Wayne Boyer asks:
>So why is it that it takes a former child of the Soviet Union to understand
basic American rights?
My question is where does a middle class urban kid get such a stick up about
2nd amendment rights?
Just for the record I have never heard of mass arrests of gun owners for
owning guns. I do not recall hearing of mass confiscation of legal guns from
their owners. (The only exception I know to these statements is in the case
of the Black Panthers.) On occasion people doing illegal things with illegal
guns have been subject to excessive force by overzealous law enforcement
personnel, Ruby Ridge comes to mind.
I have however seen mass arrests for the exercise of 1st amendment rights.
These incidents are well documented. They have occurred since the first
amendment was ratified. No one ever tried to take Charlton Heston's gun away
from him so his "cold dead hands" speech is purely empty rhetoric. Striking
workers have been dispersed and arrested for picketing, protestors have been
arrested for voicing a dissenting opinion and political candidates have been
denied public forums because they did not belong to mainstream parties. When
we complain that first amendment rights have been curtailed we can show
video footage to prove our case.
If Eugene is looking for a constitutional cause what about the 4th, 5th, 6th
and 8th amendment rights of thousands of citizens and legal aliens being
held, questioned, had property confiscated and generally harassed since
September 1, 2002 for no other reason than an accident of birth? There are a
many classes more oppressed than gun owners. When you are part of the
majority it is easy to dismiss other peoples problems but that does not mean
the problems don't exist.
That said I like everyone else on this list am proud to see "one of our own"
that we "knew when" make it in the real world.
The opinions expressed herein are my own and not necessarily those of my
employer.
Yosef Rosenblatt

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