Three Strikes in Three Minutes

[Bullet]

I've been asked to post some "Three Strikes in Three Minutes" presentations I've done recently. These have not been at Appleseed events; basically, they are an attempt to incorporate American History, and specifically the story of April 19, 1775, into daily interactions with people.

Remember, this is the goal: not just to teach people to put a nice shot group on a target, not to give a fancy speech, but to light the fire of liberty in Americans in such a way that spurs them to action as they consider the lives of their forebears and the future of their posterity.

Hopefully there will be some ideas here that you can use in daily conversations. I'd also love to hear your ideas and stories of how you have shared this history and these concepts with others.

[Bullet]

This is a written version of testimony I brought before a Texas House committee regarding a bill under consideration.

I am an 11th-generation Texan, and I am here representing myself and the next 11 generations of Texans - my posterity.

You have before you today a very great responsibility in determining what kind of Texas your posterity - and my posterity - will inherit. A few minutes ago, Rep. Walle questioned the need for a firearms protection bill in Texas - surely Congress wouldn't actually pass a firearms ban, right? Why do we need to go through the lengthy and arduous process of creating a new law that won't even be needed?

This is a profound question, and if we are to discuss it, we must all consider a profound story. Let's look back in time for a moment.

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Two hundred thirty-eight years ago, the families of colonial America were oppressed by their government. They put up with many grievances and bore with long trains of abuses; regarding these, they faithfully petitioned the King. The King responded by sending troops and giving them secret orders to seize the towns' stores of gunpowder. The soldiers weren't confiscating all the arms in colonial America, only offering, perhaps, some "regulations" about how much certain towns could store...

The training band at Lexington stood that day, April 19, 1775, as the Redcoats advanced - only about 70 men standing against 800. One man exclaimed, "There are so few of us, it is folly to stand here." Still, Captain Parker stood, not firing until fired upon - and watched as his friends, relatives, and neighbors were slaughtered.

You see, the right to keep and bear arms was important enough for the colonists to actually stand up for the first time and say "NO" in a forceful manner. They recognized that disarmament would leave them powerless to other tyrannical moves by the government.

Six miles down the road, Isaac Davis led the charge down Punkatasset Hill at Concord, stating, "I have not a man who is afraid to go." The British Regulars broke and ran after 2 minutes - unheard of, and still a blot on their military history - but not before Isaac Davis took a musket ball to his heart and left behind a brave wife, Hannah, with a houseful of sick, fatherless children.

Men bled and died standing up for the right to keep and bear arms. That is the importance they placed on this God-given right. The sacrificial, brave actions of the training band at Lexington, the militia at Concord surely were foremost on the minds of those who penned the 2nd amendment.

The action continued that day down the 15 or 20 miles of Battle Road: the people stood, against highly-trained military forces. They used a creative strategy, a brand new military tactic - the Circle of Fire - to nearly destroy the Regulars, who barely limped back to safety at Boston Harbor. This caused Lord Percy of the British troops, who had scoffed mightily at the colonists, to write home stating forcefully, "They have men among them who know very well what they are about."

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Members of the committee, we have a man among us who "knows very well what he is about." Rep. Krause has thoughtfully written a bill that protects this very important right to keep and bear arms, while carefully and brilliantly asserting the right that a state has.

You see, men bled and died not just to give us the right to keep and bear arms. They designed that the people might protect themselves from tyranny - not just by standing in battle formation, but through a very carefully planned, new form of government.

Rep. Krause's bills speak to this form of government. Specifically, the states are not to be at the mercy of the federal government. Our state is not to be subservient to its whims and will. The federal government was created by the states, for the states. It has extremely limited powers. Let's do something novel: let's hold it to those limits!

HB 928 goes a step beyond merely penalizing agents for engaging in enforcement of federal firearm grabs. It asserts that the state of Texas cannot be used in a cheap, beggarly manner by bullies in Washington. Our law enforcement and state resources will not be used to enforce federal gun grabs that we do not agree with. Not only does this bill protect our firearms, it actually gives a beautiful example of how the states were meant to operate, and it protects the state of Texas for generations to come. It protects Texas for my posterity.

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I'm thankful for my ancestors, and what they left to their posterity. I've been told that they sailed from Ireland in the 1830′s, stopped over briefly in New York, and then - with incredible foresight and wisdom! - ditched New York and got on another boat for Texas. I am proud of my ancestor who was at the Alamo, and I am proud of the legacy that I have been given as a Texan.

I am also grateful for those who founded the United States of America, pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

A few months after the events of April 19, 1775, one of those men, John Adams, made a profound statement, to us - to me, and to each one of you serving on this committee. He said:

Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven, that I ever took half the pains to preserve it."

