A few words before we proceed...

A letter from the Chairman

I started out supporting gun control. It was a knee-jerk reaction to being raised without guns in the house by parents who didn't shoot. I had an aversion to guns, based on erroneous information regarding their use and safety. It made some sense at the time, considering my mother was a CASA worker, and our family either fostered or adopted various youngsters of unfortunate circumstance, over the course of thirty-some-odd years.

Now, I've always been fairly vocal in my beliefs, but generally draw on logic and scholarship to make my case. I believe corporate interests have too much control over our government and can make a good case for this belief. I believe that capitalism is generally a better solution to a problem than is government mandate, but unlike many of my Republican contemporaries, I also believe that a good democracy should provide substantial support and protection of our rights and aspirations as Americans, ergo some things can be better run by a representative body of citizens than by a corporate one. I can defend these beliefs, drawing from substantial personal experience as well as sound scholarship. However, over the course of my life, I found that my stance on gun control was being eroded by the same logic and scholarship central to any solid belief.

Our right to free speech is inexorably linked to our right to self preservation, as both individuals and as a free people. While our forefathers may have disagreed on how best to protect this right and how to memorialize it, they did not dispute its existence. To the contrary, they understood (better certainly than we) the need for an individual to protect their family and stand with their brethren in the face of tyranny. As those thirteen colonies came together, having suffered under the weight of the English Empire, they made sure that they would not be subject to the same such abuses by their own revolutionary federal government as had been visited on them by a greedy king. They had firsthand knowledge of what was required to throw off the yoke of an oppressive empire.  They, as citizens, had taken up the rifles that adorned the chimney above their hearths, the guns that had protected their homes and fed their families, and assembled voluntarily to resist English soldiers and hired mercenaries. Standing up in the face of villainy and oppression is perhaps the most American of virtues and remains core to our culture.

Standing up should never have to proceed beyond the assembled voices of our citizenry. But, when those voices are threatened into silence, derided, and devalued by personal or corporate interest, and barred from peaceable assembly, what then?  

"Personal or corporate interest? Are you a communist?" Some might ask.

Let me be clear, being cautious of a corporation's intentions and mindful of their abuses makes me no less a capitalist than any Rockefeller. While the creation of the corporation brought an extralegal capitalist body into our culture, it did nothing to ensure that said body was not an extralegal criminal. Unscrupulous corporations, fueled by investment from speculative shareholders and free from legal retribution, too often work to ensure their profitability, not by producing a better product, but by cutting workers, cutting costs, cutting corners, and lining pockets. To ensure continued profitability, these corporations spend millions of dollars every year to ensure that they have a voice not only in our government, but other governments as well. That voice is often contrary to the needs of a healthy America. 

They do this today with the Second Amendment in place. What will they do when it doesn't exist? Turn the clock back, abstain from dabbling in our government, and start acting like good corporate citizens again? Somehow I doubt it. Our forefathers were careful to describe and memorialize our need for the separation of church and state. I speculate that had they understood how large and powerful corporations would become, they would have left us stern language on the separation of the corporation from our governance as well. But, I'm sure they thought that issue was covered, since the Federal Government DID reserve the right to limit corporations and revoke their charter.

Without the specter of the common man being able to arm himself and resist, the wishes of the corporation, using shareholders as human shields, are assured victory over the needs of any citizen. Thankfully, though, it is the existence of the Second Amendment itself that keeps us from having to apply the self same arms that it guarantees the right to bear. It's for this reason that it should be protected and remain strong. I don't propose that everyone go out and buy a gun. I respect your right to choose whether or not you arm yourself. I do request, however, that you raise your voice in support of our right to carry a gun, lest we all lose that right. These rights – freedom of speech and to bear arms - exist to protect us, so let us be steadfast in protecting them. 

We look forward to protecting and maintaining our Constitutional rights, alongside Americans like you.  Please let us know what you’re doing in your region and what we can do to help in such a worthy and important cause.

Best regards,

Robert Hust