About once a month, Dave Kopel produces a free e-mail Newsletter containing short summaries and links to important new research and writing involving the Second Amendment and firearms policy. The newsletter also reports on Kopel's latest writing.
The content of this newsletter is produced by the Second Amendment Project at the Independence Institute, a think tank in Golden, Colorado. The newsletter is electronically distributed by the Second Amendment Foundation in Bellevue, Washington. Thus, the Second Amendment Foundation will be given your e-mail address.
Archive of past issues.
The Second Amendment Project is based at the Independence Institute, a free-market think tank in Golden, Colorado.
1. New articles on the web: John Lott, lawsuits, gun shows, Rosie O'Donnell, global gun prohibition.
2. Hobgood Academy beats the holophobes!
3. The Battle of New Orleans
1. New articles on the Web.
a. "Cold Comfort." Long interview with John Lott in the January 2000 issue of Reason magazine. Economist John Lott discusses the benefits of guns--and the hazards of pointing them out. Interviewed by Jacob Sullum and Michael W. Lynch.
http://www.reason.com/0001/fe.js.cold.html
b. "Lousy Aim: Government Puts Pressure on Gun Makers." By John Lott. Dec. 28, 1999. Op-ed in the Manchester Union-Leader.
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=5348
c. "Settlement Option." Syndicated columnist (and Reason Magazine editor) Jacob Sullum looks at President Clinton's latest effort to disarm crime victims, through an abusive lawsuit by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
http://www.reason.com/sullum/121599.html
d. "Background Checks for Gun Purchases Empower Criminals." By Ari Armstrong. Dec. 19, 1999. Colorado Freedom Report (web magazine).
http://www.co-freedom.com/1999/12/gunecon.html
e. "No More Rosie Scenarios." By Jackie Mason & Raoul Felder. American Spectator. Hilarious article details
http://www.spectator.org/live/live.htm
f. "Global Gun Grab." By Thomas R. Eddlem. New American. Dec.
26, 1999.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/1999/11-22-99/vol15no24_gun.htm
2. Hobgood Academy
Outdoor Column for the week of December 26, 1999
By Fred Bonner. Reprinted with Permission
Local Schools Receive Big Christmas Gifts From Hunters and Gunowners.
Top headlines in recent months have been about the tragic violence that has happened in some schools. The tragedies have brought the anti-gun forces boiling from their hiding places with full intentions of having legislation passed that would either ban or seriously hamper gun ownership in America. In many cases the press has, to put it mildly, been very unkind to the Second Amendment of our Bill of Rights and gun owners.
Two recent events that have happened in our state show the public another side of the gun control issue. The incidents have also brought a degree of solidarity to gun owners that has rarely been seen. Both of these incidents happened in schools and both were very positive toward hunting and gun ownership.
The first item that was positive toward guns and hunting happened in Windsor, North Carolina. It was in the form of a public deer hunt that has been happening for some seven years now. It's called Bucks for Bertie and it is for the benefit of Bertie County High School.
Seven years ago the idea of using a deer hunt to raise badly needed money for the school was born. The first year a handful of hunters showed up and experienced one of the finest deer hunts that the hunters had ever experienced. Local high school students and farmers guided the hunters on hunts that took place on lands that were seldom if ever opened for hunting.
The visiting hunters got to know the local people and came to appreciate the ways of eastern North Carolina hunting.
The word about the Bucks for Bertie program began to spread by word of mouth and a few helpful articles in newspapers and magazines. The program began to grow-and grow-and grow.
This year the Bucks for Bertie set a new record with over 200 deer hunters visiting Windsor and the surrounding communities. How'd they do?
Well, in one weekend the Bucks for Bertie program raised over sixty-thousand dollars for the Bertie County High School and generated an estimated one-hundred thousand dollars into the local economy. Not bad at all for a weekend's deer hunting and a big Christmas present for Bertie County High School.
The second gun related incident in schools took place at the now-famous Hobgood Academy.
In spite of the objections of the anti-gun factions a small, private, K through 12, North Carolina boarding school just received another whopping Christmas gift. It came in the form of tickets sold on a Future Farmers of America (FFA) raffle for five guns.
The raffle, which is a pretty standard thing for outdoor related organizations to do, was expected to be relatively small. It turned big in a hurry when gun owners from all over the world found out that the raffle had become the target of anti-gun forces.
It was the North Carolinians against Gun Violence (NCGV) that started making complaints about the school's giving away guns. They felt that it was inappropriate to do this in light of the recent school
shootings at Columbine High School. It was the kind of knee-jerk reaction that you'd expect from an urban anti-gun group that blames inanimate objects for the sins of our society.
The National Rifle Association and Grass Roots North Carolina picked up on the original complaints of the NCGV and published alerts to gun owners across the nation about the plight of the small FFA Chapter. Things started to snowball when the alerts went on the Internet.
Gun owners from across the world who were sick and tired of hearing the whining of the anti-gun forces rallied around the flag and started to flood Hobgood Academy with orders for raffle tickets. The tickets were not cheap at ten-dollars each but that didn't deter the supporters of Hobgood Academy. The letters and dollars poured in.
When the North Carolinians against Gun Violence found out that their complaints about the raffle was backfiring on them, they tried to back out of their dilemma by denying that they'd ever complained. It only served to fan the ire of the supporters of Hobgood Academy. The academy did not back down. They stood their ground and the raffle became a rallying point for the pro-gun forces.
