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December 27, 2009 it was a cool clear evening around 7:00pm. I was going out to the recycling bin to get a box that my son had thrown away. As I was walking there I heard footsteps behind me. I walked into the recycling area, got my box and came out and there was this guy standing there. He said, “I want to talk to you.” I told him, “It is not a good idea to approach a woman in the dark.” As I was walking away from him he continued to follow me. He told me how he had seen me at my mom’s house washing my car and wanted to get to know me. So he had followed me to my apartment complex one day to see where I lived and was waiting for a good time to approach me. He also asked me for my e-mail address since he already knew where I lived. I stopped in the parking lot near my apartment and told him that I was not interested in being friends with him and that I didn’t want him to have my e-mail. The next day I told my building manager about this guy and she said she would keep an eye out for any strangers hanging around. Later on that evening I was watching TV with my 9 year old son and there was a knock at my door. I looked out my peep hole and to my surprise it was the guy that had approached me in my parking lot the night before. He was banging on my door saying that he knows I’m there and wanted to talk to me. I told my son to go hide and to be quiet. I called my mom from mom from my cell phone and the police from my house phone. Within two minutes the police where at my house and another officer had picked him up down the street. The police had told him that what he was doing was stalking me; he didn’t understand that because he was from another country. The police told him not to come around me at my moms’ or talk to me again. As we were standing in the entry way of my apartment talking to the police they told me what they said to him. With the patrol cars still outside my apartment, all of a sudden the guy comes walking through my front door with the police still in my apartment and said that he just wanted to talk to me. At that point the police rushed him out the door and arrested him for stalking and harassment. This was the turning point in my life where I had decided to exercise my 2nd amendment rights. I come from a military family and since I was a teenager I had always been around guns and hunted every season, so my experience was extensive. I never wanted to bring a handgun into my home since I had a young child. But after that incidence I felt it was necessary, since I am a single mom and I need to protect myself and my son. So I applied for my concealed weapons permit and my dad transferred one of his handguns to me. Oh yea and I bought a dog. If it wasn’t for my 2nd amendment right I wouldn’t be able to protect myself and my son. It concerns me that one day we could wake up with a complete ban on firearms here in the United States. How would we protect ourselves, our families and our country' During his presidential campaign President Obama has made the statement that he will not pass any federal gun control legislation in the United States. But he does support the rights of the individual states to ban firearms or put serve restrictions on gun ownership. In the past he has made the comparison of gun control laws to zoning laws of property owners. By stating he feels that each state should be able to pass their own gun control laws. He has never taken a firm position on firearms; this is clearly shown back in 2008 when he was a Jr. Senator for Illinois running for on the democratic ticket for president. April 16, 2008, during the 2008 Democratic primary debate in Philadelphia, on Gun Control a Chicago nonprofit, Independent Voters of Illinois questionnaire which was clearly filled out in Obama’s hand writing had this question; 35. Do you support state legislation to: a. ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns' Yes. b. ban assault weapons' Yes. c. mandatory waiting periods and background checks' Yes. Obama’s campaign said, “Sen. Obama didn’t fill out these state Senate questionnaires--a staffer did--and there are several answers that didn’t reflect his views then or now. He may have jotted some notes on the front page of the questionnaire, but some answers didn’t reflect his views.” If he is willing to say that someone else voted their own opinion in place of his, why would I believe anything that he has said about his position on gun control' Enforcement of current gun control laws on the books would help with violent crimes and illegal trade within the United States. If there are more gun control laws will it help to decrease crime' We have to remember that the criminals don’t obey gun control laws only law abiding citizens would obey any current or future laws. There are too many gaps and loop holes that allow criminals or mentally unstable people access to guns. President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton are currently trying to push legislation through the Senate, which would introduce gun control regulations, international treaties and foreign gun control laws. The United Nations Arms Treaty is designed to combat illicit international trade of small arms. This