It was clear from Koenig's opening montage sequence that this is a pro-gun propaganda film, relying on emotional content and selective facts: images of America's heartland, pages of the bible, mother and son on a porch as mom grasps a rifle, a black teen holding a handgun, bullets and a raspy voiced singer moans "...Better run if they take our God and our Guns..."
The original text ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, then-Secretary of State:
"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
The Second Amendment was based partially on the right to keep and bear arms in English common-law and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689. Sir William Blackstone described this right as an auxiliary right, supporting the natural rights of self- defense, resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state.
Therefore, at the time when the 2nd Amendment was drafted and ratified, the USA was in the middle of the revolutionary war with the British to establish an independent nation. Our forefathers knew that without a 'well-regulated militia,'it would be vital to rely on every man willing to fight and provide his own arms for a successful outcome of the revolutionary struggle. By adopting a legal declaration of citizen's rights based on English law, rebels could not easily be hanged as "traitors to the crown." Koenig conveniently omits critical references in order to showcase a smorgasbord of exaggerations and outright lies to sell fear,using the platitude that "...a gun is the great equalizer" as the resolution for every problem while ignoring Supreme Court decisions that defined the 2nd within the framework of it's own language and following the aftermath of the Civil War:
In United States v. Cruikshank (1876), the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that, "The right to bear arms is not granted by the Constitution; neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence" and limited the applicability of the Second Amendment to the federal government.
In United States v. Miller (1939), the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government and the states could limit any weapon types not having a "reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia."
The history of slavery in our country is complex and far reaching. It cannot be encapsulated within the 2nd Amendment. To do so is an insult to the memory of the slaves and their descendants. To suggest that owning a gun would have empowered the victims to stop the holocaust or the atrocities of the Russian Gulags is gross ignorance. In fact, the producers of this film are rewriting history by omitting truths about the inflated ideology of NRA gun culture:
Emmett Till's horrific brutal murder would not have been prevented if he had carried a gun. His killers planned his torture and carried it out, shooting him in the head multiple times.
Rosa Parks didn't need a gun to bravely take a stand.
The three murdered civil rights workers could not have prevented their fate at the hands of corrupt Mississippi law enforcement officers who were also KKK devotees.
Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't need a gun to move a nation. His murder was the work of an ambush sniper so even if he'd carried a gun, his death could not have been prevented.
A bullet won't stop hate crimes. A loaded gun doesn't teach understanding, decency, compassion or personal responsibility.
Most sickening moment:
Introducing statistics for Chicago youth violence where Black teens and young men are CHOOSING to SHOOT and KILL EACH OTHER in a pervasively gang/drug trafficking saturated urban environment.
THEN, comparing the Sandy Hook massacre by stating that over 500 young Black men are killed each year and no one does anything, but 20 White kids are killed in an upscale wealthy suburb and the entire nation is activated.
FACT: Those children were 5 and 6 year olds sitting in their classrooms, trapped, when Adam Lanza stormed into the school and shot them to pieces. The content of this particular segment spits on the deaths of the children and the grieving parents, in a disgusting attempt to turn the gun control issue into a race war.
People living in desperate circumstances act in desperate ways: The Chicago Youth need support, clean, safe housing, access to education, training, opportunities and good paying jobs. That is a completely different focus and their situation is the result of a greedy corrupt governing body. Proponents of gun ownership rights have hit a new low with this one - from claiming that the holocaust could have been stopped if the populace had guns (complete lie and ignores hundreds of years of antisemitic ideology)to a montage of Rodney King's arrest, the LA Riots, a segment about the Black Panthers, Koenig and his clan are trying to appeal to the fears and anger of Blacks to create neurotic terror and draw support in fighting gun control.
Ted Nugent's embarrassing remarks reflect the mindset of the pro gun groups: "Keep and bear arms means, they're MINE. You can't have 'em. I've got some on me right now and they're loaded."
