From: “Dave Kopel”
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient: ;>; <@cmconline.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2000 5:25 PM
Subject: Second Amendment Project Newsletter, Jan. 5, 2000

> Second Amendment Project Newsletter. January 5, 2000.
> The Second Amendment Project is based at the Independence
> Institute, a free-market think tank in Golden, Colorado.
> http://i2i.org
> =========================================================
> Table of Contents for this issue
> 1. New articles on the web: John Lott, lawsuits, gun shows, Rosie
O’Donnell,
> global gun prohibition.
> 2. The importance of self-defense, by Vin Suprynowicz.
> 3. Hobgood Academy beats the holophobes!
> 4. The Battle of New Orleans
>
> =========================================================
> 1. New articles on the Web.
>
> a. “Cold Comfort.” Long interview with John Lott in the January 2000
issue
> of Reason magazine. Economist John Lott discusses the benefits of
guns–and
> the hazards of pointing them out. Interviewed by Jacob Sullum and
Michael W.
> Lynch.
> http://www.reason.com/0001/fe.js.cold.html
>
> b. “Lousy Aim: Government Puts Pressure on Gun Makers.” By John Lott.
Dec.
> 28, 1999. Op-ed in the Manchester Union-Leader.
> http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=5348
>
> c. “Settlement Option.” Syndicated columnist (and Reason Magazine
editor)
> Jacob Sullum looks at President Clinton’s latest effort to disarm
crime
> victims, through an abusive lawsuit by the Department of Housing and
Urban
> Development.
> http://www.reason.com/sullum/121599.html
>
> d. “Background Checks for Gun Purchases Empower Criminals.” By Ari
> Armstrong. Dec. 19, 1999. Colorado Freedom Report (web magazine).
> http://www.co-freedom.com/1999/12/gunecon.html
>
> e. “No More Rosie Scenarios.” By Jackie Mason & Raoul Felder. American
> Spectator. Hilarious article details the hatemonger’s attempt to
revive her
> plunging ratings by attacking gun owners and New York Mayor Guliani.
> http://www.spectator.org/live/live.htm
>
> f. “Global Gun Grab.” By Thomas R. Eddlem. New American. Dec.
> 26, 1999.
> http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/1999/11-22-99/vol15no24_gun.htm
>
> =========================================================
> 2. “But no honest citizen needs a gun … right?” By Vin Suprynowicz.
Dec.
> 5, 1999. Reprinted with permission.
>
> One of the staple mantras of the gun grabbers — we’re not supposed to
> think about it (since statistics show it’s 99 percent wrong), just
chant it
> until it lulls us into a feeling of sweet repose — is that “If you
own a
> firearm you’re just as likely to have it taken away and used against
you.”
>
> Right?
>
> I guess that’s why I took so quickly to a new book which Floyd Coons
at
> Master Shooters Supply handed me the other day. “The Best Defense:
True
> Stories of Intended Victims Who Defended Themselves With a Firearm,”
is by
> Robert A. Waters, a retired vocational rehabilitation counselor from
Ocala
> Florida ($14.95 from Cumberland House, 431 Harding Industrial Drive,
> Nashville 37211.)
>
> I defy anyone to dismiss these 14 harrowing, true-life accounts, often
> told in the words of the very crime victims who survived their ordeals
due
> to one common factor: The fact that in America, we have a right to
bear
> arms.
>
> Take the case of 49-year-old divorcee Sammie Foust of Cape Coral, Fla.
“I
> used to love to open the windows and doors and feel the gulf breezes
> flowing through my house,” Ms. Foust told interviewer Waters. “I got
> pleasure from watching sailboats pass by in the canal behind my home.
Now I
> sit in a closed-up room. I’m even afraid to answer the door.”
>
> Foust had fallen asleep cleaning house on the evening of May 9, 1996.
> The bed where she lay was piled with bags of old clothing she’d
decided to
> give away, along with old purses and boxes of odds and ends.
