My Email To Senator Begich

I've done a lot of preaching on this site and am finally getting to where I'm practicing what I preach. Here's a copy of the letter that I sent to Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska):

Dear Senator Begich,

I am contacting you as a fellow Alaskan, Life-Member of the NRA, and dedicated supporter of our Second Amendment rights.

A horrific tragedy occurred on December 14th and, as a non-parent, I can only begin to imagine the fear, sense of helplessness, and even anger that this must have created for parents everywhere. For parents and non-parents alike, how can we not feel an overwhelming and impassioned need to take some form of action to protect our own children and those of the greater community?

It is because of the horrific nature and passionate and, dare I say knee-jerk, reactions to this and other tragedies like it that I am writing to you to implore you to maintain a clear and rational perspective in the face of calls to arbitrarily restrict or outright ban various, legitimate firearms from lawful users and respectable members of our communities.

With the unique nature of your Alaskan constituency, it stands to solid reason that you have and will continue to endeavor to protect the Second Amendment rights of your fellow Alaskans; however, there will be a great need to continue to demonstrate such leadership on the national stage in the face of activist, partisan, and personal pleas to do the opposite. You have already demonstrated such leadership with the introduction by you and Senator Manchin of S. 2188, the “National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2012,” as a Senate companion to H.R. 82, the “National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Bill.” Both you and Senator Manchin demonstrated this leadership contrary to what is a significantly partisan stance by a large number of your colleagues, this administration, and your affiliated political party.

I am genuinely proud of your leadership on national reciprocity as a fellow Alaskan, gun owner, and certified instructor. I trust that you will continue this leadership both towards furthering national reciprocity and providing the perspective of genuine common sense in opposing these impassioned efforts to further restrict the Second Amendment rights that both you and I share in the face of what may seem like overwhelming activist and partisan pressure.

Before I conclude, I would like to share an anecdote that was passed along to me:
“An old man said that if I move my fence 100 feet onto your property, you protest and then I move it back to only 50 feet on your property. To some that would be compromise but, to anybody else, it’s still theft.” *

As I said, there is most-likely going to be immense pressure on you and your colleagues to legislatively attempt to place that proverbial fence be placed 100 feet onto the Second Amendment and compromise will entrench and fortify it at 50 feet. Perhaps, now that we have precedent for 50 feet, we can demand it be moved to 75? Either way, it is definitive erosion on our Supreme Court-affirmed Second Amendment rights.

Although I am speaking now as an individual, I am quite certain your constituents will continue to stand strong with you as you continue to demonstrate such leadership on the national stage.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

As always:

Be Seen. Be Heard. And Stand Firm.

*Although I didn't specifically cite him in my letter, I do wish to thank Tactical Tupperware, via Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned, for the introduction to the anecdote I paraphrased and used. It was too apropos to pass-up!