Second Amendment March questions and answers

1.When and where is the national march?

The National March will be held April 19th 2010 on the grounds of the Washington monument.

2. Where can people find out more information about it?

www.secondamendmentmarch.com

3. Is there some significance to the date of the march, April 19th?

1775: Minutemen Capt John Parker orders not to fire unless fired upon. A shot is fired and the American revolution begins at the Lexington Common. That was the "shot heard round the world"

4. When and where is the Iowa march?

The Iowa State March will be held on the 19th of April on the west side of the Capital.

5. Will there be any speakers?

Yes there will be. So far I have Dave Funk, candidate for the 3rd Iowa district now held by Leonard Boswell. Sean McClanahan, President of Iowa Carry.

6. Where can people go to keep up-to-date on the Iowa march?

The Second Amendment March has pages dedicated to each state. Go to the Iowa page, I post updates as I get more information.

7. Besides Des Moines, are there any confirmed rallies elsewhere in Iowa?

I have been trying to get rallies in other cities but so far I have not received any replies.

8. How did you come to be involved in the march?

The founder of the Second Amendment March, Skip Coryell Was a member of Iowa Carry and the guest speaker at a Iowa Carry pheasant hunt and dinner three years ago. I had the pleasure of sitting across from him and his wife and next to his children. We had a great time and became friends. We are both from Michigan and were both Marines. We have kept in touch and when he started the 2A March, he asked me to be the Iowa state coordinator. I readily accepted his offer. Along with my work with Iowa Carry, it's one of the best jobs I don't get paid to do. 

9. What do you hope that the march will accomplish?

We are trying to bring attention to the people about the way the government is slowly taking our rights away. There are over 20,000 gun laws on the books that try to restrict our rights. We now have 38 states that have "shall issue" laws and Arizona is lookong like it's going to be the 3rd state that will allow carry with out a permit. Joining Alaska and Vermont. Iowa Carry has been working on getting shall issue in Iowa making it easier for the citizens to be "allowed" to protect them selves. As you know, Iowa is may issue and permits are at the discretion of the sheriff. This means that in some counties, like Polk, All you have to do is take the training and pass the background check and you get your permit. Other counties will not issue a permit for any reason. The sheriffs of these counties have decided that they know best and honest law abiding citizens have no business carrying a gun. Even though the criminals carry regardless of the law. This is also one of the issues the 2A March is about.

10. Is there anything else we should know?

Everyone should know that the 2nd Amendment is the right that protects all the other rights. These right are not given by the government. They are natural God given rights and the government has been infringing on all of our rights for years. We are trying to educate the general population on what our rights are and what the wording of the Constitution really means. In the 2nd Amendment there are a few words that should tell people exactly what the founders meant. "The right of the people". There is a reason the  this phrase shows up in several of the amendments. It is because the people have the right to assemble and speak and to be secure in their homes and possessions and to own and bear arms. "Shall not be infringed"  There isn't a politician in the world that understands these 4 words. If there was, we wouldn't have to beg some government official for "permission" to exercise our 2nd Amendment right. Vermont has no permiit system. The also have one of the lowest crime rates in the country. They allow their citizens to carry open or concealed without having to beg. And contrary to what the Brady Bunch says, there isn't blood in the streets. This proves that the law abiding citizens can carry a gun and not have shootouts over fender benders and parking spots.


A little about me,

 I was born in Flint Michigan and raised on a farm in the small town of Byron. I learned at a early age how to drive a tractor. When my town friends were playing around I was in the field plowing. Eventually I took over the farm at 14 years old. I invested in some feeder cattle and planted corn and hay. We finally got out of farming in 71 but I kept working on farms all through high school. I graduated from high school in June of 73 and in July of that year I joined the Marines. After 3 years and 8 months, I was discharged with a medical after a truck accident that tore up my spine.
I spent my fist couple of years after discharge in south east Missouri. My parents had retired while I was in the Marines so we went there to check it out. After a couple years of low paying jobs and 4 months in trade school, we moved to North Texas. We were there for 19 years. I started working in the oil fields and moved around to construction, mechanic and truck driver. I learned a lot about running heavy machinery on some of the construction jobs. In 97 we moved to Iowa for a job a friend found at the Ford dealer in Knoxville. 2 years there and another 2 years at Noble Ford in Indianola, I quit and went back to truck driving. In 04, right after a big snow in January, I was digging out and stepped on a patch of ice and fell hard. That ended my career. The company I worked for canceled my insurance and I emptied out all of our savings on doctors and specialists.  I'm now retired on disability. I do hold 2 FFL's, as a dealer in small arms and as a ammunition manufacturer. 

