MA Firearm Safety

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{“They tell us that we are weak-unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Three million people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us”.} Patrick Henry

Note; The same holds true today, and the socialist progressives know and loath it. 

M.Shean  www.mafirearmsafety.com

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   To the Editor: Soon it will be time to vote again on November 7Th. America has a dismal turnout percentage at the polls, only 30-35% will bother to break away from their busy routines to be heard on election day. Only 30-35% will decide how the rest of the country will be governed, there is something fundamentally wrong with that picture. You could deduce from those dismal numbers a chronic case of national apathy. I can’t make the time in my schedule to vote, or, I have a golf engagement that day, or worse, they all cheat and lie so why should I waste my time? There are as many excuses as there are people who will not excercise their right to vote. By avoiding the voting booth you ensure that changes in the political arena will never happen.

   Low voter turnouts do not translate into a need for politicians to change their ways. Educate yourself, what a candidate is saying at the moment to be elected does not necessarily reflect what he/she has done in the past, the older I get the less I listen to what politicians say and look more at what they have done. Study the persons past voting record, (a matter of public record) to see how a politician truly feels about issues. Weigh it out against your value system, then vote accordingly. His/her real stands on the issues in the past will indicate how he/she will govern in the future, regardless of what they are saying in the present. 

   I guess the main point is to vote, make time to vote, and when you do, cast an educated vote as opposed to an emotional vote, politicians play on your emotions, they hope your not paying attention to past actions or inactions. The party that stands closest to your core beliefs should be the party to go with, regardless of family tradition. Bring someone along with you, it is a good feeling to engage in a free political process. A process that so many have given their all to preserve. Mark Shean  www.mafirearmsafety.com  written 10-7-2008

Submitted by Mark Shean Sr. author of GUN SENSE, now on Amazon.

To the Editor: Stalin once said, “The masses do not chose their leaders, the ballot counters do“. I believe he would have been proud of the Democrats effort in Florida. Socialists found when they fielded a candidate under the socialist banner that they would inevitably lose in this country. Now they operate under the guise of liberal Democrats instead. Their philosophy is to use any means necessary to achieve the desired outcome, at any cost. Truth will always be the first causality.

We were given a glimpse of that philosophy in action last week when a concerted effort was made to discount the overseas military ballots of the men and women who put their lives on the line defending our freedoms. The Democrats manufatured specific guidelines to carry out this despicable act because they believed most of those votes would be cast for Mr. Bush. The liberal Democrats made no effort to discount overseas Israeli ‘duel citizen’ ballots, because they felt most of these would be cast for Mr. Gore. On 11-25 like manna from Heaven, an additional 500 Israeli ballots miraculously turned up, I will bet they are all counted,(twice) don’t you?

We were given another glimpse of their philosophy when Senator Liberman made a fool of himself and his party by saying Republicans who were demonstrating did a disservice to our Democracy! In case you did not know Senator Liberman, Democracy supports your right under the First Amendment to demonstrate, just ask your pal Jesse Jackson. Shouldn’t a Senator know just a little bit about the Constitution?

It will now be up to the U.S. Supreme Court to research the liberal Florida Supreme courts arbitrary decision to usurp law written by the Florida Legislature. The Florida Supreme court overstepped its scope of power by rewriting and then implementing election laws after an election, then making them retroactive. This should point out to everyone the arrogance of these under qualified, Clinton appointed, political hacks. This arrogance must be dealt with decisively if we are to avoid the chance of a very real Constitutional crisis.

The last eight years have seen our Constitution under constant attack. Clintons legacy will have been to openly and unashamedly undermine the rule of law. Of course it will not all be Clintons fault. Our Congress has lowered the bar of all that is honest and decent and expected of a President by dropping the ball in the impeachment process. Congress failed to show us that politicians are not above the very laws we must obey. The reason, that would have sent their entire house of cards crumbling! Every single “representative” sent from Massachussetts to Washington was guilty of this. Not something for us to be very proud of.

To all you Democrats that think counting the dimpled ballots in direct violation of Florida state law is an acceptable way to win, Stalin would have been proud of you. It would seem by all indications in Florida that Mr. Gore and his legion of lawyer hacks have learned well the lessons of Clinton, and who knows, Stalin as well. We may be witnessing the last gasps of our Republic, or we may witness its resurgence. We are all living in a time of important history in the making. The U.S. Supreme Court must pick the ball back up and then slam dunk it by saying enough is enough!

Mark Shean  written 11-26-2000

   To the Editor: If anyone knows a little bit about American history they would probably have heard the phrase ‘taxation without representation’, this is one of the main reasons the early colonists were to rise up and eventually drive the British from these shores.

