Observing Patriots' Day

Two of the four key historical April 19 events are rather grave in nature. I will start with these two disturbing events. The first is an act, which took place on April 19, 1995, that became a sizable factor in the passing of a classic nineties-style legi slation package. What was the act? The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City. What was the legislation? The fear-driven, re-election-winning, rider-packed "counter-terrorism" bill.

While media and government officials were quick to coin the "homegrown terrorism" sound bite, the critical thinker is not hasty to accept this explanation, nor is he, more importantly, hasty to accept abuses by the criminal few as an excuse to punish all. Furthermore, please do not forget that no one knows who is responsible for the Oklahoma City atrocity. Like the mystery of flight 800, we may never know.

The second event, which took place in 1994, is sorrowful indeed. The federal government gassed and burned 80 members of an unapproved religion, for the alleged crime of not paying a firearms tax. The logic behind the additional justification of saving the 24 children at the Waco compound from child abuse by gassing them escapes me. Let us remember that when a government betrays the principle of protecting the minority from the tyranny of the majority, the whole population has been crossed.

The last two are awe-inspiring events in which the courageous spirit of persecuted individuals shines through the pages of history into a timelessness that should kindle an appreciation for the part of man that struggles to be free, in even our most munda ne days.

As depicted in Claire Wolfe's 101 Things to do 'til the Revolution, "On April 19, 1943, small bands of desperate Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, armed with a few dozen firearms and little experience in their use, decided to fight rather than submit to the Nazi s' 'final solution.' They held off SS troops for weeks before they were defeated." Simkin, Zelman, and Rice, of JPFO (Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership) note, in Lethal Laws, that the Warsaw ghetto uprising is a momentous event in Jewish his tory. The hope that they saw in this handful of firearms evoked an amazing empowerment in a time when passive obedience to the government plagued this oppressed group.

Finally, an April 19 occurrence with which we should all be familiar: the start of the Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord. British General Gage had secured Boston. As the Patriots organized themselves into volunteer militia ("minutemen"), Gage sen t 800 troops to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock at Lexington and to destroy supplies at Concord. Paul Revere, along with William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, made that famous countryside ride. At Lexington, eight Patriots died and the survivors retreat ed, but Adams and Hancock escaped. The British proceeded to Concord and destroyed its colonial military stores. But as the redcoats marched back to Boston, colonists came out from behind trees, walls, and barns along the road, firing at those who sought t o tax them, abridge their speech and religion, protect royal officials charged with crimes, and force them to finance the quartering of their oppressors.

This was the start of a tradition of freedom that could die to apathy in our lifetime. It takes an active struggle to resist the growth of government and thus the threat of tyranny. Some will passively accept the fate of being increasingly ruled and even the fate of a ghastly and unjust death. Some will put up a determined fight to keep alive the dream that a society of truly free people can exist sometime in man's experience.

There are still Patriots in America today; individuals with Patrick Henry's passion for liberty. One such individual lives right here in Tucson. Mr. Ken Rineer recently challenged the city's unconstitutional (under Arizona's constitution) ban on guns in p ublic parks. And you have an opportunity to observe Patriots' Day with Mr. Rineer at the Patriots' Day Fun Shoot this Saturday afternoon at the Pima Pistol Club. Many have told me that most college students will tune out such an event. Nevertheless, I thi nk that inviting students to an enlightening afternoon with individuals celebrating the contemporary intellectual awakening of the philosophy of liberty could be a welcome touch of diversity at the end of a student's week.

"If you prefer the tranquillity of servitude to the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace ... " -Samuel Adams, brewer, patriot.

Jackie Casey is a non-degree seeking graduate student studying statistics. This is the second of her series of three anti-gun control columns. Her column, 'Casey at Bat,' appears every other Tuesday.

By Jackie Casey (columnist)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 15, 1997