We heard from Spokane, Washington the other day. The caller said he wasn't worried about the gun ban, because they haven't tried to take his goose gun, yet. When we asked him if he had joined the NRA, the Second Amendment Foundation or Gun Owners of America, he said he would when they started after his guns.

When will it be time to join the struggle to keep your rights? After they have made it a felony to keep a firearm in your home? After they have confiscated all the guns? After they have made criminals of people who haven't broken any laws the Founding Fathers would have recognized?

In 1791, Liberty won its last great battle. Since that time, the cause of Liberty has been eroding, sliding into the morass of apathy and ignorance. This year, you heard ringing speeches that the cause of Liberty was given a great advance in Normandy, 50 years ago. You have been reading all year that the great effort of World War II was to advance the cause of Liberty and Freedom. False! Not one action, not one war, not one law since the Bill of Rights has been to proactively advance the cause of Liberty. Liberty has been on the defensive since 1791, and your opponents have been nibbling like mice in the cupboards at your freedoms for over 200 years.

Asking a Congressman to take no action on a subject is to ask the fox to guard the hen house. It isn't in the nature of the beast. To ask a Congressman to hold the line against certain bills merely guarantees you will have no eggs with your breakfast.

So, if you can't ask the politician to not offer legislation and you can't ask him to oppose all legislation of a certain nature, what can you do? You can ask him to propose proactive legislation. Legislation which will protect our remaining tattered rights. Legislation which will return some semblance of freedom to the people. Legislation which would be recognized by the Founding Fathers as proper for a country based on Freedom, Equality, Justice and Honor.

The National Firearms Act of 1934 was an ax aimed at the Tree of Liberty. The Gun Control Act of 1968 swung that ax at the base of the Tree. The gun ban in the Roberti-Roos Act and now in the "It's a Crime, Bill" has chopped deeply into the Tree. It is time to act; the time for negotiation and compromise has passed.

You need laws which put teeth into the militia as it was understood and known to the Founding Fathers. You need laws which do more than allow you your rights; they must mandate rights to the people, as did the Bill of Rights. It has come to such a pass today, that the only way to mandate those rights is to remove from Congress the ability to make infringing laws without express and explicit permission from you. Any legislation which acts upon any subject found in the Bill of Rights must be put to the people for acceptance or rejection.

This is not the same as ratification of a proposed amendment to the Constitution, because it will bypass the State Legislatures. You have seen that members of the State Legislatures are no less venal and self-centered than are those of the Federal Legislature. The occasion of a few well-meaning and honest men stand out in the Legislatures as a would a few candles on a darkened plain. Those few and lonely honest Legislators need your support and aid. They need to be recognized and honored. But, more importantly, they need to know you are behind them and will be led by them, so long as they, in turn, are guided by the light of Liberty.

In this day and age, it is not socially acceptable to be strongly patriotic. Keep your head down, work for more goodies, look out for number one, and bitch a lot at your weekly gathering over a beer or two. Wear a flag on your lapel, cheer the troops, actually sing the Star Spangled Banner; you'll get funny looks. Well, folks, in this day and age, it is not safe to be apathetic. You will lose your savings, your pension, your investments, your insurance and your well-being. You will lose the right to own a gun, the right to visit your family doctor, the right to retire on your savings, the right to live free of fear from the government, the right to teach your children your values, the right to unfettered travel. (Papers, please. ecr) All these and more are under attack right now, in Washington, DC and in Sacramento, and in every government office in the nation. Bureaucrats and politicians cannot leave things alone. They are in business to create more. More bureaucratic rules, more papers to fill out and file, more laws, more rules and more regulations to control you.

The Constitution set up a nation governed by an Executive office, with a Judicial Branch to hold courts of law and a Congress to represent you. It didn't take long for the "representatives" in Congress to begin to call themselves "lawmakers." (And, lordy, lordy, they do indeed make laws. The California Assembly proposed 3,838 actions and the California Senate proposed 2,138 actions in just the last two-year session. ecr)

Over the past few weeks, you were asked to send letters and facsimiles to your Congressmen, stating your displeasure over the "Its a Crime, Bill." You have been asked to telephone Congressmen to ask for votes against the gun ban and against wasteful, useless spending. We are asking you, over the next month, to contribute time and effort in getting people to vote for our candidates. We are asking you to attach yourself to a deserving candidate like a remora to a shark, and not let go until after the election. Help make and deliver signs, telephone prospective voters, walk precincts, stuff envelopes and VOTE.

When the precinct-stumping is over, and the new and old politicians return to their remote offices, you still cannot relax. If you manage to send a few more Republicans to the House and Senate, and manage to get a few more in the State Legislature, you can hope only for gridlock. Gridlock will not save you. The erosion of constant attempts to pass anti-American laws will continue, whether at a fast pace or slow. The Brady Bill took years to pass. There are bills out there which will rear their ugly heads time and time again, until they are passed, in one form or another.

"Three strikes and you're out" is a slogan of which the NRA is justifiably proud. That premise needs to be applied to legislation, as well. Any legislation which does not pass in three attempts, must be shelved for a long time. (Ten years has been proposed. ecr) When enough time has passed for there to have been a change in the country's situation, only then can the proposed legislation can be brought out, rewritten and tried again.

You have, in California, the right to petition the Legislature by initiative for certain laws. Because of the initiative process, California lawmakers have to pay attention to you. You can also petition the Federal Legislature. They are not required by law to pay attention to you, but they will. A petition signed by millions of gun owners, nationwide in scope, will get the attention of the most recalcitrant, mule-stubborn, pig-headed politician in office. The time for action is now. The time to change the direction this nation is headed is now. The time to let the United States of America slide ever-more rapidly into despotism is also now. The choice is yours. Now.