on this Memorial Day: Much Given, Much Expected

[Six-Shot]

Where else could this happen?



Where else in the 21st century could private citizens
acquire, repair, load and fire a 57mm anti-tank gun?

Yes, that's me,
pulling the "trigger" (it's more like a lever) on a friend's antique, fully
legal World War II weapon.

Friends, that level of freedom is something to
be thankful for.

It's also burdensome.

Freedom is a
Burden

Burdensome?

Yes,
burdensome because I believe having this kind of freedom places a moral duty on
all of us to protect it. Everything from flying small planes, to speaking our
minds about controversial issues to the thousand other freedoms we still enjoy
-- we're obligated to pass them on.

Luke 12:48 says "From everyone who
has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of
him they will ask all the more."

If we have this much freedom in most
states in America, how could we possibly hand down less to our
children?

I don't want to be sitting in a rocking chair telling my 15
year old grandson, "I used to take your parents out shooting machine guns, but
those firearms have long since been banned" (and yes, I do take my kids to shoot
machine guns).

Here's another phrase I hope my lips never utter: "Your
grandmother and I used to drive across western America, but now that's
impossible without government-approved papers and proof of your 'need' to
travel."

Fail to
Protect Freedom?

How can we look our family members in the eye 20
years from now, and admit, "I failed to protect freedom in our
country?"

I've been given much that I'm thankful for. The list of
freedoms we still enjoy in the land of the brave is longer than I care to list
here, and longer than you probably want to read.

But of all the blessings
I enjoy, at the top of my list is the trust placed in me by the
hundreds-of-thousands of gun owners and freedom activists I work with every day
through the two pro-gun organizations which employ me.

Some think running
a large national organization is a cushy job with many perks. For many it
probably is.

Not
Cushy

But as many of you
know from personal experience, working for grassroots-oriented groups is far
from cushy.

Activating and equipping the lovers of freedom is arduous,
time-consuming work. There is no such thing as "off-time." The enemies of
freedom don't sleep. We have to be prepared to act at a moment's notice, not
unlike a firefighter.

I don't even remember a vacation with my family
where much of the trip wasn't spent on the phone, putting out fires in a
legislature or in Congress.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not
complaining.

Nothing is as motivating as fighting a winning battle
against big government bureaucrats and left-leaning (or neo-conning)
politicians.

Few things get me up in the morning with a bigger smile than
the thought of lighting up a gun-banning politician with e-mails, phone calls,
and mail.

The Tools of
Liberty

And that brings us to
a whole new list of things for which to thank the Lord: He has given us the
tools to defend liberty.

Yes, they are different than the tools that
secured America's freedoms against the British.

Instead of the the
Kentucky Rifle (one of the most common rifles of the American Revolutionary War)
or the Brown Bess musket (the assault weapon of its day), we use computers,
printers, postage, petitions, the internet and the other mundane tools at the
very core of the battle for freedom.

The pen truly is mightier than the
sword, and I hope and pray we never have to use anything else to continue
securing the blessings of liberty.

To say we're thankful for these modern
tools for defending freedom, though, is an understatement. The privilege of
fighting side-by-side with our Founding Fathers in the cause of liberty is the
greatest blessing of all.

For Freedom,

Dudley Brown
Executive Vice President

National Association for Gun Rights