Thought I would share a letter that I wrote to my elected officials a few months ago. I continue to send letters/e-mails. We should not let our guard down now. Keep letting them know you are listening and watching them and you WILL remember come election time.
Sir, I am writing you this letter to voice my concerns about the current situation that American gun owners are now facing. I am a 41 year old combat veteran of the United States Army. At the age of 17, I stood up and swore an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic and that I would bear true faith and allegiance to the same. For the next twenty-two years, six months and nine days, I pledged my life to that oath in peacetime and in war. I came to the aid of our citizens during times of natural disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi and protected them in our airports after the terrorist attacks on September the 11th. I stood between rival ethnic groups during peace keeping operations in the Balkans and I took the fight to terrorists in Afghanistan to prevent them from again attacking our citizens on American soil. Now I am seeing my rights and freedoms, as a gun owner and as a citizen come under attack. Our founding fathers were men of courage, men of vision, and men with wisdom that has stood up to 237 years of scrutiny. They held the idea of the rights of the people to keep and bear arms in such high regard that it became the 2nd amendment to our constitution. The first thirty three words of the oath of enlistment that I swore to when I became a soldier are the same as the first thirty three words of the oath that you swore to upon taking office as a congressman. As an elected representative of the people, I expect you to live up to those ideals of our founding fathers and to live by the words in your oath of office. Responsible gun owners and law abiding citizens are just that. Millions of gun owners possess firearms, carry firearms and shoot firearms daily, without incident. Hundreds more protect their lives, their families, their homes and their property daily. Many times just the presence of a firearm is enough to prevent a crime. Our nation faces many serious problems on a day to day basis, issues like murder, rape, domestic violence, drinking and driving, and drug abuse. Like these other issues, the sensible way to deal with gun violence, is through education, training, awareness and most importantly through enforcement of the laws that are already on the books. These attacks that we are now facing are not just about my gun rights, they are much larger than that. They are about all my rights and freedoms that were spelled out by our founding fathers. They are about total control of a country's citizens. "that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth" I urge you to stop and ponder these words before each and every bill you vote on. Talk to our fellow representatives about these ideals and let's get our country back on the right track. Be that man of courage, vision and wisdom.
Sir, I am writing you this letter to voice my concerns about the current situation that American gun owners are now facing. I am a 41 year old combat veteran of the United States Army. At the age of 17, I stood up and swore an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic and that I would bear true faith and allegiance to the same. For the next twenty-two years, six months and nine days, I pledged my life to that oath in peacetime and in war. I came to the aid of our citizens during times of natural disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi and protected them in our airports after the terrorist attacks on September the 11th. I stood between rival ethnic groups during peace keeping operations in the Balkans and I took the fight to terrorists in Afghanistan to prevent them from again attacking our citizens on American soil. Now I am seeing my rights and freedoms, as a gun owner and as a citizen come under attack. Our founding fathers were men of courage, men of vision, and men with wisdom that has stood up to 237 years of scrutiny. They held the idea of the rights of the people to keep and bear arms in such high regard that it became the 2nd amendment to our constitution. The first thirty three words of the oath of enlistment that I swore to when I became a soldier are the same as the first thirty three words of the oath that you swore to upon taking office as a congressman. As an elected representative of the people, I expect you to live up to those ideals of our founding fathers and to live by the words in your oath of office. Responsible gun owners and law abiding citizens are just that. Millions of gun owners possess firearms, carry firearms and shoot firearms daily, without incident. Hundreds more protect their lives, their families, their homes and their property daily. Many times just the presence of a firearm is enough to prevent a crime. Our nation faces many serious problems on a day to day basis, issues like murder, rape, domestic violence, drinking and driving, and drug abuse. Like these other issues, the sensible way to deal with gun violence, is through education, training, awareness and most importantly through enforcement of the laws that are already on the books. These attacks that we are now facing are not just about my gun rights, they are much larger than that. They are about all my rights and freedoms that were spelled out by our founding fathers. They are about total control of a country's citizens. "that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth" I urge you to stop and ponder these words before each and every bill you vote on. Talk to our fellow representatives about these ideals and let's get our country back on the right track. Be that man of courage, vision and wisdom.
