Patriots Day: Honor the gun-toting heroes of Lexington and Concord

Mark your calendar for the third Monday in April (April 16), for it is officially Patriots’ Day in the states of Massachusetts and Maine. The date to remember is April 19, 1775 and the events to commemorate are the Battles of Lexington and Concord. 

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These battles, between British authorities and early American colonists (known as “Patriots”), initiated the path to the separation of the 13-established American colonies from British control, taxes, and regulation.

American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson describes a stand-off between British forces and anarchist colonists that occurred on April 19, 1776 in the town of Lexington, Massachusetts, as a “shot heard ‘round the world” in his opening phrase of the “Concord Hymn” written in 1837.  This initial “shot” would escalate into the confrontations at Lexington and Concord, and start of what is known today as the American Revolution.

No doubt, if not for the well armed and courageous Patriots who, at all costs, sought to garner freedom for future generations, the Declaration of Independence would not have been adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776, just 19 months later. 

However, the battle for freedom, being well fought, did not stop there; it was seven years later on October 19, 1781 when the British finally surrendered and military action ceased.  By this time, the American Revolution had been born, and the experiment that is America begins to flourish.

So, it comes as quite a shock that today, 237 years after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts has a pathetic, sorrowful, demeaning slew of gun control laws and regulations that would make any Second Amendment loving American, turn green in color due to rapid, acidic stomach upheaval.

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Hurdle is not enough to describe the battle that innocent Americans residing in Massachusetts are required to endure just to own, sell, purchase, or transport firearms and ammunition.

There are hundreds of pages of gun control laws and regulations on the books enacted by the Massachusetts legislature, as well as hundreds of pages of orders issued by state agencies that compound the already restrictive burdens placed on innocent Americans residing in Massachusetts, enough to make us puke.

The laws of Massachusetts say in order to possess, sell, purchase or transport firearms or ammunition, citizens must abide by the following requirements and restrictions:

1.    Course in gun safety;
2.    Identification card;
3.    Firearm license;
4.    Police scrutiny;
5.    Federal background check;
6.    Unelected official review board approval;
7.    Review of misdemeanor and other non-felony convictions;
8.    Ban on “assault” weapons;
9.    90 day “grace period” for renewing licenses;
10.    Broad latitude of Police who determine issuance of licenses; and
11.    Months and sometimes years of wait time.

The biggest problem here is that the People of the State of Massachusetts apparently do not care much for the Second Amendment.  Otherwise, they would not continue to elect gun control advocates as their officials, and would not be in the predicament they are in.

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Calling All Patriots in the State of Massachusetts:
Do something to protect our Second Amendment rights, now!  Until the People elect officials that respect the Second Amendment and meaningful legislation is introduced to combat all the obstacles, possessing, selling, purchasing or transporting firearms and ammunition, will be more impossible than it already is.  Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts legislature are currently developing even more restrictions, as we speak.

In the meantime, folks, if you are a resident of Massachusetts and seek to obtain a firearm – good luck!

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