The characters of influence....

[johnharris]

[1gewehr]

You know that I am a very strong supporter for the right of the people to be armed. For me, this is a critical issue. I have no trust whatsoever in someone who believes that restricting my ability to defend myself and my family is a good idea.

But I am also a realist who understands that my particular legislators do not have the same passion for this issue as I do. As such, they will have limited time and energy to devote to my favorite issues. I see it as my job to ensure that they see that by supporting my issue, they can continue to press their own agenda.
Any elected official obviously feels that they must be re-elected in order to continue to push for their favorite issues. As such, re-election becomes both a carrot and stick which we and others can use to motivate our legislators. Obviously, we must show support for those who are inclined to support us in the legislature.
I also see my role as one of education and support for legislators who may be wavering or indifferent. If a legislator is indifferent, education can move them into our camp. And if they need motivation, then reminding them that by supporting our program they can be assured of a certain number of votes can be a powerful motivator. Likewise, they can also be reminded that by not supporting our position, they put those votes at risk of opposing them.

Ideally, all legislators would be elected and vote along ideological lines. As voters, our choices would be much simpler. But, since we are all human with human frailties and free choice, some legislators are there for purely selfish reasons. Most fall between those extremes and will vary depending upon the issue. Our civic duty is not merely to vote, but to use the abilities God gave us to talk to our legislators and candidates for office to ensure that we have people in office who will serve us best.

I know that many of us fell that this has been a disappointing legislative year. Now, more than ever, we need to keep in mind that if we do not do our part to keep our elected officials properly focused, then we should not be surprised at the results.

[C. Richard Archie]

I concur 1gewehr, we MUST spend time and effort informing our Legislators of their Constitutional duty, because from what I have been able to discern, many of them do not have the slightest understanding of the actual charge placed on them to remove those Unconstitutional laws that are currently on the books. Some know the truth and facts, but would, for a desire to control their fellow Citizens, deny them the opportunity to enjoy the Rights enumerated in the documents which are meant to be our heritage and guide.

In speaking of Article 1 Section 26 of our Declaration of Rights, the Tennessee Supreme Court has stated that any law that deals with restricting the wearing of arms by legally allowed citizens "must be guided by, and restrained to this end, and bear some well defined relation to the prevention of crime, or else it is unauthorized by this clause of the Constitution." Being the only clause that deals with arms and the Citizen, it is in fact the final word relative to the issue. There is no leeway contained in the clause, only the hard and fast rule, a law must reduce crime or it is not authorized.

Hubert Humphrey, campaigning for the 1960 Democratic Presidential nomination said "Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens 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 citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America but which historically has proven to be always possible."

I would hazard a guess, that the majority of our Legislators are bereft of a true understanding of the charges placed upon them with respect to their constituent's safety and security. Most would suppose that the various Law Enforcement agencies are responsible for protecting the average person from harm by criminals, although in truth and reality, there is no mandate for such action. Due to limits on liability and pure dollars and cents, no entity is or can be responsible for the protection of us, the People, other than ourselves.

That is the hard lesson that we need to teach our Representatives and Senators, as well as our Governor. We must find a way to impress upon them the facts that rule our lives, that there is evil in this world, and the common defense is the responsibility and right of the People. By denying us the best tools to provide protection for our very existence, which they have decided in their wisdom they themselves are NOT going not take on, through any of the agencies they control, and having placed in writing in our ultimate document, the State Constitution, the burden on the Citizen, they have an obligation to allow those Rights.