 In the seventies, while in the Marines, I started reading shooting sports magazines. I became interested in the gun control debate. As I grew my private collection of old military rifles and a few handguns, I also grew more interested in the fight against gun control. I read a lot of the writing of people like Neal Knox and Jeff Cooper. Col. Cooper was the driving force behind a lot of the handgun competitions we have today. Neal Knox was a driving force in the NRA. I started reading up on some of the groups that were working to restrict our rights and who was behind them. They claim they only want "reasonable" regulation, but their mission statements say other wise. In Feb. of 75, I was hitch-hiking back to the base when I was beaten and robbed by some civilian punks that used a tire tool and boots. I didn't have any money for them to take so they took it out in blood and bone. I had a concussion and several cracked ribs, one eye was swollen compleatly shut and the other one wasn't much better. And I was still 20 miles from base. A officer from the base saw me and my plight and took me to the base hospital. They checked me out and released me. The next day I bought my first handgun and carried it everywhere when I was off duty. I swore that would never happen again. In the 35 years since, I have never drawn a gun on anyone. I hope it remains that way.

 After I had to retire, I had plenty of time to get involved in issues that I felt strongly about. I discover Iowa Carry about a month after the started up. In the 5 years we have been active, we have gone from a few friends on the internet to a corporation that is a force at the state house. I became a  forum moderator shortly after joining and then a registered lobbyist. We have sworn to change the gun laws in Iowa so that "all" law abiding citizens can legally carry arms if they so desire.

 I hope that all of the people that believe in the Constitution will join us on the 19th of April at the capital. It's time we showed our representatives that they work for us. They are not there to lord over us like we were a bunch of subjects. As they say, With guns, you are citizens, without them, you are subjects.

 

The Patriot Declaration

  I thought this was rater interesting.





