Dear Elected Official - Gun Control

By: Jessica Swords
Sunday, July 13, 2014

Every reader who is a believer in civil liberties and the founding principles of our once Great Nation should read this, then send it to each and every elected official currently drawing a payroll check from our hard-earned tax dollars. This is a letter I wrote and frequently sent in January of 2013 upon the promise made by the Obama Administration to enact stricter gun laws “if Congress didn’t act”. I know this is going to be redundant across the board for me to say this, but this is basically Barack Obama saying “Congress, if you do not do what I want you to do, I will do it without you.” Where are the Checks and Balances? I think it flew out the window quite a few presidents ago.

For this reason, I give everyone reading this article permission to copy and paste the following letter into an email or word document to send along to their sheriffs, mayors, governors, congressmen, or to the White House itself.

Dear Elected Official,

According to the Constitution, the President of the United States is to be sworn into office under the oath that is specified in Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution, which states: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Such an oath as this requires that our Bill of Rights remain intact so that we the people may continue our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The second amendment, giving us the right to bear arms, is included in the Bill of Rights, and states: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” This means that we have the right to defend ourselves, whether it be against a fellow civilian or our own government.

As you may have known, James Madison believed "[that] all power is originally vested in, and consequently derived from the people. That government is instituted and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consist in the enjoyment of life and liberty and the right of acquiring property, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. That the people have an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform or change their government whenever it be found adverse or inadequate to the purpose of its institution."

Should President Obama go forth with any executive order to pervert our Constitution, it is the job of the elected officials of each State to declare such unconstitutional laws as null and void within the boundaries of that State. Should our elected officials fail to do so, that is grounds for impeachment of not only the President, but our local government as well. This includes our Governor, Senators and House of Representatives.

It is time that we look past superficial political parties and begin working together in order to get this nation back on track into a prosperous, free nation that embraces civil liberties and the Rights of the people. Please remember that we the people elected you to speak for us, not to promote your own agenda. Here is what we the people want you to tell the White House:

It is a myth that fewer guns equal fewer crimes. It has been argued that statistics have shown the UK, who banned guns in 1997, to be safer with fewer crimes than the United States because the citizens of the UK do not have the right to own guns. First I would like to state that, any foreigner’s opinion of what the laws of the United States should be is completely irrelevant. Second, understand that the population of the UK makes up less than 10% of the population of the United States. Therefore, it is important to look, not at the number of violent crimes committed, but the rate of violent crimes committed. According to FBI statistics, UK has the highest violent crime rate in the EU with 2,034 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, opposed to the U.S., which has 466 violent crimes for every 100,000 residents. Also according to FBI statistics, the U.S., being the nation with the most guns (88 per 100 people own firearms), it only ranks number 28 in homicides caused by firearms, which equals to about 2.97 per 100,000 people. I would also like to add that the majority of these mass shootings happen in gun-free zones, such as schools (Sandy Hook, Columbine, etc.), and the recent theater shooting of Aurora, Colorado.

Guns are not the problem. When Hollywood ceases to glorify violence, sex, money and drugs, and instead encourages us to see and value the humanity in one another, and in turn respect one another, then you will begin seeing less violence. When we have a President whose Attorney General sends firearms to members of the Mexican Drug Cartel, who in turn use those weapons to kill American citizens, and whose administration sends drones to kill civilians, children included, in the Middle East, and who covers up incidences like Benghazi where four Americans died, and yet still wants to disarm his citizens, then we as nation have lost our way, and you as a government have failed us, the people.

Should our voices go unheard, we the people will begin to clean house in our government and remove each of you by all legal means necessary.

Sincerely,

Citizens for Liberty