Resources

Grand Combined Letter Thread: Templates, Examples and Replies

=== SUMMERY ===
I'm an avid letter writer to my state's lawmakers in the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Normally I would write each letter from scratch; however, I decided a couple of weeks ago that I would put together a pdf template that would streamline and partially automate the process. So far, I haven't found any threads/posts in the forum where members post their letters or templates, if there is and I've overlooked it, then perhaps we can add this to it. As it is now, all this is really only focused on the federal level and not the state level, though it still may be of use. Also, I have no idea how one would write a compelling letter to a legislator who is an Anti. If you don't either, then just send them this one. Any letter is better than no letter, regardless if they will listen or not.

Ultimately, I am hoping this might make the truly important task of ensuring our lawmakers protect our rights a little more efficient, convenient, and less time consuming. This template is for everyone but my main focus is to help facilitate activism from those who DO care about the 2A but don't know how to write lawmakers or those who genuinely struggle to find the time to sit down and flesh out a well worded and compelling letter (not that I claiming mine is any better); then have to find a lawmaker's addresses, print out clean looking envelops, etc.... I'm hoping to get them active and to add even more voices to our collective identity. The template is at the bottom.

=== OBJECTIVE ===
Just to simply get it out there and get more people active as well as to make it all easier for everybody.

=== THE TEMPLATE ===
I've never used Adobe Acrobat Pro nor have I ever designed a proper pdf document so I was learning on the fly. We've all seen some slick looking pdf forms....this will not be one of those. I know it doesn't look as pretty as other PDFs but the end result is all that matters. The result will look simple but will also be proper. Admittedly, I pushed the limit of proper line spacing so that the body would fit on one page, but I'm already aware of it. Almost every text field can be edited so that you are free to rewrite or omit fields as you see fit.

Several fields are linked to others. Doing this allows the envelop to be automatically generated as you begin filling out the first few text fields. If you change one of those fields then the linked field will be changed also. Lastly, the buttons at the top and blue text "Zipcode" will not print. They are visible but not printable, so you will need to choose which on and type it in. The links at the top are for quickly finding info on who your legislator is, their mailing address, and their position on firearms.

=== CONCLUSION ===
Ummmm....well shucks, I can't think of anything else. I'm sure I forgot or overlooked something. If so, just let me know. Also, I'm out of work at the moment and in the middle of an aggressive job search campaign so if I'm a day or two slow in responding that's why. Sorry but I have a thing for bacon and need to start bringing some home.

Something to keep in mind:
Letter writing from only the individual may have no impact by itself, but the collective voice of a great number DOES HAVE AN SIGNIFICANT IMPACT and does influence the laws that govern our lives and of those we love. Don't EVER feel discouraged, belittled, insignificant, or think that you are a letter writing nobody. You ARE important! YOU ARE IMPORTANT to you, YOU ARE IMPORTANT to your friends and family, YOU ARE IMPORTANT to all of us, and YOUR LETTERS ARE IMPORTANT to the rights and liberties that are worth what it cost to attain them and are certainly worth what it will cost to retain them.

I hope this template helps everyone out. I look forward to any input you all may have. Take care everyone, be safe, have fun, and make it a good day.

- GeeJ

Also, as I am not a member of EVERY firearms related forum on the internet, please feel free to pass this along to whomever you feel would benefit from it. I am not copywriting any of it nor to I care about recognition. I only care about more people getting involved, more letters being written to legislators and more people standing up to fight for the protection of our rights. If you wish to share it with another forum, I simply ask that you FIRST check with the Mods, Staff, or Admins of that particular forum.....it's a common courtesy that surely goes a long way. Take care and BE PROACTIVE!
 

Attachments

  • Template Letter To Lawmakers 12-14-2012.pdf
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Contact your Senators today!

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

It takes only a couple minutes to find your Senator and write an email.

Feel free to use my email copy and paste below or write your own. Make it short and sweet.

