An Armed Citizenry & the Border
By Phil Kent
“We have four boxes with which to defend our freedom: the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box.”
— The late Congressman Larry McDonald of Georgia
The armed citizen may well be this nation’s saving grace, and National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre has written a powerful essay that underscores the point.
LaPierre says “those in Congress and in the administration who have failed to fix our broken border have allowed the influx of 595,000 violent criminal aliens now threatening our cities, suburbs and even rural communities that are seeing the effects of the Mexican cartel-driven drug trade.” He cites some instructive statistics: 29 percent of felons in federal prisons are illegal aliens, a majority of those on the FBI’s most wanted murder list are illegal aliens and, incredibly, 95 percent of the murder warrants in Los Angeles are for criminal aliens.
What primarily moved LaPierre to speak out — and, indeed, what should outrage every patriotic American– is the murder of Arizona rancher, family man and NRA member Robert Krentz on his own property. Police believe he got in the way of drug runners scouting passage into the U.S., since their tracks led back to Mexico. The taking of even one American life under these circumstances is one too many!
There are going to be more killings of other innocent Americans if the border remains unsecured. In this vein, LaPierre cites an ABC-TV report on the town of Hancock, Texas. Its sheriff, Arvin West, says that a 50- to 100-mile strip along the Rio Grande border is being ceded to illegal crossers because the federal government won’t give needed support. West, marked for assassination by the Mexican cartel, gave the ABC-TV reporter an insightful message that should resonate across our land— and which brought to mind the quote by Congressman McDonald. The sheriff notes:
“The saving grace here in America versus Mexico is (that) Americans are allowed to arm themselves. Mexicans aren’t. The bad guys don’t know who can shoot back. …”
It is very rare when the National Rifle Association mentions another domestic policy issue. Yet LaPierre is moved to say that this is all about violent criminals invading our country. It is about national security and, yes, about protecting the family hearth and home. LaPierre, in reflecting on the Krentz murder, says “with crime soaring as a result of not enforcing our laws, anti-gun politicians use that as an excuse to blame you and me and our right to keep and bear arms. They would disarm the very Americans Sheriff West called to action. It is a cynical and sinister cycle that must be stopped.”
Furthermore, instead of defending our homeland, the Obama administration’s Justice Department is suing Arizona over its tough new immigration law. The president is actually siding with criminals against besieged Americans – a scandal in itself.
That’s why a new Congress, hopefully populated by a majority of lawmakers who finally want to do something about federal inaction on border security and illegal immigration, should lock down the entire Mexican border with more effective fencing and barriers, adequate National Guard backup and funding for even more Border Patrol personnel and equipment.
The grisly murder of a 58-year-old Arizona border rancher, coupled with the Obama administration actually turning against one of our own sovereign states, should serve as a wake-up call for such action.
The author’s website is www.philkent.com