This documentary argues for the repeal of the Second Amendment simply by virtue of the perpetuation of lies, deliberate omission of facts and self entitlement of the producers, director and pro gun 'experts.'
The original text ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, then-Secretary of State:
"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
The Second Amendment was based partially on the right to keep and bear arms in English common-law and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689. Sir William Blackstone described this right as an auxiliary right, supporting the natural rights of self- defense, resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state.
Therefore, at the time when the 2nd Amendment was drafted and ratified, the USA was in the middle of the revolutionary war with the British to establish an independent nation. Our forefathers knew that without a 'well-regulated militia,'it would be vital to rely on every man willing to fight and provide his own arms for a successful outcome of the revolutionary struggle. By adopting a legal declaration of citizen's rights based on English law, rebels could not easily be hanged as "traitors to the crown." Koenig conveniently omits critical references in order to showcase a smorgasbord of exaggerations and outright lies to sell fear,using the platitude that "...a gun is the great equalizer" as the resolution for every problem while ignoring Supreme Court decisions that defined the 2nd within the framework of it's own language and following the aftermath of the Civil War:
In United States v. Cruikshank (1876), the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that, "The right to bear arms is not granted by the Constitution; neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence" and limited the applicability of the Second Amendment to the federal government.
In United States v. Miller (1939), the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government and the states could limit any weapon types not having a "reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia."
The history of slavery in our country is complex and far reaching. It cannot be encapsulated within the 2nd Amendment. To do so is an insult to the memory of the slaves and their descendants. To suggest that owning a gun would have empowered the victims to stop the holocaust or the atrocities of the Russian Gulags is gross ignorance. In fact, the producers of this film are rewriting history by omitting truths about the inflated ideology of NRA gun culture:
Emmett Till's horrific brutal murder would not have been prevented if he had carried a gun. His killers planned his torture and carried it out, shooting him in the head multiple times.
Rosa Parks didn't need a gun to bravely take a stand.
The three murdered civil rights workers could not have prevented their fate at the hands of corrupt Mississippi law enforcement officers who were also KKK devotees.
Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't need a gun to move a nation. His murder was the work of an ambush sniper so even if he'd carried a gun, his death could not have been prevented.
A bullet won't stop hate crimes. A loaded gun doesn't teach understanding, decency, compassion or personal responsibility.
Most sickening moment:
Introducing statistics for Chicago youth violence where Black teens and young men are CHOOSING to SHOOT and KILL EACH OTHER in a pervasively gang/drug trafficking saturated urban environment.
THEN, comparing the Sandy Hook massacre by stating that over 500 young Black men are killed each year and no one does anything, but 20 White kids are killed in an upscale wealthy suburb and the entire nation is activated.
FACT: Those children were 5 and 6 year olds sitting in their classrooms, trapped, when Adam Lanza stormed into the school and shot them to pieces. The content of this particular segment spits on the deaths of the children and the grieving parents, in a disgusting attempt to turn the gun control issue into a race war.
People living in desperate circumstances act in desperate ways: The Chicago Youth need support, clean, safe housing, access to education, training, opportunities and good paying jobs. That is a completely different focus and their situation is the result of a greedy corrupt governing body. Proponents of gun ownership rights have hit a new low with this one - from claiming that the holocaust could have been stopped if the populace had guns (complete lie and ignores hundreds of years of antisemitic ideology)to a montage of Rodney King's arrest, the LA Riots, a segment about the Black Panthers, Koenig and his clan are trying to appeal to the fears and anger of Blacks to create neurotic terror and draw support in fighting gun control.
Ted Nugent's embarrassing remarks reflect the mindset of the pro gun groups: "Keep and bear arms means, they're MINE. You can't have 'em. I've got some on me right now and they're loaded."
This documentary argues for the repeal of the Second Amendment simply by virtue of the perpetuation of lies, deliberate omission of facts and self entitlement of the producers, director and pro gun 'experts.'