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Lever 03
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The Atlanta Declaration: Every man, woman, and responsible child has a
natural, fundamental, and inalienable human, individual, civil, and
Constitutional right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed,
any weapon -- handgun, shotgun, rifle, machinegun, \anything\ -- any
time, anywhere, without asking anyone's permission.
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L. NEIL SMITH'S \LEVER ACTION\ LETTER NUMBER 03b
== HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR GUNS? ==
Would you agree to permit consenting adults to buy, sell, read, write,
make, listen to, or watch whatever books, magazines, records, tapes, or movies
they want, no matter how pornographic they might be ...
... if they agreed to let you keep your guns?
Would you agree to tolerate anyone who practiced atheism, Buddhism,
Islam, Jainism, Scientology, Satanism, Taoism ...
... if they agreed to let you keep your guns?
Would you agree to let women control their own reproductive processes,
even have abortions (at their own expense, of course) ...
... if they agreed to let you keep your guns?
Would you agree to allow individuals to pursue their own sexual
preferences, homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual ...
... if they agreed to let you keep your guns?
Would you agree forget the "War on Drugs", to leave others alone,
perhaps even to ruin their lives with alcohol, nicotine, heroin, cocaine,
marijuana, LSD, or any other chemical substance ...
... if they agreed to let you keep your guns?
Would you agree to respect the rights of anyone, no matter their race or
national origin ...
... if they agreed to let you keep your guns?
No sane human being would sacrifice the individual rights he personally
considers most precious just for the sake of imposing his own tastes or
opinions on others.
Yet it often seems that each of us disapproves of -- and wants to
outlaw -- some one little thing that somebody else cares about or wants.
Little things add up.
With over two hundred million of us, split up into countless thousands of
pressure groups -- all working at the same time for one kind of Prohibition or
another -- it's no wonder government controls are ratcheting tighter around
our lives every day.
Until now, it's been strictly a one-way process, with everybody on
every side winding up the loser -- except, of course, for politicians,
bureaucrats, and lawyers.
Individualists can work together to reverse that process.
They can make a commitment to one another to respect and defend each
other's rights -- no matter how much each of us may personally disapprove
of any particular exercise of those rights.
That doesn't mean you'd have to do any of these bizarre, perverse things
yourself; I'm married, straight, and I don't use drugs -- I'm literally an
Eagle Scout -- and I don't even drink.
But I don't give a damn what my allies do with their own lives -- as long
as they want to be free and can help me stay that way.
The one limit is an absolute obligation never to \initiate\ force against
another human being, since that's the way we began losing our rights to begin
with.
Would this change the way we're used to thinking about personal freedom?
Not at all, but it would make our thinking more consistent, put some
teeth into the Bill of Rights, and limit the power of politicians,
bureaucrats, lawyers -- and Prohibitionists -- to control the way we live.
Which means that you, and every man, woman, and responsible child in this
country, would be free to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any
weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, \anything\ you feel is
desirable for sport \or\ self-defense -- any time, any place you want, without
asking anyone's permission.
The other side's counting on us to remain divided and intolerant --
that's how they got us where they want us in the first place.
How do you get started? Let me send you a document, the Covenant of
Unanimous Consent, that some feel may turn out to be as important as the
Declaration of Independence. If you have the courage and intelligence to
renew your personal commitment to the American tradition of individual
liberty, I need to hear from you \now\, before it's too late.
I intend to keep my guns -- and the rest of my rights, as well.
How about you?
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L. NEIL SMITH'S \LEVER ACTION\ LETTER NUMBER 03b
111 EAST DRAKE ROAD SUITE 7032
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO U.S.A. 80525
L. Neil Smith is the award-winning author of 16 novels including
\Henry Martyn, The Crystal Empire, BrightSuit MacBear, Taflak Lysandra,
The Probability Broach,\ and the forthcoming FORGE OF THE ELDERS
trilogy, beginning with CONTACT AND COMMUNE.
Your contributions to this effort, while extremely welcome, are not
tax-deductible.
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