Before long the general press picked-up on what was happening and started sending press releases all over the world. CNN News, MSNBC, The Today Show and even the venerable British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) produced news regarding little Hobgood Academy. Newspapers from all over the world (even the London Times) carried stories about the gun raffle. Naturally this did not make the anti-gun forces very happy.
When the first drawing for a gun occurred on December 7th, CNN News was on hand, local TV stations were covering the story and the Associated Press gave the raffle good coverage that went out worldwide. For once guns and gun owners were getting favorable publicity.
The authorities at Hobgood Academy had expected to realize some two-thousand dollars profit from the raffle. Due to the support of gun owners who wanted to show a little "in your face" to the anti-gun
forces, the profit to Hobgood Academy's Future Farmers of America chapter amounted to some twenty-three thousand dollars.
The FFA chapter has used part of the money to purchase new woodworking equipment as well as a new building to house their equipment. There's still money left over.
The FFA chapter also plans to contribute some of the excess money to the victims of the recent hurricanes in our state.
The "Hobgood Academy Affair" is not over yet.
Reports are rolling in from various gun-related industries that have read about what happened on Hobgood, N.C. and they want to lend their support to future programs. This leaves the "door wide open" for the Hobgood Academy FFA for future years and should put this relatively small FFA chapter on easy street for a long time.
It's surprising what can happen when gun owners get mad. One irate gun owner from Eastern North Carolina has stated that "I hope this shows Ms. Lisa Price (the wife of Democratic Congressman David Price and the President of North Carolinians against Gun Violence) that many gun owners and hunters in the world do not agree at all with the viewpoint that guns are responsible for the violence in our schools. today. Their interference in the Hobgood gun raffle backfired on them and showed the world that we don't subscribe to their philosophy."
The anti-gun forces did the Hobgood Academy a great favor by openly voicing their opposition to the gun raffle. Support for this small school is mounting even after this year's raffle is history and gun owners all across America are hoping that the North Carolinians against Gun Violence will again speak out against gun raffles next year. They surely played an important role in giving Bertie County High School and Hobgood Academy some awfully big Christmas presents.
---30---
Fred Bonner, Wildlife Biologist
Editor/ Carolina Adventure
Syndicated Columnist
International Game Fish Association Representative
CROWN
3. The Battle of New Orleans
On January 8, 1815, Americans lead by Andrew Jackson demolished an invading British army in the Battle of New Orleans. Although the War of 1812 had officially ended on Dec. 24, 1814, with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, news had not reached New Orleans. Had the British won the battle, and taken New Orleans, it is doubtful that they would have withdrawn, treaty or not. After the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution, the British broke their Treaty obligation to evacuate forts in the American west.
Jackson's force consisted of regular American army, militia, and a wide variety of irregulars. Jackson's men included whites, free blacks, and a wide variety of people of mixed ancestry, including Creoles.
Against this diverse force of Americans was a far larger British standing army, consisting of elite regiments which had recently defeated Napoleon in France and Spain. The British planned to plunder New Orleans, and rape its women.
About a quarter of the American force was Kentucky militia. Like the other Americans, they were superb shots, who used the rifles with devastating accuracy against the British attack.
In honor of the great victory for freedom, this issue of the Second Amendment Project newsletter reprints "The Hunters of Kentucky"-a popular song composed in honor of the American triumph.
The Hunters of Kentucky
(or The Battle of New Orleans)
Ye gentlemen and ladies fair
Who grace this famous city,
Just listen, if you've time to spare,
While I rehearse a ditty;
And for the opportunity,
Conceive yourselves quite lucky,
For tis not often here you see
A hunter from Kentucky.
Oh, Kentucky,
The Hunters of Kentucky,
Oh, Kentucky,
The Hunters of Kentucky
We are a hardy, freeborn race,
Each man to fear a stranger,
Whate'er the game we join in chase,
Despising toil and danger.
And if a daring foe annoys,
Whate'er his strength or forces,
We'll show them that Kentucky boys
Are alligators-horses.
Oh, Kentucky, &c.
I 'spose you've read it in the prints,
How Packenham attempted
To make Old Hickory Jackson wince,
But soon his scheme repented;
For we with rifles ready cock'd,
Thought such occasion lucky,
And soon around the general flock'd
The Hunters of Kentucky.
Oh, Kentucky, &c.
You've heard I 'spose, how New-Orleans
Is famed for wealth and beauty,
There's girls of every hue, it seems,
From snowy white to sooty.
So Packenham he made his brags,
If he in fight was lucky,
He'd have their girls and cotton bags,
In spite of old Kentucky.
Oh, Kentucky, &c.
But Jackson he was wide-awake,
And was'nt scar'd at trifles,
For well he knew what aim we take
With our Kentucky rifles.
So he led us up to a cypress swamp,
The ground was low and mucky,
There stood John Bull in martial pomp,
And here was old Kentucky.
Oh, Kentucky, &c.
A bank was raised to hide our breast,
Not that we thought of dying,
But that we always take a rest,
Unless the game is flying.
Behind it stood our little force,
None wished it to be greater,
For every man was half a horse,
And half an alligator.
Oh, Kentucky, &c.
They did not let their patience tire,
Before they showed their faces,
We did not choose to waste our fire
So snugly kept our places,
But when so near we saw them wink,
We thought it time to stop 'em,
And it would have done you good, I think.
To see Kentuckians drop 'em.
Oh, Kentucky, &c.
They found, at last, 'twas vain to fight,
Where lead was all their booty,
And so they wisely took to flight,
And left us all the beauty.
And now if danger e'er annoys,
Remember what our trade is,
Just send for us Kentucky boys,
And we'll protect ye, ladies.
Oh, Kentucky, &c.
