lives, where is the ban on cars going over 55 mph?  Twice as many die, every year, from automobiles, than firearms.  Let's discuss facts and not emotion.

All of that is why the next Civil War will be a war of rhetoric.  A War of Words.  Not of bullets.  The enemy has fired the first shot, how will YOU respond?

For all of our incompetent citizens, The United States of America has still evolved beyond the need for the next war to be made of gunpowder and lead.  Like Modern Warfare, results are really decided more by the swipe of an ink pen, than a firing pin.

BUT!  What does all of this mean?  Why am I ranting about this?  Well, to me anyways, it's simple.  It's time we all got off of our asses and did something.  It's time we stopped holding our beliefs close to our chest in fear that we might offend some freedom hating heathen.

It's time we fought back with knowledge and education, fact over fiction, and it's time we stopped giving up so easily simply because the other side refuses to immediately acknowledge that they are wrong.

This is a war of ideals.  Ideals are not changed over night.  The other side has learned this long ago, and long ago, they planted the seeds that they are beginning to reap today.  Our tactics must be no different.  Our tactics must be of equal longevity and patience, and we must not give in, we must not give up.

When you hear something you disagree with - speak your mind.  When you hear someone spreading nonsense, step in with common sense and reason.  Read up on statistics.  Stay informed with current events.  Know what's going on in your Government, and for GOD SAKES, stop watching main stream media.  Be informed, stay informed, and question EVERYTHING.  It's a long winded process, to stay up on things, but if hte other side is willing to do it, and we aren't, they win, and we lose our rights.

So ask yourself, what's more important?  Not pissing your boss off on Facebook by posting your opinions of modern events?  Or planting a seed in the mind of your friends and family that might one day grow into an idea.

The next American Civil War will be decided on a battle field of the mind.  We have the upper hand, since long ago the opposing side has lost their damned minds, but they're in more vocal numbers than we are right now, and only *WE* can take it back.

The answers are all out there for those who want to seek them.   You might not have all of the answers at your disposal right now, but as long as you proceed knowing that the answers are there, and that facts side with the 2nd Amendment, then finding them becomes much easier, and supporting them becomes 2nd Nature.  It takes effort to fight this war of rhetoric, and the side with more effort will be the one who wins.

People like us *ARE* the silent majority.  It's time we stopped being silent.  It's time we started being PROACTIVE instead of REACTIVE, and it's time we started taking our country back.

If you take nothing else into battle with you - take this:

You are going up against a truly disgusting human being.  One of truly infantile logic.  Take with you the arsenal needed to convey truth and information to them.  Seek to educate and inform them, instead of yell them down and make them out to be the fools that they are.

Speak to them in their own language.  You can start with this, written in the medium of their choosing.  A message so simple even a gun grabber like Obama & Feinstine can understand it...written in crayon.  Shall not be infringed.  Doesn't get any simpler than that.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

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