Dear Editor
Obama’s comin’ for our guns! We need our guns to fight tyranny! Every man I know who owns a firearm has chanted these mantras for years. And they all, to a man, really thought they believed it. And now our president has tweeted that only criminals carry guns. We are in the midst of tyranny. It’s happening at this moment. Soon, Trump will be coming for your guns.
A U.S. citizen with a holstered handgun and a concealed-carry permit — a man who was an ICU nurse for veterans — who legally carried his handgun beneath his winter coat, who defended a woman being abused for no other reason than she was in the way, was subdued by seven federal ICE agents, beaten with a tear gas canister, disarmed, then shot several times. Dead alongside a street — in the United States of America. Executed is the term we use for that. He was not the first — he was the latest in a series of public executions by federal agents. Hitler had his SS. Trump has ICE.
Tyranny is the unjust, oppressive, and arbitrary exercise of power by a ruler or government, often characterized by cruelty, the suppression of freedoms, and absolute control, putting the ruler’s will above law and the people’s welfare.
The current ruler of the U.S.A. took an oath (twice) to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States. Let’s review what that entails:
1st Amendment: Freedom of speech. Supreme Ruler has executed a wide-ranging, government-enforced crackdown on freedom of speech by targeting protesters, lawyers, elected officials, and the press.
2nd Amendment: Right to bear arms. But now, legal possession of a firearm has become a reason for federal agents to execute U.S. citizens. It’s on video.
4th Amendment: Protects us all from warrantless searches, surveillance actions, workplace raids, racial profiling, and using the U.S. military against U.S. citizens. ICE agents have been authorized by the head of DHS to enter homes without a warrant, conduct abductions and incarcerations of American citizens based on skin color, and raid private businesses without a warrant. Supreme Ruler has sent American troops into Blue cities.
5th Amendment: Unlawful detention; punishment without process. Supreme Ruler has detained, imprisoned, incarcerated, and deported foreign nationals and U.S. citizens without legal justification or due process. He has threatened to cut federal funding to Blue States without following legal procedures.
8th Amendment: Cruel and unusual punishment. Supreme Ruler has sanctioned the separation of families, dangerous conditions in detention centers, and the cancellation of parole programs. All are violations of the 8th Amendment.
14th Amendment: Grants citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S., due process for all persons on U.S. soil, equal protection of laws to all persons in the U.S., and disqualifies individuals who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion from holding office. Enough said.
22nd Amendment: Term limits. Supreme Ruler has repeatedly suggested and marketed for a third term, which is forbidden by the 22nd Amendment.
Tyranny, folks. Now we either comply or die.
Paul Flentge, subscriber and former resident
