CovOps
 Location : Ether-Sphere
Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator
Humor : Über Serious
 |  Subject: Maas: Gun owners, vote Libertarian  Tue Nov 04, 2014 12:06 am | |
| Gov. Scott Walker helped defeat ‘constitutional carry.’ Robert Burke will pass it.
We’ve all seen the bumper stickers proclaiming that “I’m a gun owner and I vote.” Fine; what does that really mean? That you will vote Republican, no matter how often they take you for granted?
The National Rifle Association — I was once not only a member but a certified rifle marksmanship and hunter safety instructor and taught hundreds of Boy Scouts at Camp Tesomas in Rhinelander — is very good on safety issues. On political issues, it leaves much to be desired. The NRA and the Republican Party are about power, not principle, and it shows up during the current Wisconsin governor campaign.
The NRA is spending over a million dollars promoting Gov. Scott Walker’s support for our right of “self defense.” However, if gun owners remember, Sen. Pam Galloway introduced the bill for “constitutional carry.” In other words, according to the wording of Article I, Section 25 of the state constitution, “The people” (all citizens) have the right to keep and bear arms for self defense, as well as for any other lawful purpose.
The constitutional amendment, granted, was passed in a previous century, the 20th (1998), but most of us were around then and voted overwhelmingly for it. Responding to the Constitutional Carry bill, following weeks of obfuscation and political posturing, Walker was able to manipulate Republicans in the Legislature to give up on their principles and restrict the number of “the people” who could bear arms. In doing so, the Republicans had to ignore their campaign promises, hearing testimonies by “the people,” and the GOP party platform, which called for voluntary, not mandatory training.
There was nothing standing between Wisconsin citizens and the constitutional right to bear arms they were promised when they voted to approve the Keep and Bear Arms amendment except Gov. Scott Walker and his Republican collaborators. Now, with the assistance of the NRA, they are attempting to convince voters that they have been done a favor, not that it was a scam which gun owners have to pay for, unlike our other constitutional rights. Do we pay for our right of free speech?
Madison politicians have turned our constitutional right into a privilege, for those people willing to pay for it. That was just plain wrong. The NRA is currently trying to convince gun owners that Walker is concerned about their self defense. Do not be fooled.
“Gun owners vote.” Candidate Robert Burke hopes that gun owners don’t forget what Scott Walker did to their constitutional right to bear arms. The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin Platform of Principles states, simply and clearly, “We believe the right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed. We therefore oppose all laws which tax or otherwise restrict the ownership, open or concealed carry, manufacture, transfer, or sale of firearms or ammunition. We further oppose all laws requiring registration of firearms. We also cannot ignore the clear lessons from history of the suffering which can fall upon a disarmed people.”
We mean it.
Jim Maas of Rothschild is secretary of the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin.
http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/opinion/2014/11/03/maas-gun-owners-vote-libertarian/18265649/ |
|
