Date: Fri, 21 Jul 95 19:22 EST From: Peter Nesbitt <0005111312@mcimail.com> To: Firearms Alert Subject: ANTIS: Parents United - No Children's Handguns! PARENTS UNITED -- NO CHILDREN'S HANDGUNS! THE PUNCH!DECLARATION The problem of handguns in the hands of children is epidemic in Colorado. Seldom does a day go by when one or more people in this state are either killed or injured by handguns in the hands of juveniles. While the killings are illegal, the possession of handguns by juveniles, the reason for these many senseless acts, is largely ignored by Colorado state law. PUNCH! asks WHY, WHY, WHY? Does the National Rifle Association and its various stooge organizations, with their millions of dollars to hand out, rule this state and country? Or do the citizens of this state and country have any power to control their own lives? Or must we forever live in fear of being shot in our own homes, or of our children being murdered on the streets? Many of us in PUNCH! are enduring the everlasting pain of grief and sorrow because of the senseless murder of some of our children by handguns fired at them by other juveniles. We cannot restore our slain children to life, but we pray to God that we can do something to spare other families from similar tragedy and grief. To that end, PUNCH! dedicates its existence. The few of us who started the PUNCH! organization cannont win the battle alone. We need the help of all thoughtful and caring people of the State of Colorado. In order to achieve our goal, we must convince the Colorado General Assembly to enact meaningful legislation to make it a crime for adults to make handguns available to juveniles, and a crime for juveniles under the age of eighteen to carry handguns, except for the purposes expressed in the PUNCH! pledge. In 1992 in Colorado, a total of 17,630 jeveniles were arrested for the commission of major crimes. Handguns were the instrument by which the most serious of these crimes were committed. Please join with us and sign the PUNCH! pledge. We need all of the moral support and active assistance that we can obtain, including financial assistance. Felix L. Sparks President, PUNCH! 7900 West 23rd Ave. Lakewood, Colorado 80215 303-233-2369 HANDGUNS KILL CHILDREN BECAUSE HANDGUNS ARE AVAILABLE! PUNCH! telephone numbers - (303) 251-4357 (recorded message) - (303) 233-2369 (for General Sparks) page 1 PARENTS UNITED -- NO CHILDREN'S HANDGUNS! THE PUNCH! PLEDGE AND MEMBERSHIP FORM (Check below if you agree) __________ I am utterly appalled and deeply concerned about the lack of state laws which would help prevent firearms from passing into the hands of children. __________ With the exception of legitimate supervised hunting trips and supervised sport shooting at managed shooting ranges, I do not believe that a child should ever have a gun in his or her possession. __________ I want to do something about the problems concerning kids and guns. PLEASE PRINT _________________________ OR TYPE Name(s) _________________________ Address _________________________ City, State, Zip Code _________________________ Telephone number Please return to PUNCH! CS #27 Box 999, 8007 West Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO 80215-4190 PUNCH! telephone numbers - 303-251-4357 (recorded message) - 303-233-2369 (Gen. Sparks) HANDGUNS IN THE HANDS OF CHILDREN KILL OTHER CHILDREN! page 2 PUNCH! People United -- No Children's Handguns! CS #27 Box 999 o 8007 W. Colfax Avenue o Denver, CO 80215-4090 6 July 1993 General Felix L. Sparks (Ret.) Former Colorado Supreme Court Justice President 303-233-2369 Directors: Tim and Mona Trembath Ron and Marva Hicks Craig Silverman Nita Gonzales Rev. Marshall Gourley Toni Manchego Dave Buck State Rep. Ken Gordon Dorothy Witherspoon Rev. Leon Emerson Jeri Barela Liz Willis Dr. Wayne K. Gersoff Mimi Gersoff THE BIG GUN LIE EXPLORED For at least the past hundred years or more, various gun lobby organizations have exhorted the American people to purchase and keep firearms as though it were their patriotic duty to do so. This clever manipulation of our people has been accomplished by quoting from only one- have of the one sentence which is contained in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. That one-half of the one sentence in the Second Amendment reads as follows: "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." However, the complete sentence in the Second Amendment reads: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." How clever it is to deliberately deceive the American people by omitting the most significant portion of the Second Amendment! The Supreme Court of the United States repeatedly has held that the Second Amendment refres only to the creation of a state militia, and that it does not serve to create any federal constitutional rights for individuals to bear arms. One of the earliest decisions on this subject was made by the Supreme Court in th case of Presser v. State of Illinois. An unbroken line of cases since that time have confirmed that the individual states of this country have the unrestricted right to protect their citizens from the page 3 unlawful use of firearms. What is unlawful is for each of the states to decide. The former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Warren Burger, has labelled the gun lobby's distortion of the Second Amendment as "a fraud on the American public". Nevertheless, the National Rifle Association and its many affiliates spend thousands of dollars every year trying to convince the American public that gun control laws violate their constitutional rights. And yet no federal court in history has overturned a gun control law on the Second Amendment grounds. Instead, the federal courts unanimously have held that the Second Amendment guarantees only the people's right to be armed in a a "well regulated militia". Today's militia is the National Guard. [signed] Felix L. Sparks President, PUNCH! WE SHALL PERSEVERE SO THAT NO MORE CHILDREN WILL HAVE TO DIE IN VAIN page 4 [This packet contained many other pieces of literature, some of which are listed below: - Obituary for Lee J. Pumroy (grandson of Felix L. Sparks) - Fact (lie) sheet. - Several cartoons slamming the "gun lobby". - Newspaper article: "Army hero declares ware on powerful gun lobby", Kris Newcomer, Rocky Mountain News, March 25, 1993. - Newspaper article: "Disarming kids new group's goal", Jim Kirksey, Denver Post, March 26, 1993. - Commentary: "PUNCH! Goes against Christianity", Christopher C. Little, The Colorado Statesman, October 15, 1993. - Article: "Grandfather Drafted Into Gun-Law Battle", Ray Sons, Chicago Sun-Times, December 12, 1993. - Magazine cover: The New Yorker, September 13, 1993. (depicts children getting off a school bus, all carrying firearms.) - HCI literature. - Other literature which has been pieced together from various anti- gun groups. page 5 [end]