>
> In her housecleaning, she’d also come across a tiny .25 caliber
> semiautomatic handgun a friend had long ago insisted she take for
> self-defense, though Sammie’s father had warned her it was too small,
> advising: “Get a bigger gun. Wounded dogs will bite you. Dead dogs
don’t
> bite.”
>
> The magazine of the .25 held four rounds. She’d checked it the night
> before, snapped the little slide to chamber the top round, and then
fallen
> asleep with the little gun next to her pile of pillows.
>
> When she heard the blinds rattle in the living room at dawn, she
assumed
> it was her cat returning. But it wasn’t. It was three-time prison
inmate
> James Wayne Horne, who had been released for the third time only a few
> weeks before, after serving slightly more than one year of a 10-year
> sentence for aggravated assault.
>
> The robber-assailant rushed into the bedroom and slashed Foust’s face
> with a box-cutter knife.
>
> She offered him her purse, which he dumped on the bed, finding $400 in
> bills. He then demanded Foust tell him the location of her jewelry
box,
> which she did. But the man was upset with the cheap quality of the
costume
> jewelry, returning to demand “her diamonds” and to continue viciously
> slashing and beating her about the face.
>
> “You know I’m going to kill you,” he hissed. “So you might as well
give
> it up. Die easy or die hard, bitch.”
>
> Foust directed the man to a second credenza. She knew it contained
only
> more costume jewelry, but she needed space and time. Time to pick up
the
> little .25, which she was amazed her assailant had not spotted … and
to
> figure out what to do with it.
>
> You see, Sammie Foust had never fired a gun in her life.
>
> She aimed for the man’s center of mass and pulled the trigger. It
sounded
> like a little cap pistol. There was no recoil, no blood. The man did
not
> fly backwards or keel over dead. She figured the gun had misfired.
>
> But she’d certainly managed to upset James Wayne Horne, who flew back
> across the room, punching her square in the face. “She literally heard
her
> nose implode back into her skull,” Waters reports.
>
> “Dear God,” she prayed, “don’t let me pass out. Dear God, please let
me
> hold onto this gun.”
>
> The assailant pulled her to her feet, grabbed her wrist, and tried to
> wrench the gun away her with one hand while pummeling her with
jackhammer
> blows to the face with his other fist. Police later told her James
Wayne
> Horne had knocked out four of her teeth, which she’d swallowed. The
bones
> in her gums were crushed, and her left cheekbone was fractured. Her
nose
> was broken and her larynx fractured. Horne pounded and slashed at her
face
> with his knife until one eyeball was hanging out of its socket.
>
> But he did not get the gun.
>
> Assuming her first two shots had missed, Foust resolved to save her
two
> remaining cartridges until she had a clear shot. Finally, as the man
drew
> back his arm for a knockout punch, she pointed the .25 at his stomach
and
> fired again.
>
> “Bitch!” he whispered, as he dragged her into the living room and
> continued beating her. “”Now I’m gonna take that gun and blow your
brains
> out!”
>
> Instead, Foust shot Horne a fourth time, in the abdomen.
>
> With the man atop her, pounding and pounding, Sammie Foust believed
she
> could not survive. But finally, James Wayne Horne lay still.
>
> When police arrived, they found tables knocked over, chairs broken,
> dishes shattered, the walls and floors smeared with blood.
>
> They found James Wayne Horne where she had left him. The medical
examiner
> concluded the first shot had entered his mouth, the second his heart,
the
> third and fourth bullets his abdomen and groin. He had taken nearly an
hour
> to bleed to death.
>
> Sammie Foust noticed the police and ambulance personnel wincing
whenever
> they looked at her, cursing her attacker under their breath. When she
> finally found a mirror, she realized why. Her eye was surgically
reattached
> that day, and permanent loss of sight was minimal. She has since run
out of
> funds to pay for the proper repair of her gums and teeth. To this day,
she
> eats only soft food.
>
> As an afterthought, as they hauled James Wayne Horne’s body away,
Sammie
> Foust pulled her hand from her pocket and asked a police interviewer:
> “Would you like to have this?”
