CentralTexas
January 16, 2006, 10:06 PM
A rework of Dr. King's famous speech, posted to Tx.Guns on the Usenet today by a fellow named Mark...
I sometimes like to post this around this MLK holiday. One person who read
this told me it would be funny if it wasn't so ominous. I took the words to
Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech and rewrote them to show how
similar things are for gun owners now as they were for Blacks in the 50's
and 60's.
*********************************************
I have a Gun Owners Dream
Over two hundred years ago, The Founding American Fathers, signed the Bill
of Rights which included the second amendment. This momentous decree came as
a great beacon light of hope to millions of Americans who had been seared in
the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the
long night of vulnerability.
But two hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the gun owner
is still not free to exercise that God given and Constitutionally
acknowledged right. Two hundred years later, the life of the gun owner is
still sadly crippled by the manacles of Gun control and the chains of
discrimination. Two hundred years later, the gun owner lives on a lonely
island of bigotry and hate in the midst of a vast ocean of political
correctness. Two hundred years later, the Gun owner is still languishing in
the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.
So I write to you here today to dramatize an appalling condition.
In a sense we, gun owners, call to our nation's leaders to cash a check.
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the
Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a
promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a
promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the means to secure it in the
right to bear arms.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note
insofar as her citizens of gun owners are concerned. Instead of honoring
this sacred obligation, America has given the gun owner a bad check which
has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the
bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are
insufficient funds in the great vaults of freedom of this nation. So we want
to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of
freedom and the security of justice. We also want to remind America of the
fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling
off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise
from the dark and desolate valley of bigotry and hate to the sunlit path of
equal rights and justice. Now is the time to open the doors of freedom to
all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the
quicksand's of constitutional injustice to the solid rock of rights and
freedom.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and
to underestimate the determination of the gun owner. This sweltering summer
of the gun owners legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an
invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Now is not an end, but a
beginning. Those who hope that the gun owner needed to blow off steam and
will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to
business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America
until the gun owner is granted his equal rights. The whirlwinds of revolt
will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of
justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to the people who stand on the warm
threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining
our equal rights we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to
satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and
hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into
physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of
meeting illegal force with soul force and prepared force. The marvelous new
militancy which has engulfed the gun owner community must not lead us to
distrust of all anti-gun people, for many of our gun brothers, as evidenced
by their increasing numbers, are those anti-gun people that have come to
realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is
inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot
turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights,
"When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our
bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot carry concealed in the
motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied
as long as the gun owner's basic mobility is from a smaller set of
restrictions to a set larger ones. We can never be satisfied as long as a
gun owner in California cannot carry and a gun owner in New York believes he
has nothing left for which to fight for. No, no, we are not satisfied, and
we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and
righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have gone through great trials and
tribulations. Some of you have gone through narrow cells. Some of you have
gone through areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You
have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the
faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to California, go back to New York, go back to Chicago, go back to
New Orleans, go back to the legislative and restrictive areas of our cities,
knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not
wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and
frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply
rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation of gun owners will rise up and live
out the true meaning of its creed: "that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights."
I have a dream that one day in the city of Chicago the sons of former
anti-gunners and the sons of former gunners will be able to sit down
together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of California, a desert state,
sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed
into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the number of rounds in their gun clip but by the
content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of New York, whose governor's lips
are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification,
will be transformed into a situation where gun owning men and women will be
able to join hands with non-gun owning men and women and walk together as
sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and
mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the
crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is the gun owners hope. This is the faith with which I return to the
restricted areas. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain
of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the
jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to
struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together,
knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a
new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I
sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every
mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom
ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from
the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening
Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of California. From
every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every
hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that
day when all of God's children, Gun owning men and non-gunning men, Jews and
Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and say in
the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God
Almighty, we are free at last!"
Mark
I sometimes like to post this around this MLK holiday. One person who read
this told me it would be funny if it wasn't so ominous. I took the words to
Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech and rewrote them to show how
similar things are for gun owners now as they were for Blacks in the 50's
and 60's.
*********************************************
I have a Gun Owners Dream
Over two hundred years ago, The Founding American Fathers, signed the Bill
of Rights which included the second amendment. This momentous decree came as
a great beacon light of hope to millions of Americans who had been seared in
the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the
long night of vulnerability.
But two hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the gun owner
is still not free to exercise that God given and Constitutionally
acknowledged right. Two hundred years later, the life of the gun owner is
still sadly crippled by the manacles of Gun control and the chains of
discrimination. Two hundred years later, the gun owner lives on a lonely
island of bigotry and hate in the midst of a vast ocean of political
correctness. Two hundred years later, the Gun owner is still languishing in
the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.
So I write to you here today to dramatize an appalling condition.
In a sense we, gun owners, call to our nation's leaders to cash a check.
When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the
Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a
promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a
promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the means to secure it in the
right to bear arms.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note
insofar as her citizens of gun owners are concerned. Instead of honoring
this sacred obligation, America has given the gun owner a bad check which
has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the
bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are
insufficient funds in the great vaults of freedom of this nation. So we want
to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of
freedom and the security of justice. We also want to remind America of the
fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling
off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise
from the dark and desolate valley of bigotry and hate to the sunlit path of
equal rights and justice. Now is the time to open the doors of freedom to
all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the
quicksand's of constitutional injustice to the solid rock of rights and
freedom.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and
to underestimate the determination of the gun owner. This sweltering summer
of the gun owners legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an
invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Now is not an end, but a
beginning. Those who hope that the gun owner needed to blow off steam and
will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to
business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America
until the gun owner is granted his equal rights. The whirlwinds of revolt
will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of
justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to the people who stand on the warm
threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining
our equal rights we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to
satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and
hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into
physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of
meeting illegal force with soul force and prepared force. The marvelous new
militancy which has engulfed the gun owner community must not lead us to
distrust of all anti-gun people, for many of our gun brothers, as evidenced
by their increasing numbers, are those anti-gun people that have come to
realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is
inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot
turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights,
"When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our
bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot carry concealed in the
motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied
as long as the gun owner's basic mobility is from a smaller set of
restrictions to a set larger ones. We can never be satisfied as long as a
gun owner in California cannot carry and a gun owner in New York believes he
has nothing left for which to fight for. No, no, we are not satisfied, and
we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and
righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have gone through great trials and
tribulations. Some of you have gone through narrow cells. Some of you have
gone through areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You
have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the
faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to California, go back to New York, go back to Chicago, go back to
New Orleans, go back to the legislative and restrictive areas of our cities,
knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not
wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and
frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply
rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation of gun owners will rise up and live
out the true meaning of its creed: "that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights."
I have a dream that one day in the city of Chicago the sons of former
anti-gunners and the sons of former gunners will be able to sit down
together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of California, a desert state,
sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed
into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the number of rounds in their gun clip but by the
content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of New York, whose governor's lips
are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification,
will be transformed into a situation where gun owning men and women will be
able to join hands with non-gun owning men and women and walk together as
sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and
mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the
crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is the gun owners hope. This is the faith with which I return to the
restricted areas. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain
of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the
jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to
struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together,
knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a
new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I
sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every
mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom
ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from
the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening
Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of California. From
every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every
hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that
day when all of God's children, Gun owning men and non-gunning men, Jews and
Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and say in
the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God
Almighty, we are free at last!"
Mark
