More on the 2A and current issues
Date: Mar 18, 2007 8:52 PM
Clayton Cramer tells me his new book, “Armed America: The Remarkable
Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie” is now
available. It’s $17.81 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on
orders over $25. It is the story of Cramer’s battle to expose one of the
greatest academic frauds ever foisted on the public.
-Dan Gifford

“In 2000, advocates of stringent gun control thought they had won their
argument with historical evidence when an Emory University historian,
Michael Bellesiles, published ‘Arming America: The Origins of a National
Gun Culture.’ This book, which was awarded the Bancroft Prize, the most
coveted honor for American history scholarship, argued that when the
Second Amendment was written, guns were not widely owned or reliable
enough to be important. Therefore the amendment was written to protect
only the rights of states, not of individuals. Before long, however,
other scholars argued that much of Bellesiles’s ‘research’ consisted
of
meretricious uses of, fabrication of, or disregard of evidence, and the
Bancroft Prize was rescinded.”

George F. Will
georgewill@washpost <georgewill%40washpost.com>; .com
Syndicated columnist
March 18, 2007
A Shot in the Arm for the GOP
<http://www.realclea
<http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/03/a_shot_in_the_arm_for_the
> rpolitics.com/articles/2007/03/a_shot_in_the_arm_for_the
_gop.html>

“Cramer, an adjunct lecturer in history at Boise State University and
George Fox University, took on Michael Bellesiles even before his book
Arming America was discredited, and now goes further to prove wrong
Bellesiles’s claim that guns were uncommon in early America. Cramer
finds that guns ‘were the norm’ in that period, people relied on guns to
hunt, and gun ownership was key to the success of colonial militias. His
most intriguing argument is that, as they became ‘tied to defending
political rights,’ guns also became a symbol of citizenship … ” (more)

Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.
<http://www.amazon.com/Armed-America-Remarkable-Became-American/dp/159555069
0> com/Armed-America-Remarkable-Became-American/dp/1595550690
/sr=1-1/qid=1170629774/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-2738756-5711361?ie=UTF8&s=books

“I have know Clayton for many years, and this should be a really solid,
excellent book. It was very difficult for him to convince publishers
that there was a market for this type of book, and I hope that the
market makes everyone who turned the book down regret that they did so.”

John R. Lott
http://johnrlott.
<http://johnrlott.tripod.com/2007/02/cramers-new-book-armed-america.html>;
tripod.com/2007/02/cramers-new-book-armed-america.html

MORE REGARDING THE DC 2ND AMENDMENT RULING:

“In sharp contrast to the bloated Supreme Court jurisprudence growing
out of most other amendments, though, the High Court has been nearly
silent on the proper interpretation of the Second.”

Erin Sheley
Writer and attorney in Washington, D.C.
March 18, 2007
Gunfight at D.C. Corral

http://news.yahoo.com/s/weeklystandard/20070318/cm_weeklystandard/gunfightat

“The key sentence of the Second Amendment reads: “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.” The meaning of
this sentence has been furiously debated by constitutional lawyers for
at least a half century, even as the evidence mounted that the US had
the highest level of gun ownership in the developed world and that gun
deaths in America were at epidemic levels.”

Michael Gawenda
United States correspondent, The Age (AU)
March 19, 2007
Living with guns. Dying with guns
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/living-and-dying-with-guns/2007/03/18/

“Owning a gun is a constitutional right, a US appeals court panel said
last week as it struck down a District of Columbia gun ban … Now
there’s a possibility that a more conservative Supreme Court might
endorse this lower-court decision. If so, the justices will need to
acknowledge that public safety requires regulation of firearms.”

Editorial
The Christian Science Monitor
The Monitor’s View
March 16, 2007 edition
Gun laws as a right to safety
A court refutes a 1939 Supreme Court ruling against gun rights, perhaps
opening a Pandora’s box.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0316/p08s02-comv.html?s=yaho

“There’s going to be racial tension, tension between neighborhoods. It
is true in every high school in the world I bet, in Halifax or Tokyo,
London, Canberra and Stockholm, it’s all the same. But here’s the
difference. The kids in Hartford have guns and most kids in most Western
countries – as angry as they are – don’t … It’s the gun lobby, the
NRA, the manufacturers and the legistative cowards in Washington who
won’t stop the flow of guns who are responsible … “

Alistair Highet
Columnist
Hartford Advocate
editor@hartfordadvo <editor%40hartfordadvocate.com>; cate.com
March 8 2007
The Observer: Boys and Guns
Hispanic And Black Students War At Hartford High.

http://www.ctnow.com/custom/nmm/hartfordadvocate/hce-hta-0308-ht11observer1

“Judges don’t get to decide if laws are harmful, dangerous or just bad
ideas. It’s their duty, however, to protect us from laws that violate
our constitutional rights’ … Count us among the purists. We believe
the Bill of Rights means what it says.”

Editorial
TriCityHerald.com (Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Washington)
March 15th, 2007
Gun control ruling and the Bill of Rights
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/opinions/story/8709604p-8611880c.html

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !