"Government, Citizens And Keeping The Trust" "Do you think the federal government has become so large and powerful that it poses a threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens, or don't you think so?" Shockingly, 52% of Americans answered yes to this Time/CNN poll question posed a week after the terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City. Such is the depth of the concerns of millions of honest, hard-working, tax-paying citizens. Since the cowardly bomber murders, however, public attention has failed to center on the critical question of why so many citizens no longer trust their government. Rather, the focus has been on a small number of people who form so-called "citizen militias." These groups exist, we are constantly informed, in defiance of governmental efforts to control firearms. While the National Rifle Association, of course, opposes gun control schemes, for decades it has followed an explicit policy that condemns violent individuals and groups, including those advocating the violent overthrow of the government of the United States. NRA defends the individual right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms for legitimate purposes, the individual right guaranteed by the Constitution. This right is not dependent upon the Second Amendment's militia clause, nor does participation in a citizen militia organization make that right any more valid or strong. Consequently, NRA has never been involved in the formation or support of so-called citizen militia units. It is the gun control advocates who advance the fantasy that the right to keep and bear arms is a "collective right," contingent upon participation in a "citizen militia." As constitutional scholar Stephen Halbrook says: "If anyone entertained this notion in the period during which the Constitution and Bill of Rights were debated and ratified, it remains one of the most closely guarded secrets of the 18th century." On the other hand, one can cite, as just one example, famed English jurist Sir William Blackstone, whose writing strongly influenced the framers of our Constitution. Blackstone referred to the right of the people to be armed as an "auxiliary" right that serves "to protect and maintain inviolate the three great and primary rights, of personal security, personal liberty, and private property." Following the Oklahoma tragedy, there have been calls to expand the powers of federal law enforcement agents. Fingers of guilt have been pointed at individuals and groups who bear no responsibility for the terrorist attack but who do exercise their right to express anger and frustration at what they feel their government has become. These are the voices of not only those who choose to join citizen militias. For every militia member, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who are angered by a tax system that penalizes rather than rewards hard work, angered by a regulatory system that confiscates private property by transforming puddles into "wetlands," angered by a criminal justice system that often seems to treat criminals as victims, and, yes, angered by politicians who seek to disarm them under the guise of fighting crime. These citizens spoke loudly last November in voting booths across the nation, and they proved to any doubters that government remains subject to democratic change. These citizens became active participants in the debate about the proper role of the federal government, about what power should be concentrated within Washington, D.C. That debate, despite what some political opportunists seem to suggest, is legitimate, is necessary and is thoroughly American. It is these same citizens who rightfully question BATF/FBI actions at Ruby Ridge and Waco and feel that the government, in its internal reviews, has stonewalled attempts to arrive at the truth behind those disasters. It is these citizens who distrust Attorney General Janet Reno's recent promotion of the censured FBI official who oversaw both the attack at Ruby Ridge and the assault in Waco. These citizens know that only the harsh light of congressional hearings - hearings NRA continues to call for - will bring out the truth. Distrust of government now runs so deep in some Americans that they see the menace of unmarked "black helicopters" flying over their towns. They see U.N. troops occupying U.S. soil. They fear intrigues to establish a "one world order." For their concerns they most often are dismissed as paranoids, or worse, by the cultural elite who claim that the citizens voting for change last November 8 were, as ABC News anchor Peter Jennings contemptuously suggested, angry two-year-olds acting out temper tantrums, stomping their feet, rolling their eyes and screaming. While the evidence supporting notions of global conspiracies may be illusory, that doesn't mean NRA ignores threats to the Second Amendment from the international quarter. In fact, NRA assisted Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms in investigating a Japanese gun control resolution introduced at the recent Ninth U.N. Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in Cairo. Sen. Helms and Sen. Larry Craig addressed the issue of the globalization of gun control in a letter to Attorney General Reno as the conference was underway. "Japan's proposal may not be binding on U.S. citizens," they wrote, "but it would be a serious mistake for any U.S. administration to support any proposal calling for actions that could ultimately be an infringement of the U.S. Constitution and the rights of law-abiding Americans." Sens. Helms and Craig pointed out that "as is usual with such ill-considered proposals, it assumes that firearms, not criminals are the cause of crime." The Clinton administration, however, failed to heed the Senators' words, and the resolution was passed without dissent. Times have changed. But was it so long ago that a paladin of American liberalism wrote: "Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of the citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but historically has proved to be always possible." The nation has changed greatly since Sen. Hubert Humphrey, whose unflagging optimism always saw and sought to summon the best from his countrymen, wrote those words. Today law-abiding gun owners are viewed with suspicion if not fear by a cultural elite that seeks to demonize them. It is these gun owners who some politicians increasingly seek to blame for the nation's crime problem. NRA will continue to insist that the traditional right of American citizens to own and use firearms for lawful purposes be respected. NRA will continue to support politicians who support that right and seek to defeat those who do not. NRA will also recognize that freedom and liberty are not gifts that governments or politicians can bestow or take away. Filling Congress and state houses with pro-gun legislators is not enough. Gun owners also must not allow themselves to be demonized and become false images in the hearts and minds of their fellow citizens. Attorney and author Jeffrey Snyder captured that truth in a recent essay. "Ultimately, it is the support and esteem of our neighbors that we must win," he wrote, "for it is upon them that the continued enjoyment of our rights depend." =+=+= This information is presented as a service to the Internet community by the NRA/ILA. Some useful URLs: http://WWW.NRA.Org, gopher://GOPHER.NRA.Org, wais://WAIS.NRA.Org, ftp://FTP.NRA.Org, mailto:LISTPROC@NRA.Org (Send the word help as the body of a message) Information can also be obtained by connecting directly to the NRA-ILA GUN-TALK BBS at (703) 934-2121. NRA.org is maintained by Mainstream.net mailto:info@mainstream.net