This article was printed from KeepAndBearArms.com.
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People ask me constantly about the Libertarian Second Amendment
Caucus: what is it; what is it for; is it still alive; how can they
join.
The LSAC is an organization I created a few years ago because of
the failure of both the Libertarian Party and the National Rifle
Association to effectively address government, mass-media, and
pressure-group assaults on the individual right to own and carry
weapons.
The LSAC, as I conceived it, has no "rank-and-file" membership.
Its goal is to generate a political climate favorable to stringent
enforcement of the Bill of Rights, primarily by informing gun owners
about Libertarianism, while informing Libertarians on Second Amendment
issues. The plan is to recruit an LSAC "coordinator" in every county
and every state, as well as every riding and every province, in North
America.
The LSAC is principle-driven, struggling for what we all know to
be right, rather than what some "expert" tells us is "possible".
(What's right becomes impossible only when we give up before the
struggle even commences.) Those who wish to become LSAC coordinators
must be willing to embrace the Non-Aggression Pledge in its most
restrictive form; as one coordinator recently pointed out, this is not
only a moral thing to do, but when responsibility for mass killings is
being slung around so casually, it may prove highly pragmatic, as
well.
What's the pledge? A Libertarian is a person who believes that no
one has a right under any circumstances to initiate force against
another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. This
is all Libertarianism consists of, no more, no less. Those who act
consistently with this principle are Libertarians whether they realize
it or not (and are the sort I want for the LSAC). Those who fail to
act consistently with it are not Libertarians, no matter what they may
claim.
LSAC coordinators must also agree with the LSAC Statement of Principles ...
Every man, woman, and responsible child has a natural, fundamental,
and inalienable human, individual, civil, and Constitutional right to
obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- handgun,
shotgun, rifle, machinegun, anything -- any time, anywhere,
without asking anyone's permission.
The Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus opposes all proposed
and pending victim-disarmament laws -- commonly but improperly
known as "gun control" -- and, given the political power, will:
1) repeal more than 20,000 victim-disarmament laws already
on the books (none of which is Constitutional or consistent with
the concept of individual or human rights) and abolish all
agencies, at every level of government, responsible for enforcing
them;
2) decriminalize concealed weapons carry and the act of self-defense;
3) pardon and provide restitution to anyone ever harmed or
even inconvenienced by victim-disarmament laws;
4) arrest, convict, fine, and imprison any public official
who ever enacted or enforced victim-disarmament laws; and
5) where a violation of individual or Constitutional rights
has resulted in a fatality, impose the maximum penalty on all
such public officials.
LSAC coordinators must belong at some level to the Libertarian
Party. Because the national LP currently fails to live up to ordinary
standards of courage, decency, or competence (let alone the standards
required by the LSAC) I recommend that they join their state LP. If
it suffers the same malaise as the national LP, look into absentee
membership in the Arizona LP by contacting ALP Chairman Mike Dugger
cartero@netwrk.com.
LSAC coordinators must also be gun owners and belong to at least
one organization like the NRA, Gun Owners of America, the Second
Amendment Foundation, Citizens' Committee for the Right to Keep and
Bear Arms, or Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. None
of these groups is perfect (although JPFO comes close); if they were,
there'd have been no need for the LSAC. The NRA, in particular, with
its suicidal campaign for national licensing, has transformed itself
into the world's largest gun control lobby. Think of them as vehicles
for persuading others to adopt a more consistent and effective view, a
Libertarian view, on Second Amendment issues. (Some LSAC coordinators
maintain a similar connection with the American Civil Liberties
Union.)
In this context, if you'd like to be more than another haranguing
voice at a meeting nobody really wants to attend, consider joining a
local club and participating in something like competition or range
maintenence. When words fail, your willingness to work hard or an
ability to shoot straight can be more persuasive than any political
lecture.
Finally, LSAC coordinators must be cybernetically capable -- at
least able to send and receive e-mail, as that's the principal means
by which we communicate among ourselves. If they also happen to be
communicators in other media -- writers or speakers -- so much the
better.
The LSAC is a political and cultural organization, not a militia.
Due to length limitations, I'll leave the details of "Putting the LSAC
to Work" for a future article. For now, just consider a couple of
examples.
Suppose, in response to some anti-gun propaganda, an advertiser --
not the network; they're used to this stuff -- received apparently
uncoordinated calls and letters from each of 50 states, 3088 counties,
10 provinces, and I don't know how many ridings in North America. Or
a newspaper got equally widespread responses in praise of a pro-gun
article. Or suppose a Senator received -- over a six month period --
demands from every part of the country that a certain federal judge be
impeached.
Or imagine the effect some 3000 hard-line delegates might have on
a convention of the LP, the NRA, the ACLU, or even the Republican
Party.
The mere ubiquity of the LSAC may be enough to change things. If
everywhere the enemies of liberty go, everywhere they look, in every
state, country, province, and riding, in every newspaper and magazine,
on every radio station, and eventually every TV channel, the LSAC is
there to name them for the vicious liars they've always been and the
murderous thugs they've become, they may finally come to understand
that we gun owners are no longer a soft political target and easy
prey.
If you qualify as an LSAC coordinator, write to me. We can no
longer count on the LP or the NRA to get us out of the mess they
created.
My home on the web, The Webley Page: www.webleyweb.com/lneil/
My e-zine The Libertarian Enterprise: www.webleyweb.com/tle/
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