Dear Senator,
I am writing to urge you to continue to uphold your oath of office, and protect the 2nd Amendment from more gun control:
" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..."
I am sure you are under considerable pressure at this time to pass legislation, in the name of public safety, to prohibit, regulate, or otherwise control firearms. I understand the point of view of those that support "gun control". I believe, however, that the rights protected by the Constitution should be held above, and protected from, the temporary whim of public opinion.
A careful examination of statistical data shows that Armed Response, from security professionals, police, or armed citizens, is an effective deterrent and defense against violent criminals. My right and responsibility as an armed citizen makes me an asset to my family, and to the community. Armed Citizens can and do prevent mass shootings from occurring and escalating:
• A 1997 high school shooting in Pearl, Miss., was halted by the school's vice principal after he retrieved the Colt .45 he kept in his truck.
• A 1998 middle school shooting ended when a man living next door heard gunfire and apprehended the shooter with his shotgun.
• A 2002 terrorist attack at an Israeli school was quickly stopped by an armed teacher and a school guard.
• A 2002 law school shooting in Grundy, Va., came to an abrupt conclusion when students carrying firearms confronted the shooter.
• A 2007 mall shooting in Ogden, Utah, ended when an armed off-duty police officer intervened.
• A 2009 workplace shooting in Houston, Texas, was halted by two coworkers who carried concealed handguns.
• A 2012 church shooting in Aurora, Colo., was stopped by a member of the congregation carrying a gun.
• At the recent mall shooting in Portland, Ore., the gunman took his own life minutes after being confronted by a shopper carrying a concealed weapon.
Knee jerk calls for gun control are never the answer. The 2nd Amendment is too important to be whimsically castrated.
I appreciate your time, and hope that you will continue to support and defend the Constitution that you have sworn to uphold.
Thank you for your service,
 
leadcounsel,

The 2007 mall shooting was at Trolley Square (mall) in Salt Lake City, Utah. The off duty police officer who intervened was from Ogden, Utah.

I also have another story-

Link below, a guy armed with a knife he just bought at the grocery store started stabbing customers as they walked out to their cars in the parking lot. An armed citizen thwarted any progress after this guy stabbed 2 people.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=20161608
 
t might not hurt to point out either that a madman doesn't need a gun to go on a rampage.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...-knife-attack/

The focus should be on finding and stopping the deranged people before they explode, not banning the tools they use. You can ban one potential weapon. They'll just select another one.

That's not really a good example and not one I'd send to prove a point to not eliminate firearms. It'd just prove their point that not having guns is better. Out of those 22 kids that were attacked with a knife, not one of them died. So by showing that if guns weren't around that people would use knives, then that story would illustrate that not having a firearm means that there's much less likely of a chance of someone dying.

I'd look for stories to send of CC individuals stopped a slaughter instead.
 
I am planning on writing both my senators, and my congressman. Here is the initial draft of the letter I have written. I want to trim it a bit for length (congressmen are busy, and too long a letter may not get read), but keep the force of the argument.

Dear Sir,

I have refrained from writing to you on this matter before now, as it seemed only decent to wait a few days, unlike those who immediately leapt to politicize this horror in Connecticut. But having heard the increasing calls for gun control, and statements from prominent politicians that this represents “a tipping point,” I am impelled to write to you and express my vehement opposition to a renewal of the so-called “assault weapons ban,” or any other similar legislation. Why anyone imagines such legislation will be effective is a mystery I have yet to solve. As William Ralph Inge said, “It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism, while wolves remain of a different opinion.” Gun control laws, which will only be observed by the law abiding, amount to sheep passing a resolution in favor of vegetarianism. Yet criminals, who are prepared to break other laws, against murder, robbery, rape, and other offenses – laws which carry far greater penalties for breaking them than any gun control ordinance – are to be expected to balk at laws carrying or using guns because they have been outlawed? This makes no kind of sense.

