New Hampshire's 10th Amendment Rally: 'Armed but Peaceful'As the 10th Amendment Movement continues to grow, we at HUMAN EVENTS are pleased to report that it now includes at least 18 states -- Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, West Virginia, South Dakota, and Idaho – which have all introduced bills and resolutions appealing to the 10th Amendment for declarations of sovereignty in light of the Obama administration’s overreaching approach to governance.
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Many of the free men and women who rallied in New Hampshire on March 4 did so with a pistol on their hip. That’s right: they were armed but peaceful. In support of the 10th Amendment they exercised their First Amendment right “peaceably to assemble” and “to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” And per the Second Amendment they exercised their right to keep and bear arms, which for free men, “shall not be infringed.” (You just can’t do these things in France.)
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The resolution’s chief sponsor, New Hampshire Representative Dan Itse (R), made it clear the resolution was not about nullifying the stimulus package, rather: “The issues at hand are a declaration of martial law, or a state of emergency, {within a state} without consent of that state’s government. Further encroachments on our right to bear arms like the Holt Bill (H.R. 45) and involuntary servitude of those between 18 and 24. These are non-negotiable.”
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Isn’t this all that free men have ever wanted? To be left alone. They don’t want a government that is involved in every aspect of their “business.” And in New Hampshire, they carry pistols on their hips to the State House to show that they refuse to depend on government for protection or for their every need. Of course the carrying of arms to such an event also sends another message that is very Jeffersonian. It was Jefferson who said: “What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.”
Will movements in the other 32 states join those in Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, West Virginia, South Dakota, and Idaho?