By Chuck Baldwin
January 10, 2013
This column is archived here.
I have been writing this column for over a dozen years, and I can safely say the column I wrote last week, “My Line In The Sand Is Drawn Here,” produced more response than any column I have ever written--maybe more than any two or three columns combined. And what is even more noteworthy: unlike most columns, the responses to this column were at least 90% favorable. In last week’s column I said, “Throughout the United States, there are tens of millions of fully-armed citizens who are more than capable of defending themselves and their communities against any enemy--whether that enemy is an internal or external one. In fact, many millions of these citizens have been trained in the US armed forces. Firearms--especially semi-automatic rifles--in the hands of millions of American citizens is truly the only thing that stands between freedom and tyranny for the people of the United States. That Barack Obama and Dianne Feinstein want to disarm the American people should be considered an act of war against our liberties! In other words, ladies and gentlemen, this is a line in the sand that none of us can afford to ignore.”
I also wrote, “Make no mistake about it: to take away an American’s right to a semi-automatic rifle is to FULLY DISARM HIM. There is no Second Amendment; there is no right to keep and bear arms; there is no citizen militia; there is no liberty without the semi-automatic rifle!” I concluded the column saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, whatever the consequences might be, and whatever anyone else does or doesn’t do, I am prepared to become an outlaw over this issue! I don’t know how to say it any plainer: I will not register my firearms, and I will not surrender my firearms. Period. End of story. It’s not just a saying with me: when my guns are outlawed, I will be an outlaw!
“My line in the sand is drawn here! “Make no mistake about it: it is not just semi-automatic rifles that these gun grabbers are after. Ultimately, they want to take all of our guns. We either stop them now or there will be no stopping them at all.”
See the column at: My Line In The Sand Is Drawn Here!
Among those who wrote to tell me that they had also drawn their personal line in the sand on this issue and that they would also absolutely refuse to register or surrender their firearms were people from virtually all walks of life: attorneys, realtors, bankers, teachers, physicians, civil servants, salesmen, truck drivers, tradesmen, pastors, law enforcement officers (including federal police officers), and military personnel--even special forces troops. Accordingly, I am absolutely convinced that these people are a microcosm of gun owners nationwide. I am also convinced that should Senator Dianne Feinstein’s bill banning semi-automatic rifles become law that there are literally tens of millions of Americans who simply will not comply. Furthermore, former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan recently told John McLaughlin that should the federal government attempt to confiscate the guns of the American people, “There would be a revolution in this country!”
See the report at: 'There would be a revolution in this country!', Mail Online
What most people fail to realize (because they are not taught it) is that the match that ignited America’s War for Independence was not excessive taxes, or the lack of representation, or trade restrictions, or the lack of trial by jury (as important as these issues were). The match that ignited America’s War for Independence was ATTEMPTED GUN CONFISCATION. On April 19, 1775, British troops, some 800 strong, were dispatched to Concord, Massachusetts, to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock and to seize a cache of weapons known to be stored at Concord. When Dr. Joseph Warren sent Paul Revere to warn Pastor Jonas Clark (in whose home Adams and Hancock were staying) that the Crown’s troops were on their way to arrest the two men and seize the guns at Concord, he alerted his male congregants. About 60-70 men from the Church of Lexington stood armed on Lexington Green awaiting the Red Coats.
Upon spotting the citizen militia, a British officer demanded the men throw down their arms. They refused; and the British troops immediately opened fire. Eight of the Minutemen were instantly killed. The colonists returned fire in self-defense, and the shot was fired that was heard ’round the world. By the time the troops arrived at the Concord Bridge, just a few miles away, hundreds of colonists were waiting for them with muskets in hand, and the rest, as they say, is history. Make no mistake about it: attempted gun confiscation ignited America’s War for Independence. And I am convinced that Pat Buchanan is absolutely right. If the federal government attempts to confiscate the guns of the American people, “There would be a revolution in this country!”
One more observation regarding The Battle of Lexington which opened America’s War for Independence: not only was attempted gun confiscation the match that ignited the war, it was the pastor of the Church of Lexington and members of his congregation who were the Minutemen of Lexington Green. That is another fact most historians conveniently leave out of the story. If there is one element missing from today’s liberty fight, it is the lack of participation from America’s pastors. By and large they are MIA. How many pastors today are warning their congregations of the threat against their Second Amendment liberties? Every pastor in America, regardless of denomination, should have already started proclaiming “the spirit of resistance” (Thomas Jefferson) to their church congregations; they should already be extolling the Biblical mandate to resist tyranny; they should already be warning their congregations of Barack Obama and Dianne Feinstein’s plan to disarm them.
Let me ask my church-going readers: has your pastor said one word from the pulpit regarding the impending gun ban now being drafted? Has your pastor explained the Biblical principles of lawful resistance? Has your pastor exhorted his church congregation to not surrender their firearms and to do everything in their power to demand that your senators and legislators hold the line for the Second Amendment? And my next question is if your pastor has not done any of this, why are you still attending that church? Ladies and gentlemen, there would have been no United States of America had it not been for Rev. Jonas Clark and the other patriot-pastors of 1775 and 1776. There would have been no Lexington Green and Concord Bridge; there would have been no Bunker Hill; there would have been no Declaration of Independence; there would have been no British surrender at Yorktown. And I would dare say that if a significant percentage of pastors would stand up this Sunday and encourage their people to stand firm against this gun ban bill, the bill would never see the light of day.
The time is late, folks! We no longer have the luxury of straddling the fence or putting our heads in the sand. If your pastor refuses to take a public stand for YOUR liberties, and the liberties of YOUR CHILDREN, vote with your feet and walk out the door. Find yourself a pastor who will defend your liberties and the liberties of your children--liberties that other pastors and patriots purchased at the cost of their very blood. I repeat what I’ve already said, “Whatever the consequences might be, and whatever anyone else does or doesn’t do, I am prepared to become an outlaw over this issue! I don’t know how to say it any plainer: I will not register my firearms, and I will not surrender my firearms. Period. End of story. It’s not just a saying with me: when my guns are outlawed, I will be an outlaw!
“My line in the sand is drawn here!” And so are the lines of millions of Americans.
In response to Pat Buchanan’s prediction of revolution should the federal government attempt to confiscate our guns, John McLaughlin replied, “Baloney!” I’m sure that’s what King George III said when he was told that would happen if his troops attempted to confiscate the guns at Concord.
(c) Chuck Baldwin