Every year in this country, guns are used by law abiding people to defend themselves; even the lowest estimates put such uses in the hundreds of thousands per year. In 1994, the Department of Justice commissioned a survey which put the number at one and half million. Now, anti-gun zealots would put the ability of decent, law-abiding people at risk because of a single incident, horrific though it was, that cost a score of lives. I don’t say this to be callous or to make light of the lives lost at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. But these events are rather like plane crashes: both spectacular, headline-grabbing events, but both are rare, and the loss of life from other causes actually far outstrips them. Many people are afraid of flying, and news of an airliner crashing will feed that fear. Yet the fact remains that if you want to travel from New York to Los Angeles, you are far more likely to arrive safely if you get on an airliner than if you climb into the family car to do it. However, if the family sedan is hit by a drunk driver, no one outside your family and friends will probably ever hear of it. If the airliner crashes, on the other hand, the whole nation will. So, such spectacular events as plane crashes make the news, and feed people’s fears of flying. Yet all the while, vastly greater numbers of lives are lost in automobile accidents.

It is much the same with firearms. One spectacular, news-making tragedy like Sandy Hook feeds people’s fears of guns, and stokes the demand for gun control. But none of those laws will be obeyed by criminals or madmen, and may cost far more lives than they save when law-abiding people, who will comply with the new laws, are thereby disarmed. None of the proposals I am hearing would have stopped Adam Lanza.

But I realize that you and your colleagues in Congress are under tremendous pressure to do something. But I implore you to resist the knee-jerk calls for action that will not have the slightest positive impact, and instead focus your efforts on achieving something that will help. The real problem that needs to be addressed is with the deranged individuals who commit these crimes. Two things need to be done in this area. The first is to overcome the resistance that the medical community still has to reporting people who have been found to be a risk to the appropriate agencies, so that these people will show up as ineligible should they attempt to purchase a firearm. Many medical professionals still resist such reporting on grounds of privacy or confidentiality. But this is the one measure that touches on gun control that might be of benefit, and it doesn’t touch the rights of law-abiding citizens, who had nothing to do with Sandy Hook, and shouldn’t have to pay for it. The other thing that should be done is to undertake a reexamination of the criteria by which people with mental health issues are involuntarily committed. One thread that runs through all these mass shootings, is that the shooters were all found to have displayed numerous warning signs beforehand. It is not only unjust, but nonsensical and ineffectual to enact laws that will only target law-abiding individuals who, I say again, had nothing to do with this latest incident or any other, when steps can be taken to target individuals who do represent a real risk to those around them. I urge you, sir, to show the strength of character and the moral courage to resist the knee-jerk reactions of those who have put far too much emotion and not nearly enough rational consideration into their cries, and to instead direct your efforts, and lead those of your colleagues, in directions that may be productive. If Congress can pass laws that will mandate reporting of those with mental health issues that are judged a high risk, so that their names will show up along with those of convicted felons, and other ineligible individuals, when background checks are run, you will have a solid achievement to point to when asked what steps have been taken to prevent another such tragedy as the one at Sandy Hook, and such a measure as this will not infringe the 2nd amendment rights of ordinary Americans, and will have the support of the NRA and other gun rights organizations. It’s a better idea, it’s politically feasible, and it’s more just. This is an opportunity to enact laws that may actually work, instead of being kabuki theater, held up to the public as a partial solution, but which actually accomplishes nothing toward that end. I hope you will not let this opportunity pass you by.
 
Letter to my Senator

Following along with others here, I decided to write a letter to my Democrat Senator, Kay Hagan of North Carolina. Anyone here is free copy, modify, or use this letter in any way to send to their Senator. Do not bother flaming me for the position I take in the letter, it's not worth your time. You can find your Senator by going to "www.senate.gov" and clicking "find your senator" in the top right.

I took a different approach than most, and rather than arguing how an AWB limits 2A rights, something most anti's would not understand, much less agree with, I took the approach of arguing how useless an AWB would be. This seems to me to be the more effective approach.

Senator Hagan, I want to write to you in the hopes that you will oppose any future assault weapons ban, such as that being discussed by Senator Feinstein. Although I am not aware of any specific proposals yet, it is likely that any new assault weapons ban (AWB) will be similar to the last, implemented under President Clinton.

Assuming the goal is to actually reduce the number of homicides and mass murders in this country, a new AWB will be nothing more than a wasted opportunity. The last ban had restrictions on the capacity of new magazines, restricting them to no more than ten rounds, and any new proposal will likely contain this as well. The tragic shooting at Columbine Highschool took place while the previous AWB was in effect. The shooters, instead of modifying their magazines to carry additional rounds (something remarkably easy to do, especially considering the shooters were able to illegally shorten their shotgun below the legal length), decided to bring with them thirteen, ten-round magazines. Clearly, magazine restrictions did not stop crime, nor will they in the future.