   Fast forward to present day. Now we have elected officials that we loosely call ‘representatives’. These ‘representatives’ here in Massachusetts know all about taxation without representation from our early history, and they have adopted a ‘stealth’ word so as not to be accused of the same crime the British were ousted for. That word is FEE, whenever our ‘representatives’ want their hands on our wallets without our consent, you can be sure that you will hear the word FEE. A FEE is a backdoor tax designed to skirt around the consent of the People, so, it becomes no less than taxation without representation. This has caught on like wildfire all across the state in every town and city. Proposition 2 1/2 is effectively voided by the FEE blitz. But, The People keep rewarding bad behavior by re-electing these phony ‘representatives’ and hoping for different results, when in actuallity they should all be booted out for new blood. Our ‘representatives’ in this state have never met a tax, or schemed up a FEE that they did not like. This is what happens when one party runs a state, or the country with a majority, and when the People do not take the time in their busy lives to PAY ATTENTION.

   These ‘representatives’, when elected, all have to go through an uncomfortable yet necessary little formality, it is really quite an awkward affair for most of them, but something that is, after all, a requirement, and has been since real men like George Washington first stepped into public office. They must place their hand on the Bible, (shudder) raise their right hand and swear a solemn oath,(shudder) to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, (shudder, shudder) and when they lower their right hand they are relieved that this silly little formality is over. Most of them do not have a clue as to what is to be expected of them after taking this solemn oath, that is quite evident by their actions once in office. Look at our Governor for example, he is putting an appropriation bill before your ‘representatives’ soon that will raise the FEE on your right to self defense from $100 to $200 for gun permits for law abiding citizens, (criminals may carry free of charge).

   When Romney was Governor, he, with the help of our ‘representatives’ raised that same FEE from $25 to $100, a 300% increase! Now, if YOU allow the Governor to raise it again with his new improved FEE of $200 that will be a total increase of 700% since Romney ‘represented’ the People. These ‘representatives’ have an agenda, they are trying to price you out of your Constitutional right to self defense! Gee, that does not sound like they are defending and upholding the Constitution to me, how about you?

   We the People have the power, we have incredible power that can stop these ‘representatives’ cold in their tracks from their attacks on our Constitutional rights. We should never even need to pay for our right to self defense, (another argument, another day). For now, roll it back to the $25 it used to be to cover the cost of of processing permits, when your local police station used to do it. This was before a big white elephant was created in Boston to do it, which has only made government red tape more tangled, and your permits slower in coming! A background check to make sure we are good citizens, sure, pay through the nose, NO!

   The people who now are most certainly hurt by these high FEES are in the low income bracket, these people are no less American citizens, they have the same Constitutional rights as the rest of us. The Governor and the rest of our ‘representatives’ have not been given a mandate to take away anyones right to self defense through a scheme of FEES! And I am quite certain that the solemn oath they were required to take did not give them that mandate. Call your ‘representatives’, dont ask them, (they work for you) tell them not to raise this FEE! Roll it back! Call your ‘representatives’, they are beholden to do your bidding, you keep putting them in office, and they need to be reminded. The number at the State House is, 617-727-3676  

Mark Shean written 7-17-2008  www.mafirearmsafety.com

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   To the Editor: On 1-20-2000 Judge John C. Cratsley, quietly gave the Attorney General of Massachusetts powers to regulate the gun industry under the guise of “consumer protection”,  so the A.G. may unilaterally strip us of  our gun rights. On 4-3-2000 it went into effect with media fanfare!

    I could only hope this is the only politically dysfunctional state in the Union, (sadly there are 11 more). I have to wonder what goes through the minds of politicians bent on legislating our freedoms away? Doe’s it ever cross their minds that scores of Americans have died for their right to live free? That the Constitution has been and is being paid for in blood, do they know this?

    My father died from wounds received during W.W.II, a brother was disabled from wounds received in Vietnam. They and scores of military personnel like them did not fight here and abroad to preserve our freedoms just so some ’empty suit’ domestic politicians could take our rights away simply because these rights impede their agenda! Our armed forces did not sacrifice in vain, in all the bloody wars and “conflicts” of this nation, so that one pompous judge, (crafty Cratsley) could grant any Attorney General the power to ride roughshod over the entire legislative branch, a branch that was duly voted into office by the people to make laws. Where now are the checks and balances? Where is the legislature saying ‘enough‘?

    The A.G. Thomas Reilly is not suppose to be a law making body unto himself, accountable to no one. Law made without representation is the same as taxation without representation. There are two elitist groups whose agenda A.G. Reilly subscribes to, Stop Handgun Violence and Handgun Control Inc.. They represent intentions that are detrimental to our Constitution and consequently our overall freedoms. Who are these people that believe their title entitles them to circumvent, through deceit, the Second Amendment?

    Let us pause for a word from a framer of the Constitution, and one of our greatest Founding Fathers: { That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from the people; that magistrates are our trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.}– GEORGE MASON-

    Who does A.G. Thomas Reilly think he is to place discriminatory and racial measures on gun ownership?! Discriminatory and racial because he knowingly prices honest, low income people from all backgrounds out of the gun market. It is an A.G. Reilly, Stop Handgun Violence, and Handgun Control Incorporated scheme to keep honest people of limited means from their right to self defense. They would make it impossible for the people of the inner cities, where the highest crime is shown to be, to afford a firearm to defend their families from criminal intruders. The Founding Fathers would view A.G. Reilly as the criminal intruder, intruding into your right to self defense, and ultimately your right to freedom!

    In the military, a soldier is not obligated to follow what he knows to be an unlawful order, in fact it is his duty to reject it and to report it. Parallel to this, citizens of these United States are under no obligation to obey bogus unconstitutional laws aimed at taking away their freedoms. I for one do not remember voting to give Thomas Reilly dictatorial powers…DO YOU? The People are protected under the Constitution to keep and bear arms. The ‘militia’ refered to in the Second Amendment was every able bodied man from 16 to 60 capable of bearing arms, they were citizens, not conscripted soldiers.

   One of our Founding Fathers stated: { I ask, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people.}–George Mason–

    In every application where the “people” is used in the Bill of Rights, no one seems to misconstrue the meaning. Only in the Second Amendment is there a feigned misconception by those trying to disarm the public, to bring our great experiment called a Republic to a close. Let us honor all who have died defending this nation, through all its wars and “conflicts”, they sacrificed to preserve liberties they themselves did not long enjoy.

   Call your public servants, ask them, no, tell them to take away A.G. Thomas Reilly’s unprecedented dictatorial powers, now!  Will you allow any of your rights, and future generations rights to end without so much as a whimper? In the spirit of the Founding Fathers I hope not!

         “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty”. –THOMAS JEFFERSON-

Mark Shean  written 4-5-2000  www.mafirearmsafety.com

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To the Editor of The Washington Times: In your January 1-21-2001 issue, Mr.Sobran wrote a commentary titled “Excessive taxes are wrong and Unnecessary”.

Mr. Sobran hit the nail on the head when he said of us lowly tax payers, “that even slaves have to eat”. Citizens today mindlessly pay nearly six months of their hard earned money to pay layers upon layers of taxes. When do you suppose they will wake up and get angry? When it reaches seven months, eight months or more?

It reminds me of a classic movie taken from a book written by Jules Vern, The Time Machine, where citizens in the distant future mindlessly do the bidding of their masters at an excessively high cost. High taxes are the real reason politicians are in such a frenzy to strip away our Second Amendment rights. It has absolutely nothing to do with crime on the streets, (there are already laws for those) it is because the thieves we put in office are afraid the tax paying public will wake up, like the Patriots did in 1776. 

 Mark Shean written 1-24-2001  www.mafirearmsafety.com

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My new GUN SENSE book, Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!!

I am not an Irish-French Canadian-American, I am an American descended from Irish-French Canadian ancestry. Ireland and Canada have no hold over me. I am an American, and Americans are what my children will be. I was born in the land of the free. When someone says they are Mexican-American or African-American or German, Italian, French or any other country American, what they are really saying is they are not proud to be an American first and foremost.

While it is important to know about where your ancestors hailed from, and important to pass on traditions, don’t lose sight of the fact that desperation, in many more instances than not, drove our ancestors to America. They came to this country because they were fleeing socialistic and or religious oppression, and in many cases, starvation. They came because of a lack of opportunity and an excess of tyranny in their countries of origin. So while it is important you should know your family history, you live in America, and you are an American.

America is still the greatest country on the face of the earth, and will always be, so long as Americans remain unified and self-governing. America is not perfect, but it is the best this world has to offer. If you want to be proud of a country, start with where you live first, for me it is AMERICA!

Mark Shean, written Oct. 1996  at “Grampy’s Camp” St. Froid Lake, Maine

My new GUN SENSE book, Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!!

   To the Editor: The governor and his henchmen, (your representatives) want to tax your right to self defense to where many will not be able to afford firearm permits to protect their families. They want to more than double the fee from $100 to $250 every six years. It had been $25 for many years until Romney got in and increased it by 300%! Now our “representatives” want to do it again.

    Firearms are the only consumer product specifically protected under our Constitution in the Bill of Rights under the Second Amendment. The same Constitution that our elected officials swear to uphold upon entering public office. Our Constitution doe’s not protect cigarettes or alcoholic beverages or gasoline, therefore this makes these products easy targets to tax; to tax them does not infringe on our constitutional rights. To tax, (a fee is a back door tax) our constitutional right to keep and bear arms is an infringement and attack on that right. It becomes a deliberate scheme by politicians to deny your constitutional right by making you pay for it, and if you can not afford it…to bad. It is a right already bought and paid for since the time of the American Revolution to the present day, bought by the blood of American soldiers and patriots.

    If you are not able to come up with enough money to pay for a right, then these politicians have, in an unconstitutional and illegal way, been successful, (but only momentarily) with their scheme/attack. This alone should make these politicians prime candidates for the chopping block in the next election cycle, if not sooner in a recall vote. Of all the people that you would think should be trustworthy, it should be people elected to an office of public trust. These should not be people bent on tearing down our rights block by block! We should not have to be at odds with them over our Constitution, that apparently they falsely swore to uphold and defend. So why are we? A background check to make sure we are good citizens, sure. Another “fee” to pay through the nose to help pay for the Big Dig, (Pig) because of political corruption? No. Try as our “representatives” may, their petty agendas do not, and will not, supersede this nations Constitution! Remind your ‘reps’.

 Mark Shean written 8-1-2008 www.mafirearmsafety.com

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   To the Editor: I am writing in response to a front page article that was in the 3-4-07 The Sunday Enterprise. “Guns Are Us”, the strongest argument for taking away discretionary power from police chiefs was unwittingly made by Chief Crowley of Quincy. His policy requires that people applying for a hand gun license have, quote,”some reason more than self defense“. Say again?

   Well, survival is mankind’s strongest instinct, and self defense is at the top of that instinct, Mr. Crowley. It is our first priority to our family and ourself. It is our governments first priority to its citizens. There can be no better reason for the honest citizen to obtain a license to carry than self defense! People that want to obtain their pistol permits are not the problem, a background check is all that is needed to verify that. They should not be treated with, in many cases, contempt, such as Crowley does. Politicians and police need to realize that these citizens are not the reason for crime, and treating them badly is not a solution to crime. Why do they pretend not to know this? 

    There will probably be police chiefs screaming that they need discretionary power over this issue, no, they do not. They need clear concise direction from the legislature. Arbitrary discretion does a disservice to the honest public. Not everyone may want to keep a firearm(s) for protection, but every American should support the Constitutional rights of all those who do, (including politicians and police chiefs) by not allowing discretionary “tactics” to strip away their right under the Second Amendment. There is a common thread that runs through arbitrary discretion, that thread being “absurdity“.

    There needs to be set criteria in positive law, from Boston to Lenox and from Gloucester to Province town, without variation, so that anyone anywhere knows what is expected when applying for a carry permit. As it stands now it appears extremely arbitrary and archaic, simply because it is. The blame for this falls directly at the feet of a lazy legislature. Maybe the new Governor will show some leadership on this issue, (not a chance).  This is where lawmakers have a bipartisan opportunity to demonstrate that they actually understood their oath to office, (that may be a stretch). 

    There should be no other reason for issue other than “Any Lawful Purpose”, that covers any/all reasons one might want a firearm. The Second Amendment is not about hunting, hunting is a ‘spinoff’,  it is about your Constitutional right, your unalienable right to self defense. If you think this makes sense, call your state Representative at: 617-722-2000, ask them to represent you on this issue, to make this a ‘Shall’ issue state.  That is their job, remind them they are there because you put them there to work in your best interest.

Mark Shean written 3-8-2007  www.mafirearmsafety.com

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   To the Editor: Recently the MA. State Senate was handed 2 golden opportunities to (1) demonstrate an understanding of the oath they took upon entering office, (2) to follow the example set by the House of Representatives in a bipartisan move to reduce the onerous tax imposed on your right to self defense. The Senate failed on both counts. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre said he would support the proposal to lower the fee (tax) but he did not know how it would fare in the Senate. Donald F. Hamasun Jr., R-Westfield, said “its the right thing to do” “We’re talking about a constitutionally guaranteed freedom to keep and bear arms”.

    These two men are exactly right. The Senate could not even bring themselves to pretend that they represent anyone other than their own overly inflated egos. They quit being Representatives when they decided to be pompous politicians, putting their personal agendas ahead of the will of their constituency. In this case the scheme is to tax the People to the point were we can no longer afford to exercise our right to self defense! To tax you on a constitutionally guaranteed right is in and of itself, an unconstitutional and illegal act by these so-called “representatives”.

    All Massachusetts Representatives have a firm grasp of the short memories of the electorate, and that they will always escape political punishment for bad, (even illegal) behavior. They know and like the fact that people are more wrapped up in entertainment of all sorts, than real problems in the world, this is the reason they will continue to survive each election cycle.

Mark Shean,  Note; {This is what we get in a one party state.} www.mafirearmsafety.com

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