By Mark Alexander · Thursday, March 25, 2010

"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them." --Thomas Jefferson

Across our great nation, there is a groundswell of protest against the leftist agenda of those now holding power in the Executive and Legislative branches of the central government.
The tenor of this grassroots movement is growing louder as its number swells and its purpose becomes defined. It is a protest characterized not by a roar for revolution, but by a clarion call for restoration -- repair of our Constitution's authority and return to its standard for Rule of Law.
George Washington proclaimed, "The Constitution, which at any time exists 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory upon all."
Further, as Alexander Hamilton made clear in Federalist No. 81, "[T]here is not a syllable in the [Constitution] which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution...."
Much less so is there any provision for the Executive or Legislative branches to rely upon interpretation of such language as that in the "Commerce Clause" to justify all manner of government intrusion, such as the newly implemented nationalization of health care.
James Madison, author of our Constitution, wrote, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents... If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one... The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. ... There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."
Similarly, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "[T]he States can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore ... never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold at market. ... [W]hen all government ... shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another. ... Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread."
Undoubtedly, the author of our Declaration of Independence would have already demanded, again, that the Tree of Liberty be refreshed with the blood of Patriots and tyrants.
Those at the helm of the federal government, by way of overreaching executive orders, legislative malfeasance and judicial diktat, have abandoned their sacred oaths to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic," and to "bear true faith and allegiance to the same..."
Though our Constitution provides the people with an authentic means for amendment, as prescribed in Article V, liberals have altered that august founding convention well beyond any semblance of its original intent.
They have expanded its scope beyond recognition in order to win the allegiance of special interest constituencies, who then ensure perpetual re-election of their sponsors, by way of political and economic agendas structured on Marxist-Leninist-Maoist collectivism.
Short of revolution, and consistent with the restoration of Rule of Law, we declare that our government's scope must be contracted to its original constitutional intent. We understand that it will take political courage, time and deliberation to undo all the insult to our Constitution, but undo we must.
If we fail to accomplish this task, and Rule of Law is overwhelmed by the rule of men, tyranny and anarchy will prevail, and the ultimate arbiter of the law will depend not upon constitutional rule but ultimately, and crudely, upon which of the rivals possesses more firepower.
As a standard-bearer for Essential Liberty, the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and the promotion of free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values, The Patriot Post has received calls from grassroots leaders across the nation to put forth a conservative manifesto -- a plan of action to restore the integrity of our Constitution. After great deliberation, today we are releasing The Patriot Declaration (see PatriotDeclaration.US), in order that we might rally around a uniform proclamation to restore Constitutional Rule of Law.
As Benjamin Franklin said famously when signing the Declaration of Independence, "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately."
Who are "We" in support of this Patriot Declaration?
Preamble
We are American Patriots, defenders of First Principles and Essential Liberty.
We are Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and public servants standing in harm's way at home and around the world, who are loyal, first and foremost, to our revered oath to support and defend our Constitution.
We are grassroots leaders and local, state and national officeholders who, likewise, honor our sacred oath.
We are moms, dads and other family members nurturing the next generation of young Patriots.
We are farmers, craftsmen, tradesmen and industrial producers. We are small business owners, service providers and professionals in medicine and law. We are employees and employers. We are in ministry at home and missionaries abroad. We are students and professors at colleges and universities, often standing alone for what is good and right.
We are consumers and taxpayers.
We are voters.
We are not defined by race, creed, ethnicity, religion, wealth, education or political affiliation, but by our devotion to our Creator, and the liberty He has entrusted to us, one and all.
We are Patriot Sons and Daughters from all walks of life, heirs to the blessings of Liberty, bequeathed to us by our Patriot Forebears.
Patriot Declaration
We the People, blessed with the inheritance of Liberty paid for with the lives and fortunes of Patriots before us, hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, that to secure these Rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, and that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.
WHEREAS, our nation is at a critical historic juncture, where we must choose between Rule of Law and rule of men; and
WHEREAS, our nation is confronting significant political threats to Liberty from within our borders and from enemies abroad; and
WHEREAS, our national Constitution is the singular guidance for Rule of Law and the defense of liberty; and
WHEREAS, our elected leaders have forsaken their oath to support and defend our Constitution, placing the future of American Liberty at great peril;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, We the People of these United States, in order to restore a more perfect Union, re-establish Justice, re-insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, pledge to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, as established at great cost in lives and treasure by our Founders and defended by generations since, and commit to undertake the following actions to restore constitutional integrity and Rule of Law, or be subject to expulsion:
FIRST, that constitutional authority be established for any national legislation entered before Congress, citing the specific authority enumerated in our Constitution empowering Congress to enact such legislation, thus ensuring that such legislation does not amend the plain language of our Constitution, which prescribes its own method for amendment in Article V, or be subject to a point of order;
SECOND, that all legislation explicitly cite its compliance with the Tenth Amendment to our Bill of Rights, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people," thus ensuring that the central government does not usurp the powers reserved to the States or the People, or be subject to a point of order;
THIRD, that all legislation and regulation imposed upon the nation apply equally to all members of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government;
FOURTH, that fiscal responsibility be enumerated in our Constitution by way of a Balanced Budget Amendment, including zero base-line accounting principles, to be put before the states and the people;
FIFTH, that said Balanced Budget Amendment contain a provision requiring a three-fifths majority of votes by members of Congress to raise direct or indirect taxes, and acknowledgment that the legislature has no authority to raise taxes for purposes that are not expressly authorized by the Constitution;
SIXTH, that said Balanced Budget Amendment contain a provision that direct taxes be levied at an equal ratio to all Americans, ensuring that the cost-burden of government is shared equally by all, and consistent with Article I, Section 9, which provides "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed" which would unduly single out individuals or minority groups for undue punishment;
SEVENTH, that said Balanced Budget Amendment contain a provision that the withholding of taxes by an employer is the option of the taxpayer;
EIGHTH, that said Balanced Budget Amendment acknowledge the interdependence of economic freedom and political freedom by provision that any bill before Congress must enumerate its implications against the exercise of free enterprise, or be subject to a point of order;
NINTH, that a Legislature Accountability Amendment to establish term limits for all members of Congress, similar to that of the 22nd Amendment, Section 1, limiting terms for the Executive, be put before the states and the people; and,
TENTH, that Rule of Law as established through the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God, entitles the People to unalienable Rights such as Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, and severely limits the government from any infringement upon those rights.
THUS, be it known that for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Sign The Patriot Declaration
Fellow Patriots, throughout history the burden of ensuring that the flame of liberty burns bright has fallen upon the shoulders of a few patriotic men and women. But as Founding Patriot Samuel Adams noted, "It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."
Through this Declaration, we, the tireless minority, publicly deliver hope and inspiration to our countrymen and, indeed, the world, and we send a message to those who have forsaken their oaths to support and defend our Constitution, who have abandoned Rule of Law for selfish pursuits: Don't Tread on Us, or you will surely suffer the political consequences.