( The Los Angeles Riots and the Second Amendment , Continued from page 8 )
in pitched battles in their mostly successful attempts to protect their property and shops ; there was no thin blue line in sight . While people were literally shooting at each other on live TV , the police were overwhelmed with the magnitude and ferocity of the riots and in many instances they simply retreated before the rioters ’ overwhelming numbers . The L . A . Times reported that many shop keepers had repeatedly called the police for help during the riots but the calls all went unanswered . In the end , some shop owners were injured and killed , but mostly those who did not have guns to protect themselves . That old adage that when seconds count the police are only minutes away was painfully obvious – except this time the police were often days away from the scene . Eventually the riots took the lives of 53 people and injured another 2000 ; and in the end , required more than 10,000 National Guard troops , 1500 Marines from Camp Pendleton and another 1700 officers from other lawenforcement agencies to finally bring peace to the area . Fortunately we never needed the shotgun I had purchased . In any event , it arrived too late to have been of any help . Our home in S . Pasadena was situated in a relatively safe enclave far enough removed from the L . A . metro area and buffered by other communities to help us avoid the brunt of the riots although our community did suffer some vandalism . But I can never forget the images of the Korean / Asian business owners who were targeted by the rioters due to their proximity and who were abandoned to their own self-defense by the absentee police . These men and women would have never been able to protect their property and their lives without their firearms which they would have never owned were it not for the protection of their right to “ keep and bear arms ” afforded by our precious 2nd Amendment . The 1992 LA riots proved for us to be a visceral and unforgettable lesson about the vital importance of the 2nd Amendment . It is indeed the one right that protects all of our other rights . We ( all of us ) are not fully protected without our own firearms , and our firearms are not protected from confiscation without the 2nd Amendment . We must fight at all costs to keep our 2nd amendment intact . We must never surrender this right of ours , or it will be the beginning of the end of our republic .
Published in the Maui News , March 12 , 2013
None less than Ben Franklin , inventor , diplomat , publisher and Patriot was initially responsible for our 2nd Amendment protections . His charter , both in spirit and wording , foreshadowed a declaration that would come three decades later . “ Being thus unprotected by the government under which we live ,” he wrote , “ we do hereby , for our mutual defense and security , and for the security of our wives , children and estates … form ourselves into an Association .” It was well-armed association of ordinary citizens . They even included cannons . Government today is barely little more responsive to our protection , able
Letter to the Editor
to arrive only after injury to us or our families , necessitating that we bear responsibility for our own protection if we really hope to assure it . That means you have the right to keep and bear arms , against muggers , rapists , burglars , sociopaths , drug crazed thieves , and oh yes , an increasingly
Pono Press , May 2013 , Page 9 tyrannical , power-craving government as well ( as Jefferson forewarned ). Demand undiminished every right the wisdom of our Founding Fathers provided , remembering each right was paid for repeatedly with blood . Jealously guard our 2nd Amendment . Richard Mealey , Kihei