                             Presidential Ignorance
                                       by
                                   Matt Giwer

             The title may sound rude but first we must clearly 
        understand the term ignorance.  It is only a state of a lack of 
        knowledge.  It is a condition that can be repaired.  I would hope 
        to do my civic duty here and alleviate one area of his 
        ignorance.
             I am referring to your staged, duck hunting trip.  When 
        questioned about it you said it was to demonstrate your gun 
        control efforts were not directed toward hunters.  Frankly, Mr. 
        President, we don't give a damn.
             Mr. President, most of us with guns have them for a very 
        immediate purpose, defense against criminals, the very same 
        reason your Secret Service guards have guns.  And, Mr. President, 
        we are mad as hell because every proposal we have seen from you 
        only makes is harder for us to get guns.  We do not carry guns on 
        the street; making it harder for us to gets guns does nothing to 
        get them off of the street.
             We are the people facing armed gangs.  Taking "assault 
        weapons" away from us is not going to do us the least bit of 
        good, in fact it will kill us.
             Mr. President, we are not concerned about the right to 
        freeze our backsides off in a duck blind early in the morning.  
        We are concerned about our right to have a chance against house 
        breakers late at night.  I at least have never been attacked by a 
        duck.  I have never heard a report of anyone being attacked by a 
        duck.  I have never heard of a duck robbing a home, raping a 
        woman, or murdering anyone.  Mr. President, I am not afraid of a 
        duck.
             I am afraid for my family and friends being bludgeoned, 
        stabbed, throttled and shot.  I can not find one proposal from 
        you to alleviate my fear.  What I do find from you are proposals 
        to make my family and friends even more helpless.  I find you are 
        proposing to make things harder on the victims.  
             Every proposal has been to make self defense more difficult.  
        Mr. President, I hold I have a god given right to defend myself, 
        my family, my friends, my property and the political institutions 
        of this country.  I hold I even have a god given right to defend 
        people I have never met.
             I hold all men have these rights.  I hold the only way to 
        exercise these rights is with guns.  In my youth I may have 
        imagined disarming thugs bare handed.  With the wisdom that comes 
        from experience I know I can not call time out to dial 911.
             When all you can do is find ways to limit our access to guns 
        we see you not as the solution but as part of the problem.  We 
        are tired of hearing that the restrictions on us are not all that 
        bad.  We are asking why there are any restrictions at all on us 
        and none on those we and your Secret Service guard are facing.
             Are our lives less than yours?  Why can we not have the 
        submachineguns that protect your life?  When will you give up 
        what we can not have?  
             You say we do not need submachineguns?  Then neither does 
        your guard.  Is your life truly more important than ours?
             You do not talk like you understand us at all.  Please let 
        me explain it to you.  We do not give a damn about your gun laws.  
        We will not comply with any law our right to defend what we hold 
        dear.  We are a free people who will not bow to your attempts to 
        make it harder for us to do so.  
             Mr. President, you are no longer ignorant.  You now know who 
        we are.  What we want from you are measures to reduce crime so we 
        will not have the absolute necessity of gun ownership.  We are 
        not interested in you making it harder for us and not them.  We 
        do not want you to do something; we want you to do something that 
        works.
