A
Petition for Enforcement
of the Second Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States
Gun
Rights: Time for Federal Action, Not Just Words
Join
this Demand for Enforcement of the Second Amendment
IMPORTANT
NOTE: This article concerns the "Petition
for Enforcement of the Second Amendment to the
Constitution". If the project outlined below is
successful it will restore the free exercise of Second
Amendment rights in ALL states. Do not be misled by the
Petition's references to California - the infringements in
California are being focused on because of this state's
particular legal situation, as outlined in the Petition
itself. Again, the Petition has the potential to affect
ALL Americans by setting a precedent and/or initiating a
U.S. Supreme Court case. Your immediate attention and
support are therefore crucial.
On
many occasions the U.S. Justice Department has sent teams
of lawyers to force states, municipalities, agencies, and
officials to obey civil rights statutes, resulting in laws
being overturned and in legal actions against individuals.
Now
that we have an Attorney General who has stated
unequivocally that Americans have an individual right to
own and use firearms, we intend to see his office used to
enforce that right.
We
have charged the state of California with violating our
Second Amendment rights, and are formally requesting that
Attorney General John Ashcroft put a stop to it, now. Our
list of violations, in petition form, is intended to force
a ruling on all aspects of the Second Amendment.
We
ask YOU to print out this petition, have it signed by as
many people as possible, and mail
the original signature sheet(s) ONLY
to us at the address
below. Contact national, local and state gun organizations,
whether or not you belong to them, as well as gun
shops, gun shows, firing ranges, etc., and ask them to
endorse this effort and alert their members/customers to
it. By doing so, YOU can help ensure that Mr. Ashcroft
hears more voices than he can ignore.
California
is the state we chose because it is the largest in
population, has tremendous political influence, and has
many gun laws that are blatantly unconstitutional.
However, if we are successful, the precedent set in this
action would affect all
states. Of course, there's nothing to stop you from using
our petition as a template to demand action in your state
as well.
For
the first time in decades we have an Attorney General who
understands that the Second Amendment recognizes an
individual right. But if George Bush does not win the next
election Mr. Ashcroft will be gone. Timing is critical and
the gravity of our situation is real. We have a narrow
window of opportunity to act, and we must do it now.
Now
is the time to put and end to anti-gun, anti-self defense
laws. Now
is the time to force municipalities and states to restore
the free exercise of our rights instead of using our tax
money to attack those rights or to file frivolous anti-gun
lawsuits.
Now
is not the time
to feel safe or to relax our efforts.
This is especially true in this time of national
distress, when the tendency of government and many
citizens is to restrict
rather than promote individual rights.
It
is time to establish once and for all that we have a right
to own and use guns, that we can't be required to be
licensed or registered, and don't need some bureaucrat's
permission to own them.
Funding
long-term Second Amendment lawsuits will be extremely
expensive. We intend to circumvent that difficulty by
placing the burden of upholding our Bill of Rights where
it belongs on the federal government, with its
virtually unlimited resources.
If
you're tired of being on the defensive then help us do
something about it. Let's strike back hard against
those who are violating our rights and heritage. It is our
responsibility to pass on to our children the same
freedoms that we inherited.
We
do not know what result this petition to Mr. Ashcroft will
produce, but we do know that if we do nothing, we will
achieve nothing. We need your immediate support. Please
print out the petition, get it signed, and mail
the original signature sheet(s) to us as soon as
possible.
Please
join us.
Thank
you.
Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ)
Click on the question below to be taken to
the answer. If your question is not answered here, please
succinctly state your question and send it to AshcroftPetition@KeepAndBearArms.com.
I'm
not from California? Why should I care what happens to
them?
We're not from Manhattan, but an attack there affects
us all. Likewise, the denial of Constitutional rights in
one part of America should rightly outrage all Americans.
If the Attorney General can establish precedent in
California, it will apply nationwide, and can be used to
overturn oppressive and unconstitutional "laws"
in your state.
California was picked because of its oppressive
"laws", and because it can be definitively
proven that all means of obtaining redress from the
executive, legislative and judicial branches of government
have been exhausted, and the exercise of the right to keep
and bear arms has been effectively nullified. California
is also ideal as we have evidence -- signed by California
government officials mentioned in the petition -- that
shows them having said the second amendment is a
collective right after AG Ashcroft said it's an
individual right.
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I'm
not going to sign because I disagree with ________.
Our Declaration of Independence and Constitution
resulted from many compromises in scope and language
before all signatories would agree to ratification.
Obviously, when putting out a document for public
endorsement, it is not possible to anticipate the concerns
of each person. If your concerns are such that you simply
cannot sign the petition unless they are addressed, we
have two suggestions:
1) Mark additions, deletions or changes that you
require, sign the Petition, and send it to us -- we will
ensure that the Attorney General receives your marked
changes along with your signature.
2) Create your own petition letter to the Attorney
General specifying what you want.
3) You can also use this effort as a template,
and create a Petition that more specifically describes
grievances in YOUR state. Not only do we hope to see this
type of effort take place for other states, but we will
help you promote the effort, as well. Meanwhile, we
urge you to sign this Petition and press others to do the
same.
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Why
didn't you mention CCW's?
The intent here was to keep the scope of the Petition
narrow and focused, rather than defining every possible
grievance or remedy. For many activists, CCW licensing is
seen as an infringement on our right to bear arms, and
dangerously "legitimizes" government
abridgements of that right -- they seek nothing less than
"Vermont-style" concealed carry, i.e., no
permits are needed. Others see CCW's as a pragmatic
incremental means of obtaining protection while at the
same time legitimizing the practice in the eyes of the
general public. Rather than stall this effort over that
debate, our focus is to get RKBA legally recognized and
enforced as an individual right, and as a right to keep
and bear military-style firearms.
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I
don't want my name on a government list.
Your name is already on government lists. This Petition
is no more or less controversial than writing a letter to
your congressman, and is protected activity under the
First Amendment. Anyone who will not stand up for their
rights because they are afraid of repercussions from
authority has already abdicated their rights. Are you a
free American? If so, you will join us. If not, don't you
think it's about time you became one?
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I
don't want my name on a junk mail/spam list.
The information we are asking you for is your name,
city and state -- plus an optional space for your email
address. This information will not be used for any
commercial purpose or given to anyone besides Attorney
General Ashcroft. As this Petition is a joint venture
between Citizens of America and
KeepandBearArms.com, you
may receive an occasional email update on the Petition's
progress if you include an email address, and your name
will be removed from that list if you ask us to do so.
Otherwise, no one from KABA or COA will contact you -- and
nobody else but the Attorney General will see your
information.
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What
do I need to do?
1) Read the Petition:
.pdf
format (Adobe Acrobat)
.doc
format (MS Word)
2) Sign the petition and get your friends to do so --
plus, urge them to copy it and bring their friends on
board.
3) Contact gun rights organizations/clubs you belong
to, and urge them to join the effort, and pass the word
along to their members.
4) Contact firearm-related businesses you patronize,
make them aware of the Petition, and get them to sign on
and encourage their customers to support it/spread the
word.
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Where
should I mail my completed signature sheet?
Mail the SIGNATURE SHEET ONLY to:
David Codrea, PO Box 4152, Redondo Beach CA
90277-1750.
This address is also found on the signature page of the
petition.
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How
can I contact you about this effort?
Send emails to: AshcroftPetition@KeepAndBearArms.com.
Due to high volume of emails, we cannot guarantee a
personal response to every email, and we do ask for
patience.
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Are
you asking for donations?
Not for this effort -- but donations to Citizens
of America and KeepandBearArms.com
are always welcome. We urge you to spend time on those
sites and, if you like what you see, help keep them going.
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This
is a waste of time -- I don't think it will work.
What will? Do you have a better idea? We have been
lobbying our legislators, writing letters, going to court,
and look at how many of our rights have been eroded over
the past twenty years. If they continue at this pace, what
will we have left twenty years from now?
It's certain that if we do nothing, we will get nothing. Is that what you want to do, nothing?
Even if it doesn't "work", at least we will
know that the federal government, despite Mr. Ashcroft's
stated belief, intends to let our right to keep and bear
arms disappear -- we submit that knowing this will at
least give us a better picture of where we stand, so that
we can formulate and plan new strategies.
And how can it hurt? Are you truly unwilling to devote
a few minutes of your time to this? And what if it
"works"? Will you really want to feel like
others did your work for you?
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If
this is so great, why isn't the NRA supporting it?
This is a new effort -- they aren't aware of it, but we
intend to inform them, as well as other gun rights
organizations, and encourage them to join us.
Perhaps they will, if enough members contact them. Why
not do so?
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What
is the deadline to submit the Petition?
1) As soon
as you have a page full, unless you are immediately going
to fill another one, please send it. We will periodically
report the numbers of petitions we have received.
2) We are
shooting for sending the initial batch in to AG Ashcroft
by the end of January, 2002 -- but we will continue
recruiting signatures until further notice and sending
batches of signatures to the AG for as long as we receive
them.
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I
think my representative should see this. Why are you just
sending this to John Ashcroft as opposed to other
politicians?
We intend to send a copy of the petition and signatures
to President Bush also.
However, the petition is addressed to Attorney General
Ashcroft because he has gone on record saying the
Second Amendment is an individual right, and he oversees
the federal agency that is tasked with enforcing civil
rights laws. That said, in addition to sending us your
signed Petition, we also think it's a fine idea for you to
send a copy to any politician you think may be willing to
support this, along with your personal letter urging them
to do so.
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Doesn't
a petition require more information about the signer than
you're asking for?
No, this is not a "legal" document per se, as
in the case of a referendum that must comply with such
regulations -- it is really no different than
"petitioning" your congressman via a letter or
email, all in accordance with our First Amendment right to
petition for redress. Were this something like a ballot
initiative, the legal requirements you cite would apply --
but this is basically just a group of citizens, hopefully
a massive group of citizens, all adding their
voices. We originally did include addresses, but
decided to forego asking for them due to concerns
expressed in re privacy and security.
The Petition authors will be providing Attorney General
Ashcroft and President Bush their full names, addresses,
phone numbers, and email addresses.
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Why
can't we use an online petition?
1. Many people think online petitions are merely about
getting lists of edresses, and that is probably the case
most of the time. We didn't want there to be any suspicion
of that in this case.
2. Submitting physically signed petitions to Ashcroft
and Bush will have much more impact, and is much more
convincing, than a printed list of names that could have
been fabricated.
3. Online petitions have become so common that they
aren't taken seriously by anyone.
4. The effort involved in getting signatures and
mailing them in, while small, will remind gun owners that
we continue to do everything possible to PEACEFULLY
restore the free exercise of our rights. Taking part in
this physical process will help prepare them for the next
step, whatever it may be.
5. Many people are still not online, and this effort
needs to reach the widest numbers possible.
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Do you
need to be over 18 to sign the Petition?
We welcome signatures from
all Americans old enough to understand the issues involved
and to make an informed decision on this matter.
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