Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership, Inc.
P.O. Box 270143
Hartford, WI 53027
Phone (800) 869-1884
Fax (425) 451-3959
RIGHTS DESTROYERS STOP AT NOTHING -- BUT WHAT ABOUT US?
by Richard Stevens
JPFO Firearms Sentinel Editor
Right under our noses, a federal agency has been systematically voiding the First Amendment Freedoms of Speech and Press. Since last August, the federal government has shut down 255 publishers. An outrageous and clear violation of the First Amendment? Well, according to the federal courts and agencies, it's legal to stop publishers who don't use paper and ink.
Americans cannot publish ideas or anything else using radio unless the government gives them permission. As reported by the Washington Post on August 14, 1998, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) employs 150 agents whose job is to hunt down unlicensed low power radio broadcasters. In the last year, the FCC located and silenced 255 such stations. In 32 of these cases, the FCC sent in armed federal marshals to squelch the speech and seize the equipment.
Who are these citizen broadcasters whom the FCC calls "pirates?" Steven Franco runs the Discount Mart store in Oxon Hill, Maryland. As a hobby, he also runs a 10-watt FM station which broadcasts on an empty frequency. Franco operates the station alone, playing music and advertising his store. He interferes with no one; the station reaches out only a few miles; his customers like to listen.
The FCC doesn't permit unlicensed broadcasters, so the agency demanded Franco stop broadcasting. Or else he could expect to pay fines of $10,000 per day, the arrival of armed federal marshals to arrest him and seize his gear, and to face federal felony prosecution.
To prevent free speech, the FCC makes it prohibitively expensive to obtain a broadcast license, even for a very small station. The feds don't want "chaos" on the airwaves, and the Supreme Court has upheld the FCC's power and legal authority. Of course, "chaos" includes anyone who broadcasts without a license, regardless of content, regardless of whether there is any real interference with other broadcasters.
JPFO's Executive Director, Aaron Zelman, has been on shortwave radio, as well as AM & FM stations on numerous ocasions. When will the FCC prohibit such groups as JPFO from proclaiming the truth that "Gun Control" IS the Key to GENOCIDE! When will a Federal agency decide that groups like JPFO do not have a right to be on the Internet? And....when do WE decide that enough is enough?
Next time somebody questions why JPFO worries about Americans losing their Bill of Rights, tell them Steven Franco's story. Ask them to tell you where the Constitution empowers the federal government to regulate radio, or speech and press of any kind. Read them the text of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press."
Where did the FCC get its purported legal authority to totally control broadcasting? Congress enacted the Communications Act of 1933. That Act empowered the FCC to totally control broadcasting in the United States. The Supreme Court ruled in 1943 that Congress had the power to regulate broadcasting because of the "scarcity" of frequency space, and thus the First Amendment did not apply. Presumably, if paper becomes "scarce," the feds will regulate newspapers. And presumably, if the Internet has "scarcity" of internet space, I suppose that JPFO will be told to disband or greatly dilute our web site!
Since 1934, federal law has prohibited Americans from publishing or speaking, on the airwaves, without a license. Whether it's Radio Free Berkeley in California, Radio Free Bob in Hartford, or Steven Franco's "WDIS," the FCC will shut it down. But the feds now are just stabbing the weak, lame, and wounded. Our First Amendment rights to broadcast were lost in principle over 64 years ago.
At about the same time it compromised the First Amendment, Congress violated the Second Amendment by passing the National Firearms Act of 1934. Then began the ever-tightening stranglehold of federal power over the private ownership of firearms. Nothing in the main body of the Constitution gives the federal government any power to regulate firearms ownership. The judiciary refused to employ the Second, Ninth and Tenth Amendments to restrain the federal power grab. Federal "gun control" has burgeoned ever since.
We cannot stop the destruction of our rights, let alone reverse the damage already done, unless we understand the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Every single American should understand the Bill of Rights well enough to spot the government's violations. Gran'pa Jack's Common Sense booklet gives this vital knowledge. We need to celebrate Bill of Rights Day, December 15, in schools, clubs, and towns all over America. Without knowledge and commitment to our Bill of Rights, Americans are defenseless against the rights destroyers. We must act now ...while we are still allowed to do so.
There is a grassroots movement across the country seeking to wake Americans up to this anniversary and its meaning by consecrating December 15 as the official Bill of Rights day. Governments across the country in recent weeks have passed resolutions or issued proclamations proclaiming "Bill of Rights Day."
You can now see where in the U.S.A., "Bill of Rights Day" has been proclaimed as a day of commemoration, celebration....a day of great honor and reflection. A day to educate the commom man of their heritage, for without knowlege and wisdom of the Bill of Rights, our nation will perish.
GO TO:
http://www.jpfo.org/bor-chrt.htm
....to see the progress made in proclaiming December 15th as the "Bill of Rights Day". You will be amazed!
Need more information about this movement across America? GO TO:
The larger message - if people don't believe in each of the specifics in the Bill of Rights, sooner or later all those rights will be footnotes in history - by popular vote. The anti-civil rights forces have their own long-term strategic plans to whittle-down the Bill of Rights to nothing.
Our battle is not for the Second Amendment - it is for the Bill of Rights. Our targets are not shooters or politicians - but opinion leaders and the voting public. Our goal - is to win over the hearts and minds of the American public. This is our turnaround.
David Kopel has said the Bill of Rights isn't for conservatives to protect their property or guns, or for liberals to protect filthy speech or rights of accused. Those rights were meant to hang together. To the extent any of the rights are abridged, ALL ARE AT RISK. Or as Dr. Martin Luther King said, "Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere."
Our priority may be the Second Amendment, but our perspective must be civil rights.
TO BECOME A JPFO MEMBER, go to: http://www.jpfo.org/member.htm There you will see a printable member application, along with info on membership. If you wish, you can become a member using our on-line application as well. Membership IS open to ALL Law abiding citizens (..if you obey the Bill of Rights, you are "Law Abiding" in JPFO's books!). Join us in this battle against the Racist Roots of "Gun Control"!
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