Kurt Hofmann is a pro-gun activist who loves to keep in touch with the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV). A former paratrooper, Hofmann became active in the gun rights movement after being paralyzed in a car accident in 2002. He is the author of the blog "Armed and Safe" and also the "St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner" with Examiner.com.
Few Americans are as passionate about "Second Amendment remedies" as Hoffman. He is the quintessential spokesman for the National Rifle Association's radical view that the amendment guarantees individuals the right to shoot and kill government officials when they deem our government has become "tyrannical." This "insurrectionist idea" has become the foundation of the modern pro-gun movement.
Hofmann does not beat around the bush, getting to the point immediately in his Twitter header:
The quote from libertarian author Claire Wolfe that Hofmann is referring to is: "America is at that awkward stage; it's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards."
Recently, Hofmann has been agitated and fearful of 2010 data from the General Social Survey that shows that gun ownership in the United States is continuing to decline. In 1977, 54% of American households had a gun. Last year, that number was down to 32%. In a blog on April 29, 2011, Hofmann told our elected officials what would happen if they tried to enact new gun violence prevention laws:
If gun owners are indeed a minority in the U.S., so what? Does being in the minority make one's rights less worthy of defending? ... Promoting the notion that we live in a society where the majority rules, meaning that 51% can legitimately vote away the fundamental human rights of the other 49%, fits right into CSGV's agenda... Here's a hint, though: there are still enough of us to defend our rights, and forgetting that would be bad news for everyone involved--but worse news for those who forget than for those who are forced to remind them.
In the last line above, Hofmann links to a blog authored by Mike Vanderboegh, the former Alabama militia leader who famously ordered his readers to "Break their windows. Break them NOW" in response to health care reform legislation in March 2010:
Sadly, many responded to this call for vandalism and violence, and offices of Democratic Members of Congress across the country were attacked. One of those offices was that of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), presaging a greater act of violence to come in Tucson.
The blog that Hofmann linked to was an essay by Vanderboegh entitled, "What is a Three Percenter?" It reads as follows:
During the American Revolution, the active forces in the field against the King's tyranny never amounted to more than 3% of the colonists ... The Three Percent today are gun owners who will not disarm, will not compromise and will no longer back up at the passage of the next gun control act. Three Percenters say quite explicitly that we will not obey any further circumscription of our traditional liberties and will defend ourselves if attacked. We intend to maintain our God-given natural rights to liberty and property, and that means most especially the right to keep and bear arms. Thus, we are committed to the restoration of the Founders' Republic, and are willing to fight, die and, if forced by any would-be oppressor, to kill in the defense of ourselves and the Constitution that we all took an oath to uphold against enemies foreign and domestic ... We will not disarm. You cannot convince us. You cannot intimidate us. You can try to kill us, if you think you can. But remember, we'll shoot back. And we are not going away. Your move.
One would think that Hofmann and Vanderboegh would appreciate the fact that our system of government allows them to threaten elected officials repeatedly with relative impunity (right up until that critical threshold of calling for specific acts of violence against individuals). But then again, what Hofmann and Vanderboegh are doing has absolutely nothing to do with freedom or patriotism. By institutionalizing treason and making it a point of pride, the pro-gun movement has demonstrated how completely out of touch it is with both our Founders and modern-day America.
"The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish Government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government .. Your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and...the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other."
- George Washington, from his Farewell Address
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