The second, main prong of the previous AWB was a restriction on various cosmetic features of rifles, for instance, flash suppressors and bayonet mounts. I understand that many deem these to be military accouterments with little to no civilian purpose, but that does not make these features inherently dangerous, nor does it make a rifle sporting such features any more lethal. In fact, the Department of Justice concluded, in a study of the previous assault weapons ban (accessible here http://www.sas.upenn.edu/jerrylee/research/aw_exec2004.pdf), that these provisions “target…a relatively small number of weapons based on features that have little to do with the weapons’ operation, and removing those features is sufficient to make the weapon legal.” What’s more, the Justice Department concluded that, viewed as a whole, a reinstatement of the AWB would have such a miniscule effect on crime as to be “too small for measurement.”

I implore you to please show vigorous opposition to any new AWB. It is a wasted opportunity to take real action in reducing gun violence. Strengthen the background check system by requiring stronger reporting from universities (which may have caught the V-Tech killer, as he was diagnosed by his school with mental illness and charged by the school with harassment and stalking) and mental health institutions; require background checks on private gun sales, or allow private individuals to perform checks on the buyer without having to transfer the firearm through a licensed dealer; most importantly, strengthen the mental health system to provide better care upfront to those members of society who fall through the cracks of our understaffed and overworked mental health system. I know that reasonable measures can be reached; reasonable in that the second amendment and the individual right to own and carry a gun is protected (something extremely important to me and many other North Carolinians), and yet reasonable in that steps to reduce unnecessary and preventable gun violence are taken. I hope that you will pray over this issue, and carefully consider an appropriate response to these continuing tragedies. I would love to hear back from you about this issue, whether through a public statement on gun control or a private message to me. Thank you for your service Senator.
 
Another letter offered up

Tipro, good letter, and thanks for offering it up for use. The gun community is going to have to do a lot of calling and writing in the near future. Accordingly, I am going to (slightly) hijack your thread and offer up my own letter. I figure it's easier if we put all of these in one spot.

As Tipro put it, don't bother flaming me for the position I took in this. It's not worth your effort. If you don't like something that I said, don't use it.

Like millions of Americans, I was horrified and saddened to hear the news about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Connecticut. As the father of a school-age child, I cannot begin to imagine the grief that the famillies of the children who were killed must be feeling. I grieve with them. Our nation grieves with them.

In addition to being a father, I am a husband, an attorney, a hunter and gun owner. I have watched, for the past five days, as the mainstream media and gun-control advocates have cried out for harsher restrictions on gun ownwership. Truth be told, such entities have seemed positively gleeful at the tragedy. The Sandy Hook shooting offers the gun-control groups a chance at garnering more political capital than they have had in years.

Emotions on the gun-control front run very high right now, but I would urge you to exercise caution. Please use reason and logic in casting your votes on gun-control bills, which, I feel certain, will cross your desk in the near future. No amount of gun control, no amount of feel-good legislation would have prevented this tragedy. Please remember that the shooting at Columbine, which has become the archetype for school shootings in this country, took place in 1999, when the federal assault weapons had been in place for five years. Remember that Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people, including 19 children still in day care, using a box van, fertilizer and fuel. He used no firearms, to the best of my recollection. There were no calls for bans on box vans. The 9/11 terrorists used box cutters and airplanes to kill thousands. Not one firearm was used. There was no call for a ban on box cutters.

Please remember that restrictions on firearms only restricts those who will abide by the laws. Millions of gun owners killed no one. Millions of gun owners had no part in the Sandy Hook shooting. Millions of gun owners are just as horrified as the rest of the nation at the senseless butchery committed by a madman. Further restrictions on the law-abiding, gun-owning public only punishes those of us who will obey the law. Violent felons and the mentally ill will remain unaffected.