>
> Foust recalled for author Waters: “A policeman came back and knelt
down
> on the driveway. He tried to pry my fingers from the gun. And he
started
> crying and said ‘I’m gonna break your fingers. I can’t get them
loose.’ But
> I couldn’t let go of the handle. My knuckles were swollen up, I was
holding
> it so tight. The grip I had on that gun was what kept my attacker from
> getting it from me. Even as big a man as he was, he couldn’t take it
away.”
>
> And here I thought people like Sammie Foust would be better off if we
> banned all handguns. Because if she had a handgun, you see, it would
just
> as likely be taken away and used against her.
>
> Right?
>
> ———
> Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas
> Review-Journal. His new book, “Send in the Waco Killers,” is available
> for 24.95 postpaid; dial Huntington Press at 1-800-244-2224 or go to
web
> site
> http://www.thespiritof76.com/wacokillers.html
>
>
> ===========================================================
> 3. Hobgood Academy
>
> Outdoor Column for the week of December 26, 1999
> By Fred Bonner. Reprinted with Permission
>
> Local Schools Receive Big Christmas Gifts From Hunters and Gunowners.
>
>
> Top headlines in recent months have been about the tragic violence
> that has happened in some schools. The tragedies have brought the
anti-gun
> forces boiling from their hiding places with full intentions of having
> legislation passed that would either ban or seriously hamper gun
ownership
> in America. In many cases the press has, to put it mildly, been very
> unkind to the Second Amendment of our Bill of Rights and gun owners.
>
> Two recent events that have happened in our state show the public
> another side of the gun control issue. The incidents have also brought
a
> degree of solidarity to gun owners that has rarely been seen. Both of
> these incidents happened in schools and both were very positive toward
> hunting
> and gun ownership.
>
> The first item that was positive toward guns and hunting happened
> in Windsor, North Carolina. It was in the form of a public deer hunt
that
> has been happening for some seven years now. It’s called Bucks for
Bertie
> and it is for the benefit of Bertie County High School.
>
> Seven years ago the idea of using a deer hunt to raise badly
> Needed money for the school was born. The first year a handful of
hunters
> showed
> up and experienced one of the finest deer hunts that the hunters had
ever
> experienced. Local high school students and farmers guided the hunters
on
> hunts that took place on lands that were seldom if ever opened for
> hunting.
>
> The visiting hunters got to know the local people and came to
appreciate
> the ways of eastern North Carolina hunting.
>
> The word about the Bucks for Bertie program began to spread by
> Word of mouth and a few helpful articles in newspapers and magazines.
The
> program began to grow-and grow-and grow.
>
> This year the Bucks for Bertie set a new record with over 200 deer
> hunters visiting Windsor and the surrounding communities. How’d they
do?
>
> Well, in one weekend the Bucks for Bertie program raised over
> sixty-thousand dollars for the Bertie County High School and generated
an
> estimated one-hundred thousand dollars into the local economy. Not bad
at
> all for a weekend’s deer hunting and a big Christmas present for
Bertie
> County High School.
>
> The second gun related incident in schools took place at the
> now-famous Hobgood Academy.
>
> In spite of the objections of the anti-gun factions a small,
> private, K through 12, North Carolina boarding school just received
> another whopping Christmas gift. It came in the form of tickets sold
on a
> Future
> Farmers of America (FFA) raffle for five guns.
>
> The raffle, which is a pretty standard thing for outdoor related
> organizations to do, was expected to be relatively small. It turned
big in
> a hurry when gun owners from all over the world found out that the
raffle
> had become the target of anti-gun forces.
>
> It was the North Carolinians against Gun Violence (NCGV) that
> started making complaints about the school’s giving away guns. They
felt
> that it was inappropriate to do this in light of the recent school
> shootings at Columbine High School. It was the kind of knee-jerk
reaction
> that you’d expect from an urban anti-gun group that blames
> inanimate objects for the sins of our society.
