by Dave Kopp

January 13, 2002

KeepAndBearArms.com -- "Hi! My name is Dave, and I'm a pro-freedom activist."

Sound familiar? It should. You've probably said something like that many times. Why? If you're reading this, chances are you belong to that select group of people who understand something that very few folks do these days. And that is, quite simply, that our freedom is under attack. Serious attack, from a whole host of enemies. So we, all of us, have become activists in the fight for freedom.

But what makes someone an activist? I'm not talking about how Mr. Webster sees it. I mean how we see it, deep down in our bones. What is that quality that really makes someone an activist?

I write letters, make phone calls, and send emails to my 'legiscritters'. Lots of them. All the time. By now I'd bet most of them have a separate correspondence file all for me. I'd lay dollars to doughnuts that most of them are sick of hearing my name. But does that make me an activist?

Nope.

I get involved. Really involved. I devote lots of time to various pro-freedom causes. In my case, it mostly goes to motorcyclist's rights and firearm owner's rights. Those are two of the things nearest and dearest to my heart, so it makes sense for me to concentrate on them. I attend rallies. I march in protest. I sign petitions. I volunteer to help. I go to the meetings. So does that make me an activist?

Nope.

Let me step aside for a moment and ask a question. How many of you folks who are out there reading this have ever had the following happen to you?

You're involved, you're volunteering, and you're out there on the front lines for the cause. You're trying your hardest to convince someone else to sign that petition, or attend that meeting, or march in that protest. And they say, "I'd love to, really, but I don't want my name on a list."

So you say, "Ah. You don't want your name on a list. I see." And you smile, and move on to the next person.

But do you really see? I mean really, they don't want their name on a list? And just what planet have these people been living on, if their names aren't on any list yet?

Were you born in a hospital? Guess what? Your name is on a list. Do you have a Social Security number? It's on another list. How about a Driver's License? Yep, you guessed it, another list. Do you vote? Another list. Got a telephone? Another list. Checking account? Another list. Credit cards? Another list.

And the list of lists you're already on gets bigger and bigger every day.

And that brings me back to my original point. What makes someone an activist? For me, it's one simple thing. I want to be on the list!

Yep, you heard me right. I want to be on the list! Right at the top. In big, bold, 40 point type. So that whatever freedom stealing, scum sucking control freak is monitoring the list can see my name without having to put on his reading glasses. Just like John Hancock's signature on the Declaration of Independence.

Do you think when old Johnny did that, that he didn't know what it meant? Do you think for one second that he never realized it would put him square in the sights of the most powerful ruler in the world? And did he hesitate for even one second? Nope. Why? Because old Johnny was an activist.

I want them to know my name. I want them to know where I live, and what I do, and who I associate with, and why. I want them to know that this particular pain in the butt will never stop being one. I want them to know that I'm out there, watching, whenever one of their little stooges is getting ready to introduce some new rule or regulation that will tear another hole in the Bill of Rights. I want them to know that I'm going to be the first in line to expose their little schemes. And maybe most of all, I want them to know, deep down in their bones, that they can only push so far before I push back! I don't want them to ever forget who I am, and what I stand for, and the lengths that I will go to in order to preserve the freedoms that we were born with, and possess merely because we're human beings.

So what makes me an activist? Simple. The desire to stay in sights of the powerful, so that those who won't do so can sleep well at night, knowing that the knock on the door won't come.

"Hi! My name is Dave, and I'm a pro-freedom activist. Make sure you put that down right at the top of your list!"

Dave "Wizard" Kopp
wizard@van-kopp.com
Phoenix, AZ

Life Member:
Modified Motorcycle Association of Arizona
Gun Owners of America
National Rifle Association

Member:
ABATE of Arizona
Motorcycle Riders Foundation
American Motorcyclist Association
Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association
Brassroots, Inc.
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
Mother's Arms

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