Further the creation of Gun-Free Zones has only served to ensure that killers can always find defenseless targets. At every public shooting, Sandy Hook, Columbine, Jonesboro, Appalachia Law School, Virginia Tech, as well as post offices, and many other public locations, killers have been able to trap their victims, sure in the knowledge that not one person in the target area would have the means to defend themselves. While the idea of a gun-free zone may seem nice at first blush, it has become apparent that a person who is willing to gun down dozens of others is unconcerned about the prohibition on firearms possession in a given area. Rarely, it seems, does such a killer plan on coming out alive. When I think of these Gun Free Zones, I cannot help but think about a phrase we used in the small town in which I grew up: "like shootin' fish in a barrel." The time has come to repeal the gun-free zones laws and allow all Americans the right to effectively defend themselves, their children, and those in their care, whenever and whereever they may be found.

Thank you for your time and attention in this matter.

Cordially,
 
Two good letters. Not that I think the "your vote for more gun control will be your undoing next election" letters are in all ways bad, but these rational and well-written pleas for reason are better.
 
Letter to Your Representatives/Senate/Congress/Etc.

You guys have puts a lot of good effort and thought into the letters you have offered us to use and or modify to do the same.
My wife and I are retired and survive on a reasonable income of Social Secutrity, Medicare and retirenment income from a company we worked for some 46 years.
With all the aides our Representatives have who actually read your letters it is very possible that your well intentioned letters will never be seen by the Representative who was lucky enough to receive the letter from you in the first place. Our elected officals are sheltered from most incoming comments that are positive or negative. Maybe Im being negative but I dont think so.
I have found comments on MSN NBC articles such as the one this morning about Obama appointing Biden to champian more Gun Laws is the best way to have your voice heard and perhaps use this method in addition to your letters would help get your points across.
I would appreciate further comments on this reply. We must as a group find the best way of continueing to get our messages across to our elected Representatives ,again and again and again. Stay Safe :)
 
So I emailed my Senator and this is his response:


Dear Mr. AnonymousReef,

Thank you for your letter regarding the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. I appreciate your taking the time to write, and I value your opinion.

The horrific tragedy and the innocent loss of life that occurred on December 14, in Newtown, Connecticut is heartbreaking. As a father and grandfather, my thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends who are mourning the loss of their loved ones. Our nation grieves with them.

Law enforcement is working aggressively to determine what exactly led this obviously mentally ill person to commit such an act. Despite the death of the alleged murderer, I understand the Newtown Police and the FBI are thoroughly investigating this case as if it would go to court so that we may learn from this tragedy. As a society, we must be willing to move beyond the obvious question to really take a hard look at why these senseless acts of violence continue to play out in towns across America. It’s time to have an honest discussion about the culture of violence in America and more specifically, the root cause of this and other types of violence: mental illness. We will have a debate over gun control, however, law enforcement must do its work so that the public is informed, and we can determine appropriate and implementable solutions to prevent future acts of violence by disturbed individuals.

Again thank you for taking the time to contact me.
With every best wish,

Sincerely,
Pat Roberts

So THR what do you make of this response?
 
My first suggestion (and how I've contacted my Federal officials).

Dear <name here>

Fact - When the original "assault weapons" ban expired in 2004, crime across the country DECLINED.

Fact - New gun control legislation is an attack on the rights of the more than 80 million gun owners who are not criminals.

Fact - Enacting new gun control will cost taxpayers MILLIONS, and will still be ignored by the mentally ill and the evil just like they ignore current "gun free zones" and laws against things like Murder.

The tragedy in Connecticut was horrible, but that does not justify giving in to the emotions of the moment and throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Laws should always be made using logic and NEVER emotion. For that reason, I urge you to calmly and rationally reconsider your recent statement that you would support a future "assault weapon" ban.

A vote for any further gun control means you consider me (and millions like me) to be the same as the crazies and criminals this is both wrong and defamatory and that will cost you my future support.
 
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Verbage from wm. bennett article on gun rights

"John Lott, economist and gun-rights advocate, has extensively studied mass shootings and reports that, with just one exception, the attack on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona, in 2011, every public shooting since 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns. The massacres at Sandy Hook Elementary, Columbine, Virginia Tech and the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, all took place in gun-free zones.
 
