The National Rifle Association just concluded its 136th Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. As a life-long supporter (as in agreeing with the NRA’s purpose to preserve our right to “keep and bear arms”, and as an NRA member in my teens and early twenties, and again for the past decade or so) I have long desired to attend the Annual Meetings. But, unfortunately, to date I have been unable to do so. I am truly appreciative of the coverage of the Annual Meetings provided by Cam and Company on NRANews.com. It’s the “next best thing” to being there.
I don’t get the opportunity to shoot as much as I used to in high school, college, and early in my marriage. But, I still have my guns (more now than ever – its amazing how they accumulate over the years), and I am still fervent in my right to keep and bear them.
I grew up in the foothills of Mount Taylor in northwestern New Mexico. Guns were just part of my family’s existence. I didn’t get to shoot much in my early youth. My Dad used guns mainly for varmint control around our home, and for killing the pigs we butchered every year to supplement our food supply. The only safety lesson I can remember my Dad giving me was a simple, but profound statement. He told me, “Son, don’t ever point a gun at something you don’t intend to shoot.” I have remembered that lesson my entire life. I learned of its veracity in my early teens. As I recall, my Mother and I were home alone. There was Dad’s old Remington bolt action .22 rifle on the gun rack. I thought it would be a good idea to go shooting – never mind that I don’t remember ever having fired a gun before that. I got the rifle down, found a few shells, and headed for the door. My mother saw what I was up to and questioned my intent considering that my Dad had not authorized this activity. “Aw, he won’t mind,” I told her. And being the patient and understanding Mother she was, and knowing that my Dad probably wouldn’t mind (but he also probably wouldn’t have let me do it without him being there), she cautioned me to be safe and let me go.
Excited by this new freedom, I found a couple of tin cans, and set them up in a likely spot. Backing away a few yards, I tried my luck, firing off a few rounds. I quickly got bored with not hitting anything but dirt – I didn’t hit close enough to those cans to wiggle them or even splatter them with dust. Then I saw a small bird sitting on a branch across the creek, several yards again farther away than the cans. Knowing I couldn’t hit a thing, I decided to shoot at that bird. I pointed the rifle (I hesitate to say I “aimed” it) and fired a round. I was astounded when the bird dropped like a stone out of the tree. Not yet accepting that I could have hit it, I went rushing across the creek to see what had happened. It was dead, a bloody furrow plowed through its breast by the bullet I had fired. I was crushed! The shock of knowing I had taken its life brought me to tears. From that day to this, I have always been very careful to follow my Dad’s admonition. I have never again pointed a gun at something I didn’t intend to shoot, and I have never pointed one at a human being (and pray that I never have to).
I bought my first gun, an Erma, .22 semi auto Luger action pistol in 1968 from a hardware store in Socorro, New Mexico. I was a young freshman at New Mexico Tech. A couple of my school buddies were shooters and took me shooting several times with them. I got tired of borrowing their weapons. Scraping together some very scarce dollars from my college finances, I went down to the store. The guns were displayed in a case near the front counter. Electric saws and drills were displayed in the next case over; hammers and handsaws were hanging from a pegboard backer behind the case. The Erma was not one of the best guns displayed, but it was one of the less expensive (and on my budget, I couldn’t afford much). The thing that really sold me on it was the cool Luger action and looks – I had always admired and wanted a Luger. I paid a grand total of $70 for that gun, handed the cash to the attendant and walked out with the gun. It was not the best-made gun, but it was surprisingly accurate, generally reliable (it jammed fairly often), shot well, and was fun to shoot. I still have that gun, and my children are now shooting it more than I.
The point: Just try buying any kind of gun in those circumstances today. The Second Amendment of our Constitution says that my “right … to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The fact that I can no longer go into the local hardware shop, lay my money on the counter, and walk out with the gun of my choice is unquestionably an infringement of my right to keep and bear arms. Now, I recognize there has to be some means of preventing criminals from purchasing guns with that same ease. But, the criminals are the ones that have violated our laws – they are the ones who should suffer diminished rights, not the honest, law-abiding citizens.
That brings me back to the NRA. I thank God for the NRA because without it, I’m not sure our right to keep and bear arms would still exist. Powerful forces throughout the world (the U.N.?) and even within our nation (McCarthy, Bloomberg, Schumer, Kennedy, etc., etc., ad nauseam) are at work trying to take this right from me and from you. So far, the NRA and the masses of law-abiding, freedom-loving citizens have stood as a brick wall to prevent the agenda of these gun ban forces from advancing more than it has.
There are some cracks and leaks in that wall. For example, the Clinton gun ban of the 1990’s was a major breech, which thankfully has been sealed by the sunset of that law (McCarthy’s H.R. 1022 will reopen that breech if passed), the Gun Control Act of 1968, Brady Handgun Violence Act, etc. The NRA continues to resist further encroachment by anti gun forces and has had some significant success in recent years.
One position the NRA advocates that I don’t understand or agree with. The NRA is pushing for all states to enact “shall issue” right-to-carry concealed weapons laws. I guess this is the best kind of right-to-carry law to have, if there has to be one. But, my Constitution says that my right to “bear arms, shall not be infringed.” “Bear” in this case is not a large beast, but means to carry, to have in possession, to have on one’s person. There is nothing in the Second Amendment that says I have the right to bear arms unless I am carrying them concealed. The Second Amendment is my concealed carry permit. Any law, including the right-to-carry laws advocated by the NRA, that in any way restricts or “infringes” upon my right to “bear” arms, including a requirement to register and obtain a permit (i.e. requiring me to ask permission) to carry concealed, is in violation of the Constitution and is void ab initio. Am I the only one that can see this? And, isn’t obtaining a concealed carry permit a backhanded form of gun registration (which the NRA supposedly strongly opposes)? I don’t understand why the NRA continues to pursue this course. I have corresponded twice with the NRA asking them to explain this but have received no reply. Though I am a strong supporter of the NRA, if I find an organization that does not pursue this course, but that fights for my gun rights as plainly stated in the Second Amendment, I will be inclined to leave the NRA and add my support to that organization.
