My friends,

I had intended to remain silent to allow a decent period of mourning, in the aftermath of the American tragedy that is now, evidently, a well-planned lethal foreign attack against Americans on 911 Tuesday, America's second Day of Infamy.

But I just saw Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson being interviewed by Neil Cavuto on Fox News, and she was suggesting that it was "ridiculous for Americans to have to go into protective mode" when they board an aircraft. She wants us to sit quietly when we board, secure in the knowledge that there's a sky marshall on board.

How did the people of Texas, the heirs of Sam Houston and Colonel Davy Crockett, elect this sissy?

I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!

I've been saying it as loudly as I could for over ten years. I've written books and articles, spoke on radio and TV, gave speeches.

If you disarm the people -- if you make them give up their guns when they get on a plane, go into a post office, get taken out to the ball game -- then there will never be enough police officers to go around when the bad guys decide to strike, without warning, at a time and place of their own choosing.

The jetliners that took down the World Trade Center, a city of 50,000 daytime inhabitants, and that exploded into the very military headquarters of the world's only remaining superpower, were taken over by a few thugs with boxcutters.

If the airline pilots had guns this couldn't have happened.

If the flight attendants had guns this couldn't have happened.

If local police officers who fly were allowed to carry their guns with them, warned only to switch to frangible ammunition, this couldn't have happened.

If I -- or someone like me -- a fat middle-aged American couch potato, but with police-quality training in firearms, had been allowed to carry my Glock 23 pistol on one of these flights, this couldn't have happened.

But what is the solution of the big brains in charge of our national security? Yes, you got it. This is not a joke. Before you get on a plane, they want to take away your pen knives, nail clippers, and boxcutters! This new FAA regulation goes into effect before they will allow commercial flights to even take off.

If you still are one of those who believe in petitioning the government for a redress of grievances, please let your duly-elected public servant know what you think of Americans who board airliners being treated even more like cattle than they are already. Ask them how many Americans must die before they intend to allow us to defend our lives.

Write anyone else you think might listen. Call talk radio. Post Internet messages on the major news websites. Call, write, and email anyone in the media you know personally.

Call and write Attorney General Ashcroft and White House presidential advisor Karl Rove.

Attorney General John Ashcroft (Dear General Ashcroft)
Main Justice Bldg. Room 1603
Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530

Mr. Karl Rove (Dear Mr. Rove)
Sr. Advisor to the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

We have no time to mourn. We have our loved ones and neighbors to defend, before the next thug with a grievance makes them the next target. Have we not already been told by the President of the United States that we are at war with terrorists?

J. Neil Schulman, author
Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns
Webmaster, The World Wide Web Gun Defense Clock

"The other rain is sunshine." --J. Neil Schulman, July 21, 2000

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