Birthplace of the Second Amendment 1765: Texas House passes legislation to protect Second Amendment rights

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Texas House passes legislation to protect Second Amendment rights

Pasadena Citizen News - 5/7/2013

AUSTIN – On Monday (May 6) the Texas House of Representatives passed a series of bills designed to protect the 2nd Amendment rights of Texas citizens. State Representative Wayne Smith (R-Baytown) co-authored each bill that passed.

The 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of American citizens to keep and bear arms and prevents the federal government from seizing firearms from law-abiding citizens without cause. Recently, however, the federal government has considered enacting measures that challenge this protection based on questionable constitutional grounds.

“As a strong defender of the U.S. Constitution and our individual freedoms, I am proud to have co-authored several bills that protect the 2nd Amendment rights of Texas citizens,” said Smith. “As the federal government continues to discuss measures that could infringe upon the 2nd Amendment, the Texas legislature is fighting back on behalf of law-abiding Texans.”

The Texas House of Representatives passed the following 2nd Amendment bills today:

House Bill 1076 seeks to proactively protect the 2nd Amendment rights of Texas citizens and the ability of our law enforcement officers to protect the public. The bill makes federal laws that restrict firearm ownership unenforceable within the state’s boundaries.

House Bill 1314 seeks to prevent the encroachment by the federal government on 2nd Amendment rights. The bill prevents the enforcement of federal laws that exceed the federal government’s constitutional authority by creating a new offense for the unlawful seizure of a firearm.

House Bill 972 will allow concealed handgun license holders to carry on the premises of public institutions of higher education. The goal of HB 972 is to provide students, faculty, and visitors on educational campuses the 2nd Amendment protections that may be necessary in life-threatening situations. The bill includes an “opt-out” provision that allows schools to reject participation.

House Bill 1304 seeks to remedy any ambiguity surrounding the proper concealment of a handgun by protecting a license holder from being penalized for accidentally displaying a handgun.

Representative Wayne Smith represents Texas House District 128, including Baytown, Deer Park, La Porte, Crosby, Highlands, Morgan's Point and a portion of Pasadena.

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It All Started Here . . .

Frontier Mercersburg in 1765 was the "birthplace" of the right we now refer to as "the Second Amendment", or, "the right to bear arms". It was here that individuals for the first time, some would say divinely, embraced the link between "Life and Liberty". . . and struck the first blow for Freedom.

Historically the right to bear arms goes back even before our founding as a nation to the Glorious Revolution of 1689 when William III agreed to the English Bill of Rights. If one can look at revolution like a volcanic eruption in nature, you understand that often from the destruction come the seeds of new human values and beliefs. In this case the independence of the human spirit, the right to know God for oneself, and to trust your conscience was hard won in this revolution of the human soul.

One crucible begets the necessity for another and on the frontier in America the right to defend ones religious beliefs was becoming the right to participate in the decisions of government that impact my "self". Freedom of the soul was becoming freedom of the heart and mind. Smith's Rebellion began as an act they justified under the rubric of defending oneself because government had failed in its obligation to protect Life, Liberty and Property. This was the first assertion of this principle aimed directly at British Military Authority as well as the incompetent government of John Penn - anywhere in the colonies.

In the end, Smith's Rebellion was the first armed resistance against British Military Rule leading up to the American Revolution. It was the first American triumph over the best military force in the world. It was the first time upon defending oneself that Americans had proclaimed we can rule ourselves.

It would be ten years before the battles at Lexington and Concord.

...Let Them Take Arms

The "Right to Bear Arms" . . .or 2nd Amendment is one of the most discussed and contentious of all the amendments of the Bill of Rights. It is, in fact, the only amendment that contains not only the seeds but the actual instruments of the revolution itself. Further, it gives real affirmation to Thomas Jefferson's quote . . .
"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

It is for this reason, if no other, that the Government and its functionaries vociferously assail and obfuscate the text of this simple assertion. More, it is for this reason, and in the face of the perennial onslaught that its defense and affirmation is essential to the survival of the republic.

Frontier Mercersburg & The Justice William Smith House

The frontier town of Mercersburg, PA. in the 1760's, although typical of many settlements along the Appalachian Mountains played a pivotal role in the creation of what was to become the "Bill of Rights".

Frontiersmen like James Smith and the Black Boys, many of whom were inhabitants of the Mercersburg environs, were early participants in a series of conflicts with the British government that established principles the eventually lead to the inclusion of the "right to bear arms" in the Bill of Rights.

Much of the focus, centers on the domicile (and likely place of business) of Justice William Smith.

Birthplace of the Second Amendment 1765

Pages

Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - Bill of Rights

Preservation and Proposition

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Texas House passes legislation to protect Second Amendment rights

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