>
> The National Rifle Association and Grass Roots North Carolina
> Picked up on the original complaints of the NCGV and published alerts
to
> gun owners across the nation about the plight of the small FFA
Chapter.
> Things started to snowball when the alerts went on the Internet.
>
> Gun owners from across the world who were sick and tired of
> Hearing the whining of the anti-gun forces rallied around the flag and
> started to flood Hobgood Academy with orders for raffle tickets. The
tickets
> were not
> cheap at ten-dollars each but that didn’t deter the supporters of
Hobgood
> Academy. The letters and dollars poured in.
>
> When the North Carolinians against Gun Violence found out that
> their complaints about the raffle was backfiring on them, they tried
to
> back out of their dilemma by denying that they’d ever complained. It
only
> served to fan the ire of the supporters of Hobgood Academy. The
academy
> did not back down. They stood their ground and the raffle became a
rallying
> point for the pro-gun forces.
>
> Before long the general press picked-up on what was happening and
> started sending press releases all over the world. CNN News, MC-NBC,
The
> Today Show and even the venerable British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC)
> produced news regarding little Hobgood Academy. Newspapers from all
over
> the world (even the London Times) carried stories about the gun
raffle.
> Naturally this did not make the anti-gun forces very happy.
>
> When the first drawing for a gun occurred on December 7th, CNN
> News was on hand, local TV stations were covering the story and the
> Associated
> Press gave the raffle good coverage that went out worldwide. For once
> guns and gun owners were getting favorable publicity.
>
> The authorities at Hobgood Academy had expected to realize some
> two-thousand dollars profit from the raffle. Due to the support of gun
> owners who wanted to show a little “in your face” to the anti-gun
> forces, the profit to Hobgood Academy’s Future Farmers of America
chapter
> amounted to some twenty-three thousand dollars.
>
> The FFA chapter has used part of the money to purchase new
> woodworking equipment as well as a new building to house their
equipment.
> There’s still money left over.
>
> The FFA chapter also plans to contribute some of the excess money
> to the victims of the recent hurricanes in our state.
>
> The “Hobgood Academy Affair” is not over yet.
>
> Reports are rolling in from various gun-related industries that
> have read about what happened on Hobgood, N.C. and they want to lend
their
> support to future programs. This leaves the “door wide open” for the
> Hobgood Academy FFA for future years and should put this relatively
small
> FFA chapter on easy street for a long time.
>
> It’s surprising what can happen when gun owners get mad. One irate
> gun owner from Eastern North Carolina has stated that “I hope this
shows
> Ms. Lisa Price (the wife of Democratic Congressman David Price and the
> President of North Carolinians against Gun Violence) that many gun
owners
> and hunters in the world do not agree at all with the viewpoint that
guns
> are responsible for the violence in our schools. today. Their
interference
> in the Hobgood gun raffle backfired on them and showed the world that
we
> don’t subscribe to their philosophy.”
>
> The anti-gun forces did the Hobgood Academy a great favor by
> Openly voicing their opposition to the gun raffle. Support for this
small
> school
> is mounting even after this year’s raffle is history and gun owners
all
> across America are hoping that the North Carolinians against Gun
Violence
> will again speak out against gun raffles next year. They surely played
an
> important role in giving Bertie County High School and Hobgood Academy
> some awfully big Christmas presents.
> —30—
> Fred Bonner, Wildlife Biologist
> Editor/ Carolina Adventure
> Syndicated Columnist
> International Game Fish Association Representative
> CROWN
> [email protected]
>
> ===========================================================
> 4. The Battle of New Orleans
>
> On January 8, 1815, Americans lead by Andrew Jackson demolished
> an invading British army in the Battle of New Orleans. Although
> the War of 1812 had officially ended on Dec. 24, 1814, with
> the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, news had not reached New
> Orleans. Had the British won the battle, and taken New Orleans,
> it is doubtful that they would have withdrawn, treaty or not.
> After the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution, the
> British broke their Treaty obligation to evacuate forts in the
> American west.
