October, 2001

Like virtually everyone else, I'm shocked and saddened by the events of September 11th. Much has been written attempting to express the collective sense of horror, grief and sympathy of our nation, as well as to herald the heroic behavior of a few. The surge in our countrymen's sense of patriotism and spirit of determination and conviction to recover - to become the re-United States of America - is a welcome, but painfully small, silver lining, to the dark cloud which hangs over us all. Rather than echo so many who have expressed these feelings so much better than I, I will instead follow a road less traveled.

Reflection has prompted some of us to re-evaluate our society and the fundamental principles ­ as represented by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights - which define it. Typically, the audience attracted to the NAA website has a particularly strong sense of urgency and regard for the 2nd Amendment. In my mind, the recent tragedy puts a particularly strong exclamation point on the inability of the government to guarantee our overall safety, despite their best efforts ­ which is one reason it is so critical to allow us as individuals to assume a large measure of responsibility for self-protection.

I fear, however, that in our well-intentioned effort to defend against threats (for which there is, unfortunately, virtually no defense), we run the serious risk of treading upon, almost to the point of destruction, those rights guaranteed by the 1st (freedom of speech and the exercise of religion) and 4th (freedom from unreasonable search and seizure) Amendments, for example. Many of us, including myself, recognize that any of our rights which we might choose to forgo or allow to be taken from us are, for all intents and purposes, unrecoverable. Not only do we risk reducing our individual freedoms, we similarly risk fundamentally recasting the characteristics which make our nation so great in the first place, and for which so many have paid such a high price to guarantee and defend. To my mind, this is not an acceptable compromise (as if any compromise in our rights is acceptable).

We are facing serious threats, both foreign and domestic. As our webmaster is so fond of saying, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty". Now, more than ever.

Sandy

Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) checks out the latest edition of the North American Arms catalog. He mentioned that he regularly carries two of the firm's firearm products after receiving death threats several years ago. ASSC's 1996 Congressional Leader of the Year Award was presented to Sen. Hatch "in appreciation of his leadership and commitment in defense of our heritage, our industry and our life"


Photo & caption by Robert M. Hausman - used with permission.