Congress -woman sees ‘Threat’ in Constitution

The head of a gun-rights organization is delivering a lesson on the Constitution to a member of
Congress who claimed his statements on the Second Amendment constituted a threat against her.
“Allow me to explain the obvious,” Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, wrote in
an open letter to Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.

“I have never encouraged, or even suggested, that anyone harm anyone. Rather, my speech was
designed to educate citizens, and politicians, that it is the fact that Americans are armed that allows
them to resist efforts to be dominated, intimidated, or controlled by politicians.”

His letter came after Maloney reported him to Capitol Police and the House Sergeant-at-Arms because
of his statements in a recent interview with Rolling Stone.

In the interview, she alleged, “Mr. Pratt is actively encouraging his members to threaten violent action
against members of Congress.” Maloney claimed Pratt’s statements were evidence of “just how outrageous the
extreme pro-gun movement has become.”

The report said: “Maloney’s staff notified Capitol Police and House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving of the
recent article which declared Pratt the ‘Gun Lobby’s Secret Weapon,’ the congresswoman said, but they
were told there was ‘no specific danger and nothing to be done.’”

Pratt told the congresswoman: “Lest you believe that I stand on the fringes of civilized society, let me
provide you with some other sources for the same principle which I was enunciating.”

He cited the Declaration of Independence, which states “whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government.”

He quoted Frederick Douglass: “A man’s rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the
cartridge box.”

And he called on the wisdom of John Basil Barnhill: “Where the people fear the government you have
tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.”

Finally, he quoted Justice Antonin Scalia: “[W]hen the able-bodied men of a nation are trained in arms
and organized, they are better able to resist tyranny.”

“These various statements span four centuries. They come from people of differing ethnicities, of
various stations, and holding differing political beliefs,” Pratt wrote. “What they all agree on is that you
should go to work every day with a healthy amount of fear and respect for the American people who you
are supposed to represent.”

More From WND: