GUN OWNERSHIP PROTECTS FREEDOM

Any excuse will do for advocates of gun control -- even a tragedy
like the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, where no
guns were involved.

by F.R. Duplantier

     The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution was
intended to protect the right of the individual  to own and make
use of guns.  Liberal politicians view gun ownership as an
interference with the expansion of federal power, which of course
it is, for an armed citizenry is much more difficult to subjugate
than one that has been disarmed.  In an effort to remove this
irritating impediment to more government power, they exploit every
public tragedy involving firearms as propaganda for tighter
restrictions on their use.  In their eagerness to disarm America,
they are even using the Oklahoma City bombing in their campaign
against gun ownership.        

The Second Amendment 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."  Advocates of gun 
control latch on to that word "militia" and insist that the Amendment 
does nothing more than authorize the bearing of arms by a state-
organized group.  But the intentions of the Founding Fathers are clear.  
After all, if they had not owned guns as individuals, they could not 
have overthrown the tyranny of England and established a free country.  
Patrick Henry said that the protection of our freedoms requires "that 
every man be armed."      

Our right to privacy, protected by the Third and Fourth Amendments, 
is also under attack.  The Federal Government seems determined to 
increase its control over all of us by prying into our daily lives.  
Tax collectors and regulatory agents have been snooping on us for years; 
and now, in the name of combatting terrorism, the President is demanding 
wiretapping privileges for federal agents to investigate any suspected 
federal felony.  There are 1,300 federal felonies. You could be guilty 
of one right now without even knowing it.       

The Third Amendment forbids the quartering of soldiers in private 
homes during peacetime without the consent of the owner.  The Fourth 
Amendment guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their 
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures," and forbids the issuing of warrants except "upon probable 
cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing 
the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."    

The anti-terrorism legislation now being considered by Congress would 
empower federal agents to force banks, credit card companies, telephone 
companies, hotels, motels, airlines, and buslines to turn over their 
records on individual Americans -- without a search warrant or a court 
order.  The President also wants to set up a new federal, interagency, 
domestic counter-terrorism center and give the Attorney General new 
powers to investigate groups without any evidence of a criminal act 
or plot.  More than 50 million American citizens today exercise their
constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms.  They not
only defend their families and their property against the threat of
criminals; they also guard individual rights against the usurpations 
of an ever-expanding central government.  Would we still have all our 
freedoms if the 200 million weapons stored in American homes were 
instead locked up in a government armory?

Behind The Headlines is produced by America's Future Inc., a
nonprofit educational organization dedicated to the preservation of
our free-enterprise system and our constitutional form of
government, with editorial offices at 7800 Bonhomme, St. Louis MO
63105. Phone: 314-725-6003. FAX: 314-721-3373. 74047.2677 @
compuserve.com . Editorial Director: F.R. Duplantier. Contributions
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                                   6/25/95