GOAL, the Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts, has been one of the most tireless and determined grassroots firearms owners civil rights organizations in the country for a very long time. Earlier this month, they celebrated the anniversary of “the shot heard round the world” that was the genesis of the Colonies becoming The Cradle of Liberty.
Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation, was one of the many civil rights warriors present. I had to be teaching elsewhere, but thanks to the magic of electronics GOAL’s KerrieAnn Auclair made it possible for me to narrate the stirring opening written by Garet Holcomb, president of GOAL’s board. If you have a minute or two, you can catch it here:
As president of the Second Amendment Foundation I urge everyone to belong to not just SAF (saf.org) but their own state’s grassroots 2A organization. Their work is critical to our freedom. My hat is off to GOAL, because in the Massachusetts of today they are fighting an uphill battle. The Minutemen must lie uneasy in their graves for what the Bay State has become in this respect.
We need to borrow that video for here in Virginia. The only thing preserving our liberties is our Governor and this is an election year.
Quote of the Day:
“There are four great protections for our liberties: the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box. If you lose the last, the first three won’t mean a thing.” – Louisiana State Rep. Woody Jenkins speaking at the 1976 Convention for the American Independence Party
Note, variations of the above saying can be traced back to Stephen Decatur Miller who, speaking on October 9, 1830, said:
“There are three and only three ways, to reform our congressional legislation. The representative, judicial and belligerent principle alone can be relied on; or as they are more familiarly called, the ballot box, the jury box and the cartouche box. The two first are constitutional, the last revolutionary.”
In 1830, he would have been referencing paper cartridges for muzzleloading firearms. While Samuel Joannes Pauly did invent an early form of breechloading cartridge in 1812, true metallic cartridges did not make an appearance in America until Smith & Wesson introduced the .22 Short rimfire cartridge in 1857. I can’t rule out the occasional use of pinfire firearms prior to 1857, since they did exist in Europe, but their use would have been rare here in the United States.
I live in Boston, the entire state is politically hostile to gun owners. This will only be settled by the SJC
Nope.
The SJC don’t give a rodent’s tush about Rights, SCOTUS, Heller, McDonald, Bruen.
Neither do the governor nor the legislature.
Glad that I escaped.
Washington State also
To borrow from “1776”:
GOAL has been fighting the devil for decades.
So far, the devil has been winning.
😢
The British are still willing to lie and bully to minimize the number of privately held firearms. And in Scotland where ‘Firearm Regulations’ apply to pellet/air weapons as well, thanks to former MSP Tommy Sheridan, the bullying continues.