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Mail Call
America’s First Freedom
11250 Waples Mill Rd.
Fairfax, VA 22030-9400
11 October,
2002
Letter to the Editor,
America’s First Freedom
It is a noble cause to defend our second amendment rights, but we must not
lose sight of why such rights are necessary.
The right to keep and bear arms implies that there is something
more fundamental that we must protect and preserve.
For this reason, the September issue of America’s
First Freedom, was both informative and disturbing.
In this issue, you interview Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn.
While Cornyn is an advocate of freedom with regard to our right to
bear arms, his candid responses to the questions concerning recent
corporate scandals reveal that he is one of the worse enemies regarding
that which our right to bear arms is designed to protect—i.e., our right
to life and property.
As staunch defenders or our right to bear arms, we in the NRA consistently
advocate having less gun control laws and the enforcement of those which
already exist (provided they are valid) rather than the creation of new
laws. Yet, when it comes to
corporate fraud, it is disturbing for me to see politicians and media
pundits clamoring to get on the bandwagon for more laws and stiffer
penalties when, just like with gun laws, there are already enough laws on
the books that need only be enforced.
When a criminal illegally obtains a gun and commits a crime, the gun
control advocates whip themselves into a frenzy trying to write more laws.
When this happens, the NRA is there to cry foul.
But when a small handful of individuals commit corporate fraud, and
politicians—liberals and conservatives alike—whip themselves into a
frenzy to write more laws and create stiffer penalties, America’s
First Freedom gives these politicians a voice and turns a blind eye
from the injustice being perpetrated.
Just as law abiding gun owners are the victims of new gun control laws
enacted in response to the actions of a small minority of criminals, so
the honest American businessman—as well as every American stockholder
and 401K participant—is a victim of the corporate witch-hunt now being
enacted in response to the actions of a small minority of defrauders.
American businessmen are responsible for creating jobs, producing goods
and services, and generating a great deal of wealth.
All of this is something that every American benefits from in one
way or another. In concrete
reality, this is our freedom to work, produce, and to acquire property.
While our right to bear arms is essential, it must be remembered
that it is a right in relation to other primary and more fundamental
rights—i.e., the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
If these are taken away from us, then our right to bear arms will
perish as well, because there will be nothing left for our guns to
protect.
Our right to life is fundamental. In order to live, we must be allowed to produce and keep the
products of our labor—i.e., our property, whether it be our homes, our
food, the education of our children, or shares of stocks and bonds.
And to keep our lives and our property, we must be allowed to
defend it, hence the right to bear arms.
But when fighting explicitly for our second amendment rights, we
must always be vigilant toward any threat against the rights we are
fighting for implicitly when take a pro-gun stand.
On September 11, 2001, middle eastern terrorists attacked the greatest
symbols of American freedom—The World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The former symbolized our productivity and prosperity, and the
latter our desire to defend it. As
conscientious freedom loving citizens, we are very explicit about keeping
our right to bear arms, but implicitly this means something much
more—that we will be damned if someone will take away our way of life.
So why is it then that otherwise freedom loving citizens join with
the bloodthirsty mob currently attacking the same target that Middle
Eastern terrorists attacked on September 11, 2001—i.e., our capitalist
way of life?
I hope that other readers of America’s First Freedom will recognize the
fundamental similarities of this cause and act just as passionately and
for the same reasons. Write
letters to your congressmen, senators, and newspapers.
Tell them that you do not support the corporate witch-hunt taking
place, that it is not a federal matter, and that the proper response is to
punish those who have committed crimes with the laws already on the books
and to let the rest of corporate America continue to function—business
as usual.
Sincerely,
Eric J. Lakits
(Temporary expatriate)
Hohnerstr. 9.
D 78593 Bottingen
Germany
(returning soon to the Land of the Free!) |