I am here today giving testimony in support of HB 928 because I am endeavoring to make good use of that freedom.

What about you? How will you make the best use of it?

I urge you to support Rep. Krause's "Come And Take It" bill -- HB 928.

[Bullet]

A young boy was sitting next to me at lunch some time back. As we ate our turkey sandwiches, I engaged in a bit of table conversation....I asked if he was familiar with the 2nd amendment; no, he wasn't. What about 1775 - did he know anything that had happened that year? Based on his response, I decided he needed a little bit of education. So I told him, as fast as I could.

I told him everything.

I told him about Paul Revere, and William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott - how they rode that night, April 18, 1775, how they warned the colonists that the King's men were coming to steal their gunpowder. I told him how Paul Revere was captured by a British patrol! They let him go, after he told them the truth - after he warned them that Captain Parker's training band was waiting for them at Lexington.

I told him how Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn kept marching toward those brave men - the 70 men who stood on the green, 70 against hundreds of British Regulars. Fathers and sons at Lexington were slaughtered, just because they would not give up their arms. They stood up for their neighbors at Concord - because that's where the Regulars were headed.

I told him how Dr. Prescott had escaped capture during that midnight ride...he'd gone on to warn the neighbors at Concord. I told him about Isaac Davis - Captain Isaac Davis, of the Acton Minutemen, who left his wife Hannah that morning to defend his God-given right to keep and bear arms. And I told him....before the day was over, Hannah was a widow, her children were fatherless, and Isaac Davis was laid out in the parlor, his heart pierced with a musket ball.

I told him how the Regulars broke and ran after two minutes, because the colonists knew how to take careful aim. They picked out the officers with their bright red coats. I told him, those were men who knew what they were about!

And I told him about the retreat, how all those reinforcements brought by Lord Percy had to endure the torturous Battle Road march surrounded by General Heath's Circle of Fire. I told him how the American colonists stood and defended their homes to the death in Menotomy - even Samuel Whittemore, old and lame, because he believed in his inalienable rights; because he knew he had something worth defending. And I told him - Samuel Whittemore knew it wasn't folly to stand when he was in the right, no matter what the cost, and no matter if anyone else stood with him.

I told him how the Redcoats barely escaped that day; how the war begun on April 19, 1775 finally ended years later. I told him how we ended up with a new country and a Constitution - the Supreme Law of the Land. And those who wrote it must have been thinking of Captain Parker's men at Lexington, of Isaac Davis at Concord, of Samuel Whittemore at Menotomy, when they wrote the 2nd amendment.

Because the Supreme Law of the Land states this:  "A well-regulated militia..." --and please understand, well-regulated in that time meant well-trained, or well-disciplined -- self-regulated; it was not referring to government regulations-- "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."

And when I finished my retelling of his country's history, this boy looked up at me and wanted to know - what about other gun laws? Were those in the Constitution? Were they OK? And I responded, "You tell me....what does "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" mean?" 

He pondered it a moment, then exclaimed, "Somebody needs to tell the people who make laws what the Constitution says!"

I told him that was his job, and so he did just that - and continues to write the legislature every few weeks.

What about you? When is the last time you wrote our legislators? Maybe they need to be reminded exactly what the Supreme Law of the Land says. Be sure to remind them - it's your job.

[fisherdawg]

Bullet,
This is very powerful.  Thank you.
fisherdawg

[Smurf]

I have a short version that perhaps someone may find some use for:


   I thank you all for being here today. We all may be here for different reasons but the REASON WE ARE ABLE to be here is because others have STOOD UP FOR US in the past. We owe our LIBERTIES to them.

   On evening of April 18th, 1775, the GOUVERNER of Massachusetts, General Gage, ordered 700 British soldiers known as REDCOATS under the command of Lt-Col Francis Smith to march to Concord, Ma. Their primary mission was to confiscate or distroy the arms and ammunition owned by the CITIZENS of the town. Their secondary mission was to arrest John Hancock and Sam Adams to be hanged after trial.

   Doctor Joseph Warren, upon learning of the mission, called for Paul Revere and William Dawes to spread the alarm to the citizens. William Dawes rode south thru the Roxbury Neck. Revere had the lanterns lit in the Old North Church, crossed the Back Bay by boat to Charlestown and triggered a system of alarm riders, signal fires and church bells developed to warn the countryside.

   The Redcoats also crossed the Back Bay later on the night of April 18th and began their march to Concord. At about 5:00 am on the morning of April 19th the REDCOATS lead by a Lt. Jesse Adir entered the town of Lexington, Ma. The townspeople had elected John Parker a farmer to be the Captain of the Lexington Training Band. On a side road to the right of the main Boston - Concord road, Captain Parker and his neighbors waited, standing on their village green in political protest, having been warned by Paul Revere.

