I, the signatory of this petition, do hereby affirm that:
- Whereas the gun rights community worked to “sunset” the federal ban on semi-automatic firearms in 2004;
- Whereas so called “assault weapons” are functionally identical to common hunting firearms, differing primarily in cosmetic features;
- Whereas gun control advocates created the “assault weapon” moniker in an attempt to confuse the public over the difference between semi-automatic firearms and fully automatic assault rifles;
- Whereas the Department of Justice has determined that rifles of any type, including semi-automatic firearms, are used in only 1.3% of crimes committed using firearms nationwide;
- Whereas that same Department of Justice, up to and potentially including Attorney General Eric Holder, facilitated the smuggling of more than 2,000 semi-automatic firearms into Mexico, causing the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and an untold number fatalities in Mexico, as part of an apparent attempt to create the illusion of massive gun smuggling into that country and therefore support for reimplementation of the federal ban;
- Whereas in the second presidential debate of 2012, Barack Obama reiterated his intent to “[see] if we can get an ‘assault weapons’ ban reintroduced”, echoing earlier positions published on the White House website and statements made by Attorney General Holder;
- Whereas calls for “universal background checks” are actually attempts to use the National Instant Background Check system to register firearms for the ultimate purpose of confiscation; and
- Whereas the Second Amendment guarantees the individual right to keep and bear arms, as affirmed by the United State Supreme Court in both D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago;
I do hereby demand that members of the North Carolina delegation to the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate use all means, procedural or substantive, to stop or defeat any legislation which is introduced or amended to include restrictions on semi-automatic firearms or so-called “universal background checks.”