{"id":4285,"date":"2003-09-12T12:09:55","date_gmt":"2003-09-12T12:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=4285"},"modified":"2003-09-12T12:09:55","modified_gmt":"2003-09-12T12:09:55","slug":"gun-owners-against-civic-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=4285","title":{"rendered":"gun owners against civic ed"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Yesterday, I reported on the progress of HR<\/p>\n

1078<\/a>, the bill written by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) that would<\/p>\n

fund summer programs for civics teachers. Gun<\/p>\n

Owners of America <\/a>opposes the bill on the amazing grounds<\/p>\n

that it is "anti-gun." They are asking their members<\/p>\n

to send the following form letter to Congress:<\/p>\n

\n

Dear Representative ________________, <\/p>\n

If H.R. 1078 is enacted, educators will be encouraged to teach<\/p>\n

that I do not have an individual right to keep and bear arms. It<\/p>\n

will establish Presidential Academies on teaching civics and history<\/p>\n

which will use anti-gun texts like We the People<\/em> — the<\/p>\n

textbook that conforms to the federal guidelines on teaching civics<\/p>\n

and history. <\/p>\n

This book encourages students to start questioning the<\/p>\n

wisdom of the Second Amendment, asking the student whether the right<\/p>\n

to keep and bear arms is still as "important today" as<\/p>\n

it was in the eighteenth century and to decide what "limitations"<\/p>\n

should be placed on the right. This kind of discussion treats the<\/p>\n

Second Amendment as though it were not protecting a God-given, individual<\/p>\n

right. <\/p>\n

But the individual rights view is exactly what our Founders intended<\/p>\n

and what the American public still believes today. An ABC News Poll<\/p>\n

in 2002 found that almost three-fourths of all Americans believe<\/p>\n

that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the<\/p>\n

rights of "individuals" to own guns. <\/p>\n

We already have too much Federal involvement in education, and<\/p>\n

the results have not been good. As control over education becomes<\/p>\n

more and more federalized, it seems that the ideas which children<\/p>\n

are learning become more and more radical. Please vote against H.R.<\/p>\n

1078, a bill which is decidedly anti-gun. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The We the People<\/p>\n

<\/a>curriculum and textbook are widely supported by conservatives<\/p>\n

(as well as liberals) because they provide rigorous and balanced materials<\/p>\n

on American institutions. This letter reflects a fear of open and<\/p>\n

balanced discussion that should be deeply embarrassing to all proponents<\/p>\n

of the Second Amendment and of freedom. I would hope that some would<\/p>\n

come to the defense of We the People.<\/p>\n

PS. The<\/p>\n

Maple River Education Coalition<\/a> says that HR 1078 "is in<\/p>\n

clear violation of the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution."<\/p>\n

(This is a bill, remember, that provides very modest federal support<\/p>\n

for voluntary summer classes for teachers. It’s also a bill that invites<\/p>\n

students to read and debate the 10th Amendment, which might cause<\/p>\n

some to gain appreciation for states’ rights.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I reported on the progress of HR 1078, the bill written by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) that would fund summer programs for civics teachers. Gun Owners of America opposes the bill on the amazing grounds that it is "anti-gun." They are asking their members to send the following form letter to Congress: Dear Representative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocating-civic-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}