Posted by
Bill of Rights on Sunday, December 16, 2007 7:17:42 PM
Wow, what a first meeting!
IN Self Defense, Second Amendment Patriots of North Central Indiana had our first meeting yesterday at the Tippecanoe County Public Library in downtown Lafayette. After calling the meeting to order, Mr. Justin Garrett, of Gov. Mitch Daniels' office came up and read and presented a proclamation of statewide recognition of Bill of Rights Day, which was followed by Diana starting to speak about Patrick Henry and the difference he, the Founder who insisted upon the Second Amendment's presence in the Bill of Rights, made, when lo and behold, in walked none other than Patrick Henry himself (played by a talented young man by name of Samuel Carr) Mr. Henry repeated his speech before the Congress of over 200 years ago, and while he did read it this time (It's been over 200 years since he last gave it, after all!), time has apparently taken no toll on the importance of liberty to him, as the speech certainly was heartfelt. We would like to thank Mr. Garrett and Mr. Henry for coming to our meeting.
Following Mr. Henry's speech, Diana resumed explaining how Mr. Henry is proof that one man can make a difference, and while today, that one man's voice is not enough alone, it is for this reason that we assemble about us those of like mind to raise our voices together to be heard and more importantly, to command not only hearing but attention to that which we have to say. I am pleased to say that during the course of our meeting, we had 45 people attending!
After the movie we showed on the importance of the Bill of Rights, I spoke a bit and explained about Sen. Jeff Drozda's SB 29, a bill being introduced to protect shooting ranges from government functionaries who are often are swayed by the emotional rhetoric from the anti-freedom lobby, a.k.a. the Brady bunch, et al., and who then use zoning powers and the like to close down ranges at which those of us who don't have 10 acres in the country or a badge on our chests go to practice our skill. I also spoke on SB 65 and SB 66, being introduced by Sen. Johnny Nugent, and detailed below. I reiterate-People, call your legislators on the phone. Drop them an email. Send them postal mail. Go visit them in person, but make sure they know it if you want these bills to pass and become law. We have a Republican state Senate. We have a gun-rights-friendly and freedom-minded governor. On the other side, we also have an election this coming year in which we may be forced to choose between an anti-gun rights RINO and an anti-gun rights jackass for our nation's highest office. We also, before that happens, will have a decision from the Supreme Court on the Heller vs. District of Columbia case, which has the potential to improperly re-define the Second Amendment. In the (in my opinion, extremely unlikely) event that that happens, we must have favorable state laws in place. We ended our meeting with a short question-and answer session.
Diana and I spoke to both TV-18 and to Ms. Meranda Watling of the Journal and Courier. The former presented a report of our meeting placed during the newscast immediately following the sad story of a woman who was shot in her home by an as-yet-unknown person, but other than that, both stories were, I thought, rather positively reported. We would like to thank the videographer from TV 18, who I must admit I failed to ask for his name, Ms. Alyssa Rossomme and Ms. Watling who reported on our meeting, the staff at the library, Ms. Polly Roush in particular, for all their help, and Mr. Jim Tomes and his Second Amendment Patriots in Posey County, for all they've done so far. We look forward to working with all of you! I would personally like to thank Diana for speaking up and proposing to me an idea that had been knocking around in my head as well. We've talked a little about this, and neither of us would started this group alone.
Most of all, we would like to thank YOU, the people who will make this group into what we all want it to be.
We look forward to seeing you next month. Get in touch with your state representatives and senators, and if there's anything we can do to help you in the meantime, please contact us and ask!
Bill