treaty is designed to tighten the international sale or trade of small weapons. We are not even aware of this happening due to the distractions of failed terrorist’s attacks and other crisis’s in the United States. If we did stand up and say “what the heck is going on here'” They would just say that this is in your best interest. Over the last 10 years various countries such as Australia, Canada, Great Britain and New Zealand are some of the countries that have had its’ law abiding gun owning citizens fall victim to the United Nations gun control treaty. As an example of gun control laws not reducing crime we will look at the U.K. Britain which has a strict gun ban for the citizens. But there are still roughly 250,000 guns in circulation. Since criminals have no fear of retaliation by the victims that they perpetrate the crime against, crime rates have not decrease. The citizens of the UK are unable to protect themselves against any sort of crimes against their families or themselves. I wouldn’t want to find myself in that position and I know that you wouldn’t want to either. Gun control advocates in the Unites States are using Britain’s successful ban on firearms as a platform for gun control in the United States. Some of the restrictions are that only special police officers are permitted to have access to firearms. The police that would be out walking the streets would have no way to defend or protect the citizens in that city. Selected patrol cars would carry firearms, but the officer would need to obtain a supervisor’s permission to use it. That just doesn’t strike me as an efficient way to serve and protect the citizens. Another way that we are allowing the government to infringe upon or 2nd amendment right and to control us is by allowing gun manufacturing companies to be sued for liability in fire arm crimes. Civil lawsuits are being filed against gun manufactures at an alarming rate. Back in 2001 the state of Ohio passed a bill that would give gun manufactures immunity against civil suites. California has been the only state to repeal their decision on gun manufacturing immunity against civil suites. Can we really hold manufacturers liable for our actions, should we hold them liable' If we don’t govern our own actions, our government will be more than happy to do it and take our rights away. Even though more regulations are said to reduce violent crimes against law abiding citizens, will more regulations really help' Here is a thought, what about enforcing the current laws and regulations that are already on the books. If we the citizens are required to register our firearms, who will make the criminals register their guns and obey the laws' Another idea that is floating around for local agencies is having a central registration location for all gun owners. It would give the authorities the location of where the legally registered guns are, but no information of where the illegal guns are. Here is some information on gun bans and firearm legislation that has been passed right under our nose. Former US President Clinton and Mexican President Zedillo have signed a 1994 agreement to temporarily ban future imports of semi automatics fire arms from the United States into Mexico. This would help curtail the violence that the drug cartel is engaging in at the US Mexico border. If US weapons are the choice of the Mexican drug cartel I understand the ban that the president of Mexico wants. In 2004 the Obama administration pushed for the renewal of this ban which would become permanent. I don’t want a central government like the United Nations to control my country and treading on my 2nd amendment rights or any rights that my founding fathers have provided to me. The second paragraph of the United States Constitution say that, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.” (United States Constitution 1776). I don’t think it was the intentions of our founding fathers of the constitution to have the government control its citizens. Let alone a foreign government to have any sort of control over us, since we are able to police ourselves. As a citizen of these United States it is my right to keep and bear arms to protect myself and country. References Altman, A (2011). Why Obama's Silence on Gun Control Pleases No One, TIME politics, retrieved from: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2046592,00.html#ixzz1WfXcWBk5. Democratic primary debate in Philadelphia, (2008). Retrieved from: http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Gun_Control.htm Langbein, L. I. (1993). PACs, lobbies and political conflict: The case of gun control. Public Choice, v. 77, iss. 3, pp. 551-72 Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp'id=100332 Butterfields, F (2002). Gun Industry Is Gaining Immunity from Suits, The New York Times. Vizzard, W. (1995) The Impact of Agenda Conflict on Policy Formulation and Implementation, The Case of Gun Control. University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh Public Administration Review • July/August 1995, Vol. 55, No. 4. Retrieved from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/45292567/The-Impact-of-Agenda-Conflict-on-Policy- Formulation-and-Implementation-The-Case-of-Gun-Control.