My verbiage to my Senators and Representative was simply " I fully expect you to continue to support our right to keep and bear arms. In order to keep the 2A whole, as the founding fathers intended, you must vote no on any bill threatening its existence or changing its intent." Wrote them today.
 
I hope this helps facilitate additional activism and makes the whole letter-writing process easier for all of us. If you have any suggestions, or especially if you know anything about professional PDF development. I'd be interested to hear from you and how I might be able to improve the functionality of this PDF template.
 
To add to the comments about the Gun-Free Zone Act of 1990: This was reposted on another forum that I belong to and is a well thought argument against that particular law. The worst school massacre that I'm aware of was back in 1927; 38 were killed, the killer used dynamite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster).

Folks I stole this off the Ohio Concealed Carry Forum, from a post by 747tech, all credit to him

I would have to say politicians are responsible for all the school shootings and not assault weapons or any other kind of firearm.

As stated in a recent email I received and stated by Dr. David Kopel.

Before 1990 there was pretty much nothing to prevent legally permitted firearms owners from carrying on school property. Many of us had weapons in our trucks because we went on an early morning hunt or planned an after school hunt. By college (before 1990) if you had a CCW (or CHL; over 21 y/o in most states) you might have even carried concealed at an institute of higher learning. It was no big deal.

-Prior to 1990 there had only been 7 mass* murders at schools in the 214 year history of the United states. After 1990, (through 2007) there were 78 mass shootings.

*mass murder meaning randomly targeted multiple victims.

Question: What happened in 1990 to make it 153% more likely that a mass shooting would occur in any given year???

Answer: The Gun Free School Zone Act (GFSZA) was passed.

How are we sure it was the GFSZA that was responsible for the dramatic increase in mass murders at our schools?

Utah, the only state to totally ignore the GFSZA Act after it was partially repealed and re-written in 1992. Utah has (and still do) allow all permit holders to carry on school property (all schools state wide)with no restrictions How many of the 78 incidents have happened in Utah? ZERO. There have also been ZERO instances of a person legally carrying committing a crime on school property.

Other worldwide examples of how armed security (contracted or otherwise) working can be found in Israel, Thailand, Norway.

All of this information (and reference material) can be verified/found here:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id...

Its a thoroughly in depth (70 pages) informative and eye opening review of the 1990 GFSZA.

I do think culture, TV and Video game violence and other things have attributed to the increase in Violence in America, but it is hard to overlook what happened before and after the 1990 Gun Free School Zone Act....

The link above doesn't work, here it is: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1369783
 
Hear Hear! I wrote my senators, rep and governor and told several others to do the same.

It's so sad that many people will complain on gun forums but not take a few minutes to write to their senators.
 
Did this last week. Sent an old fashioned letter hand written on paper. No e-mails, no print-out off the computer because when somebody has something dear to their heart to say they will take the time to sit down and put pen to paper. Followed it up with a phone call.

Try it sometime, it tends to get results.
 
My Senators are Mark Warner and Tim Kaine...both Obama Sheep...I am so horribly disappointed in Virginia for voting them into office and voting for Obama twice. I am probably still going to write them....but I want to compile some facts first about how badly the AWB passing in 1994 hurt the Democrats.

I don't think they will care though...again, they are just sheep of Obama

Luckily my congressman is Eric Cantor...he is very pro gun

Here is a very good compilation of facts you can use.


http://kontradictions.wordpress.com...ew-the-assault-weapons-ban-well-ill-tell-you/

Everyone ought to read this. And I mean everyone here. There's a very good point about why the NRA rhetoric doesn't play as well as these reasoned facts.
 
Sent the following to President Obama, my Senators, and Congressman today:

Dear President Obama/Senator/Congressman XXX,

I'm writing today to convey my apprehension regarding the possibility of ill-conceived legislation currently being discussed in the wake of several recent tragedies.

I consider myself a responsible gun owner, having educated myself in both the operation of my guns and the laws which govern them.

I strongly oppose any legislation which would further restrict my right, guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, to keep and bear arms.

Sincerely,

hey.moe
 
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