>
> Jackson’s force consisted of regular American army, militia, and
> a wide variety of irregulars. Jackson’s men included whites, free
> blacks, and a wide variety of people of mixed ancestry, including
> Creoles.
>
> Against this diverse force of Americans was a far larger British
standing
> army, consisting of elite regiments which had recently defeated
Napoleon
> in France and Spain. The British planned to plunder New Orleans, and
rape
> its women.
>
> About a quarter of the American force was Kentucky militia. Like the
other
> Americans, they were superb shots, who used the rifles with
devastating
> accuracy against the British attack.
>
> In honor of the great victory for freedom, this issue of the Second
> Amendment Project newsletter reprints “The Hunters of Kentucky”-a
popular
> song composed in
> honor of the American triumph.
>
>
> The Hunters of Kentucky
> (or The Battle of New Orleans)
>
> Ye gentlemen and ladies fair
> Who grace this famous city,
> Just listen, if you’ve time to spare,
> While I rehearse a ditty;
> And for the opportunity,
> Conceive yourselves quite lucky,
> For tis not often here you see
> A hunter from Kentucky.
>
> Oh, Kentucky,
> The Hunters of Kentucky,
> Oh, Kentucky,
> The Hunters of Kentucky
>
> We are a hardy, freeborn race,
> Each man to fear a stranger,
> Whate’er the game we join in chase,
> Despising toil and danger.
> And if a daring foe annoys,
> Whate’er his strength or forces,
> We’ll show them that Kentucky boys
> Are alligators-horses.
>
> Oh, Kentucky, &c.
>
> I ‘spose you’ve read it in the prints,
> How Packenham attempted
> To make Old Hickory Jackson wince,
> But soon his scheme repented;
> For we with rifles ready cock’d,
> Thought such occasion lucky,
> And soon around the general flock’d
> The Hunters of Kentucky.
>
> Oh, Kentucky, &c.
>
> You’ve heard I ‘spose, how New-Orleans
> Is famed for wealth and beauty,
> There’s girls of every hue, it seems,
> >From snowy white to sooty.
> So Packenham he made his brags,
> If he in fight was lucky,
> He’d have their girls and cotton bags,
> In spite of old Kentucky.
>
> Oh, Kentucky, &c.
>
> But Jackson he was wide-awake,
> And was’nt scar’d at trifles,
> For well he knew what aim we take
> With our Kentucky rifles.
> So he led us up to a cypress swamp,
> The ground was low and mucky,
> There stood John Bull in martial pomp,
> And here was old Kentucky.
>
> Oh, Kentucky, &c.
>
> A bank was raised to hide our breast,
> Not that we thought of dying,
> But that we always take a rest,
> Unless the game is flying.
> Behind it stood our little force,
> None wished it to be greater,
> For every man was half a horse,
> And half an alligator.
>
> Oh, Kentucky, &c.
>
> They did not let their patience tire,
> Before they showed their faces,
> We did not choose to waste our fire
> So snugly kept our places,
> But when so near we saw them wink,
> We thought it time to stop ‘em,
> And it would have done you good, I think.
> To see Kentuckians drop ‘em.
>
> Oh, Kentucky, &c.
>
> They found, at last, ’twas vain to fight,
> Where lead was all their booty,
> And so they wisely took to flight,
> And left us all the beauty.
> And now if danger e’er annoys,
> Remember what our trade is,
> Just send for us Kentucky boys,
> And we’ll protect ye, ladies.
>
> Oh, Kentucky, &c.
>
> ===========================================================
> As always, the Independence Institute website contains
> extensive information on:
>
> Criminal Justice and the Second Amendment:
> http://i2i.org/crimjust.htm
> The Columbine High School murders:
> http://i2i.org/suptdocs/crime/columbine.htm and
> The Waco murders: http://i2i.org/Waco.htm
> The Independence Institute’s on-line bookstore. Start your
> browsing at the Second Amendment section:
> http://i2i.org/book.htm#Second