Celebrate Bill of Rights Day By Exercising 2nd Amendment

Celebrate Bill of Rights Day By Exercising 2nd Amendment, Says Second Amendment Foundation

12/14/2004 1:35:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation, 425-454-7012

BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is encouraging all Americans to celebrate Bill of Rights Day -- Wednesday, Dec. 15 -- by exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

"Wednesday would be the perfect opportunity to do any number of things, from purchasing a firearm or ammunition, for yourself or as a gift, to applying for a concealed carry license if you have not yet done so, or visiting a gun range and practicing marksmanship and firearm safety," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb.

"The Second Amendment is the cornerstone of the Bill of Rights, which was ratified in 1791," Gottlieb continued. "For more than two hundred years, our Bill of Rights has been the standard against which human rights around the world have been measured. The right to keep and bear arms has provided the 'insurance policy' against violation of these fundamental rights, and it is America's original homeland security measure."

The importance of an individual right to keep and bear arms has not been lost on those elected to serve in government, Gottlieb recalled. He noted that in 1959, the late Sen. Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota stated, "Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used and that definite rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of the citizen to bear arms is just one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible."

"Senator Humphrey's wisdom is as important today, perhaps moreso, than it was 45 years ago," Gottlieb observed. "Forty-six states today have some form of concealed carry, and thirty-eight of those states have 'shall-issue' statutes. The Second Amendment recognizes and protects the same right of individuals as is recognized in the First, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Amendments.

"There is no better day than Bill of Rights Day," he concluded, "for American citizens to exercise their freedom, and that most important of civil rights, the right to keep and bear arms. It's the right that has protected all the other rights we hold so dear."

The Second Amendment Foundation is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, Conn.; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers & an amicus brief & fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

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