'...Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.'

Patriots,

'Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness', are in the Declaration of Independence. Ever wonder how the phrase came about?

Jefferson's "original Rough draught" is on exhibit in the Library of Congress. This version was used by Julian Boyd to create a transcript of Jefferson's draft, which reads:

We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; ...

The Clinton Administration removed this right with:

A Clinton Administration revision to Department of Defense Directive 5210.56 — Army Regulation 190-14, dated 12 March 1993 — permits the Secretary of the Army to authorize military personnel to carry firearms “on a case by case basis” for personal protection within the continental United States, but forbids military personnel to carry their own personal firearms and both requires “a credible and specific threat” before firearms be issued for military personnel to protect themselves. It further directs that firearms “not be issued indiscriminately for that purpose.”


The victims of the April 2nd, 2014 attack were denied these 'Rights' by fiat of President Clinton, who never spent one day in the military. The men and women who serve and die for this great country are denied the right to defend themselves on American military bases. At least one of the soldiers under attack that April  had a LTC/CCW or a state license to carry a concealed firearm on their person. The average soldier on any military base is more at risk on Base than they would be at a 7/11, bank or any place a bad guy may select to rob. When I went through counter terrorism training after 9/11/01, we were instructed in how draft a plan to select a target, plan an attack and then we would change sides, if you please and have to draft a plan to counter that very attack. The goal of the attack being to inflict maximum casualties and at the same time inflict maximum fear among the civilian population of future attacks. We discussed police stations and military bases as possible targets. Police stations were quickly eliminated as possible targets as being to dangerous for the attackers as the personnel there would fire back. Military bases were determined to be far 'softer' targets. Although the average military base has a variety of weapons on hand based upon its missions, they are all under lock and key in armories. To access and disperse them to personnel would be a time consuming and logistical impossibility. Due to the uniqueness of military bases, only MP's or civilian gate guards are on duty 24/7. Due to the distances between gates, backing each other up would be a virtual impossibility. If a well armed adversary or a group were to attack, they could cause untold causalities before base personnel or outside civilian law enforcement could arrive on scene. We saw what Major Nidal Hasan was able to do alone in his attack of  November 5th, 2009. I do not like to play what if but what if it had been two or more attackers? He killed 13 and injured scores of people acting alone.

We have made our military men and women the obvious political target of choice after certain civilian targets which I will not telegraph here. We have in essence made them sitting ducks. Congress has an opportunity to change this with passage of HR 3199, 'Safe Military Bases Act'. Put forth by Representative Steve Stockman. Unlike other gun laws that do not require Presidential approval, this law needs immediate passage and implementation. Any personnel possessing a valid license to carry in the state where the base is located should be allowed to carry while on the base. Police Officers carry at all times when in the station and of duty. We do not disarm except when booking a prisoner. Why would we not allow military personnel, the best trained people in the country, to carry firearms on bases?

Lighting has struck twice at Ft. Hood. Are we going to wait for another attack at this or any other military base anywhere in the United States?

Here is First Lieutenant Patrick Cook’s full open letter addressing the Fort Hood shooting:

To my friends, fellow Texans, brothers in arms, members of the committee, and everyone within the sound of my voice, greetings.

My name is First Lieutenant Patrick Cook of the 49th Transportation Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas, and this past Wednesday I found myself trapped in an enclosed room with fourteen of my fellow Soldiers, one of whom was barricading the door against a madman with a .45 pistol when he was fatally shot. Through what I can only describe as a miracle, he somehow found enough strength to continue pushing against that door until the shooter gave up and went elsewhere, at which time he collapsed. Nearly a week later, I can still taste his blood in my mouth from when I and my comrades breathed into his lungs for 20 long minutes while we waited for a response from the authorities. This Soldier’s name was Sergeant First Class Daniel Ferguson, and his sacrifice loaned me the rest of my life to tell this story.

But I write to you today not to memorialize this brave Soldier, nor to tell a war story about how we made the best of a losing situation, but to express the part of that story that some in high positions of power clearly do not want told: I knew this was going to happen. I had been saying for five years that Fort Hood was a tinderbox of another massacre waiting to happen. It had to happen, because our betters failed to learn the obvious lesson of five years ago. Worse yet, I know it will happen again. More will die, more will be wounded, more families will be torn apart, needlessly. It happened again, and will happen again, because Fort Hood is a gun-free zone.

When the first shots rang out, my hand reached to my belt for something that wasn’t there. Something that could have put a stop to the bloodshed, could have made it merely an “ugly incident” instead of the horrific massacre that I will surely remember as the darkest twenty minutes of my life. Stripped of my God-given Right to arm myself, the only defensive posture I had left was to lie prostrate on the ground, and wait to die. As the shooter kicked at the door, I remember telling myself, “oh well, this is it.” It is beneath human dignity to experience the utter helplessness I felt that day. I cannot abide the thought that anyone should ever feel that again.
At the point blank range at which this shooting occurred, anyone with an M9 and some basic instruction could have ended the mayhem as quickly as it began. An MP by trade and a CHL holder, I am convinced that concealed weapons would have stopped it, but openly carried side-arms, like the ones carried in a law enforcement capacity, could have prevented it entirely. Instead, many more died because of the fatally misguided restrictions on the carrying of arms, which obviously the madman did not respect.

I shall conclude by restating my warning. This will happen again, and again until we learn the lesson that suppressing the bearing of arms doesn’t prevent horrific crimes, it invites them. To those of you who hold elected office, if you hear nothing else I have told you, hear this: you have the power to stop the next massacre from happening. You have an opportunity to restore the sacred Right to bear arms, which has been either stripped entirely or unjustly relegated to the poor substitute of a probationary, government-issued privilege. For God’s sake, do the right thing.

Thank you for your attention, and good day.

Semper Paratus


Inspector Javert
Patriot
California Concealed Carry