Upon seeing the townspeople on the village green, Lt. Adir turned the REDCOAT column to the right confronting Captain Parker's men, ordering them to laydown their arms and disperse. Greatly outnumbered and not wishing to sacrifice his men, Captain Parker gave the order to go home. As they turned to leave the REDCOATS opened fire with a raged killing volley. And then they charged the townspeople with bayonets. Lt.-Col Smith then arrived at the head of the column to see that his officers had lost complete control as the REDCOATS pursued the townspeople into homes and buildings. He ordered a drummer to play recall and his men broke off pursuit and assembled into ranks. They were allowed to fire a victory volley and give three cheers of HAZZZAAA before they turned to resume the march to Concord, leaving behind eight dead townspeople on the village green.

   Isaac Davis was a farmer and blacksmith in Acton, Ma. He had been elected as Captain of the Acton Militia. In the early hours of the morning of April 19th, he walked out his doorway into the darkness. His wife Hanna feared that she would never see him again. He walked with his friends and neighbors across the valleys and fields to a hill outside of Concord Ma. At about 10:30 in the morning Captain Isaac Davis marched his men off that hill and into history. The REDCOATS guarding the North Bridge opened fire on the militia, the Militia returned fire killing most of the REDCOAT Officers at the North Bridge, causing the pride of the British Army to break and run for the town.

   At about noon the brigade of REDCOATS under Lt.-Col Francis Smith left Concord and headed east back to Boston. They had flankers out on the sides of the column that came back to the center to cross the bridge just before Meriams Corner. On the hillside at Meriams Corner the Militia lay in wait. They fired early as the REDCOATS cleared the bridge. The REDCOATS charged and the militia stood their ground driving the flankers back to the road. They hit the REDCOATS at Meriams Corner, Brooks Hill, Brooks Tavern, Bloody Angle, Hartwell/Masons, Parker's Revenge, The Bluff, Fisk Hill and Concord Hill the last hill before the town of Lexington. The Militias numbers had grown to about 2,000. They were chewing hard at the tail of the REDCOATS and hitting them hard at the head in the ambushes. The Redcoats were bloody, battered and out of ammo. All of the officers had been wounded. It seemed that the militia would finish them off on the very Lexington Green that they started from. BOOM!!! Came the blast of a cannon!!!! One thousand reinforcements commanded by General Lord Percy had arrived from Boston.

   The REDCOATS columns combined forces to continue east to Boston under an unending RING OF MILITA FIRE that was directed by a farmer from Roxbury named Heath. But for a fluke of luck the REDCOATS would have died with their backs against the water but that was not to be. A quick turn at Kent Lane brought them under the covering guns of a warship in the Back Bay. The Militia held back and the redcoats were evacuated across the water during the dark of night.

   The REDCOATS suffered 73 KIA/ 174 WIA/ 26 MIA. The Militia 49 KIA/ 39 WIA/ 5 MIA. 

The town of Menotomy, Ma was the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the day. One old man by the name of Samuel Whittimore was 80 years old when he took on a brigade of REDCOATS by himself. He killed three before they shot the old man, bayoneted him 14 times and left him for dead. His friends found the old man and took him to a doctor that refused to treat him. "You friend will die, others I may be able to save". And Samuel Whittimore died............ 18 YEARS LATER AT AGE 98!!!!!!!! Did he wish to die or wish to live??? What did he believe in so strongly?? LIBERTY!!!!!!

And did Hanna Davis ever see her husband again? Yes, she did. When they brought him home for her to bury. On April 19th, 1775, at about 10:30 in the morning, Captain Isaac Davis became the First American Officer killed in the line of duty. And his image is forever immortalized as the MINUTEMAN. The symbol of the MINUTEMAN which we all know so well. ONE HAND ON THE MUSKET AND ONE HAND ON THE PLOW!!! His name is Isaac Davis!!!   

[Johnnyappleseed]

Excelent Bullet,great job ,very inspirational !
Did the bill pass?

[The Old Guide]

In Maine our governor proclaimed April this year as "Patriot History and Heritage Recognition Month". The Proclamation has been read at numerous gatherings including all Libertyseed and Appleseed events.

Huzzah!

[Fred]

   [Warning: Off-topic!]

In Maine our governor proclaimed April this year as "Patriot History and Heritage Recognition Month". The Proclamation has been read at numerous gatherings including all Libertyseed and Appleseed events.

Huzzah!

    We are planning to get the other 49 states to follow Maine, in time for next year's April 19th events!

     Thanks, OG, for leading the way on this!