Dear Conservative,
As we prepare to spend time with family and friends in the coming days, it is important to recognize how blessed we are. We all have so much to be thankful for. However for the 26.15% of Americans living behind the liberal Iron Curtain, there is still much left to be desired.
Illinois made history this past year by becoming the last state in the country to legalize the concealed carrying of handguns in public. Prior to this past year, Illinois law did not allow anyone, except law enforcement, to carry a concealed weapon within the state. However the state's CCW prohibition did not hold up in court, and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has since ordered Illinois to stop violating citizens' rights and begin to issue permits in early 2014.
The Second Amendment reads as follows: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in Heller vs. DC that the Second Amendment refers to an individual right to bear arms. Writing the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia explained that the Second Amendment protects the rights of qualified individuals to carry weapons for self-defense.
Yet an estimated 82,081,889 people living in California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia are still being denied their Second Amendment right to carry a firearm outside the home. That’s 26.15% of the entire American population living in states where the right to BEAR arms is either prohibited outright (as in the case of Washington DC) or heavily restricted, make legally carrying a firearm practically impossible.
While the vast majority of the country (41 out of 50 states) respects the right of law abiding citizens to carry firearms, a minority of states force citizens to show a “justifiable need” in order to receive permission to exercise their rights. Every state calls this requirement by a different name.
In New Jersey, for example, residents are forced to show a “justifiable need” and an “urgent necessity for self-protection” (as if anyone can predict when their life will be in danger…)
In Maryland, residents are forced to prove a “good and substantial reason” to exercise their Second Amendment rights to carry a firearm.
New York requires residents to show “good cause” before they are allowed to legally carry a firearm. In rural areas, this permit can be attainable. However it is nearly impossible for the average citizen to legally carry a firearm in New York City.
In California, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island local police have discretion over who receives a concealed weapons permit. While rural police departments regularly approve these permits, they are nearly impossible to obtain in urban cities.
Despite the Constitution promising American citizens the right to carry a weapon, Liberal states across the country are forcing residents to prove why they need to carry. No one asked Rosa Parks why she needed to sit at the front of the bus and no one has asked Oliver L. Brown why his African-American children needed to attend the White schools in Topeka, Kansas. It would be unconscionable to apply a “justifiable need” or “substantial reason” test to any other part of the Bill of Rights. Yet through our silence, we continue to allow the Democrats in Congress and the State Legislatures to violate the rights of our fellow Americans without fear of repercussion.
Where you live shouldn’t determine whether the Second Amendment applies to you. The right to keep and bear arms is a natural right enumerated within the Constitution that applies to all men and women regardless of who they are or where they live.
However in each of these blue states, liberal Democrats have maintained control over the state legislatures, allowing them to slowly but surely chip away at the Second Amendment. The Courts have also unfortunately ruled in favor of these laws, stating that these unconstitutional laws have been on the books for so long that they are “presumptively constitutional.”
In each of these oppressed states, there are valiant groups and organizations struggling to stem the tide of encroaching gun control. In New Jersey, there is the New Jersey Second Amendment Society; in Maryland, there is the Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Assoc.; and in California, there is the Calguns Foundation.
While these state organizations have had huge successes, when it comes to the Second Amendment, we must understand that united we stand, but divided we fall!
Back in August, Republicans in the House introduced H. R. 2959, a bill to establish national concealed carry reciprocity. While such a law would be appreciated, we also need national legislation to once and for all STOP liberal states from robbing residents of their constitutionally-protected rights.
Article VI, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution says that the Constitution itself “shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” While the Second Amendment provides U.S. citizens with the right to carry firearms, nine states have established laws that directly contradict this basic tenet. The fact that a minority of states are allowed to violate the Bill of Rights, the supreme Law of the Land, is an abomination. We have allowed these violations to happen for far too long!
The minute one American’s civil rights are up for debate, then all of our civil rights are debatable. The minute it is acceptable to require a justifiable need to exercise one’s Second Amendment rights, then the entirety of the Bill of Rights is put in jeopardy. Don’t think that this only applies to people living in blue states. These rights violations are a cancer that will surely spread.
If you live in one of these liberal states that restrict your Second Amendment rights, I encourage you to raise your voice and let Congress know that you will not sit quietly while state legislatures violate the Constitution. Join the hundreds of Patriots who will answer this call to action to fight for your Second Amendment rights!
If you live in Free America, where the Second Amendment still applies, you have an obligation to join this fight and defend the 26% of Americans languishing under Democratic rule. Until the Second Amendment applies to ALL Americans, then we are slaves… We are all subjects.
It is called the Bill of Rights, not the Bill of Needs. If you continue to accept clear civil rights violations in states like New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California, then Congress will see your silence as a show of support.
But if you raise your voice, if we all raise our voices to tell Congress that this assault on Americans’ Second Amendment rights is UNACCEPTABLE, then success is possible!
If there is to be any chance of restoring Second Amendment rights to ALL Americans, then we need to stand as ONE and tell Congress that these violations will not be tolerated!
Sincerely,
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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