“New Hampshire's 10th Amendment Rally: 'Armed but Peaceful' “ 2nd & 10th Amendment meet.

[jody]

New Hampshire's 10th Amendment Rally: 'Armed but Peaceful'

As the 10th Amendment Movement continues to grow, we at HUMAN EVENTS are pleased to report that it now includes at least 18 states -- Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, West Virginia, South Dakota, and Idaho – which have all introduced bills and resolutions appealing to the 10th Amendment for declarations of sovereignty in light of the Obama administration’s overreaching approach to governance.

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Many of the free men and women who rallied in New Hampshire on March 4 did so with a pistol on their hip. That’s right: they were armed but peaceful. In support of the 10th Amendment they exercised their First Amendment right “peaceably to assemble” and “to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” And per the Second Amendment they exercised their right to keep and bear arms, which for free men, “shall not be infringed.” (You just can’t do these things in France.)

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The resolution’s chief sponsor, New Hampshire Representative Dan Itse (R), made it clear the resolution was not about nullifying the stimulus package, rather: “The issues at hand are a declaration of martial law, or a state of emergency, {within a state} without consent of that state’s government. Further encroachments on our right to bear arms like the Holt Bill (H.R. 45) and involuntary servitude of those between 18 and 24. These are non-negotiable.”

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Isn’t this all that free men have ever wanted? To be left alone. They don’t want a government that is involved in every aspect of their “business.” And in New Hampshire, they carry pistols on their hips to the State House to show that they refuse to depend on government for protection or for their every need. Of course the carrying of arms to such an event also sends another message that is very Jeffersonian. It was Jefferson who said: “What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.”

Will movements in the other 32 states join those in Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, West Virginia, South Dakota, and Idaho?

[angrycarpenter]

1. I have talked with these 10th amendment people on open forums.

The ultimate goal of many is secession. It seems crazy to talk of patriots and secession in the same breath. The ultimate goal of secession is to deny equal protection to minorities. I look at this tenth amendment movement in the the same light as I look at the anti-segregation movement of past decades.

[jody]

2. Do you believe members of the 10th Amendment movement will have any influence within their state

Dem and Rep parties?

[angrycarpenter]

3. Republicans will welcome them with open arms

if they become a large enough voting block. There is an inherent conflict between the tenth and the fourteenth. These people want to set back the clock to the point where only White male land owners will be the only ones allowed to vote. This whole 10th movement is a racist secessionist movement thinly disguised as patriotic right to guns movement.

[pipoman]

4. These movements are

akin to the militia movement during the early part of Bill Clinton's first term. Soon after Clinton took office he began on his agenda of gun control. The ensuing militia movement began with right wing radicals. As the gun control rhetoric continued the movement gained legs and began marching toward the center. Most of those who identified themselves as militia members no doubt also identified themselves as pugs but were farther left on the continuum than anyone ever expected. The militia movement died down when Clinton compromised on his gun control plans opting to take very watered down versions of his initial proposals, then let the issue die for the rest of his Presidency. He stated that even the watered down restrictions he signed ultimately lost the party control of the House and Senate. If Obama wants to contribute to gun control without costing the party he should abandon (and state he will not support) any new Federal legislation, instead fund and enforce the volumes of existing firearms laws already on the books which are not currently enforced or funded.

If this administration chooses to pursue gun control I believe we will see a resurgence of the militia movement. Good or bad it is in the spirit of Jefferson's quote above.

[aldo]

5. The way to undercut this movement is to support the 2nd A unequivocably

Obama should state that the 2nd A is an individual right guaranteed by the Constitution. Which it is, any other reading is intellectually dishonest or completely dismissive of the framers' intent.

[Hoopla Phil]

6. WOW, an ARMED public rally and the N'tl guard wasn't called out?! COOL