Rockingham, Vermont
Tuesday 30th April, 2019
Following up on the warm receptions to his talks on economics and taxation in Nashua and Concord in New Hampshire, Jonah had decided to extend himself into neighboring Vermont. A small but not insignificant Super Tuesday state, they had a penchant for electing Republican Governors even if they tended to vote Democratic in federal races. His interview on NRATV had been a broadcast of his determined gun rights advocacy, but by itself, it would surely not be enough. He was not going to be made out as weak on guns, and so he decided to center his entrance into Vermont on a suitable gun-oriented group.
Grassroots firearms groups had played just as much of a role as the N.R.A. in some upsets in Vermont elections, upsetting long term incumbents for daring to infringe on the Second Amendment. Particularly incensed, they were sure to be, with Governor (not-Phil Scott), who had signed gun control legislation last year. This was ripe ground for him to gain supporters with a bit of fire and fury with their blood.
Having made sure some local press were available for the free publicity, he had rented out some event space at Rockingham Hill Farm for this particular rally, organized with the help of the Gun Owners of Vermont, returning to that warm sense of old-fashioned pastoralism which had so far served his campaign well. He was damn determined that somewhere, anywhere, he had to pull into the lead of Richardson. With the assembly of gun rights activists and other interested locals present, he went to take his stand.
"Good evening, Rockingham! It's wonderful to see Vermont for the first time, you have a wonderful, beautiful state here.
How many of you in here voted for (not-Phil Scott)? A fair few, I bet. You've got an expectation, an understanding, that in this day and age, Republicans will guard your firearm rights, and that it's the Democrats out to strip them away. Vermont was a haven, an isle of calm, where respect and decency governed rather than an overexercise of state power. But a tyranny has imposed itself upon you, a tyranny that none of you voted for. Not one person in this room, I can easily assume, voted for a state monopoly on violence. That's what gun control is - a state monopoly on violence. The state making exclusive to itself the right to use force. That is tyranny.
Indeed, in the Federalist Papers, James Madison - who framed the Bill of Rights - wrote that the kingdoms of old Europe, absolutist and dictatorial, were 'afraid to trust the people with arms'. He observed that an armed populace 'forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition'. His sentiments are unequivocal. The defense available to the ordinary people of this great country is to exercise their own right to force. Instead, in what has been a very sad undertaking, Vermont has become 'afraid to trust the people with arms', and thus, there is a weakened barrier 'against the enterprises of ambition'. It is the first step of many, where the state shall presume its whims to be above the fundamental rights of you, the people. I share your disquiet.
In 1876, United States v Cruikshank ruled that the right to bear arms is not dependent on the existance of the Second Amendment. That is to say, the Second Amendment is a statement of an existing and self-evident legal fact, that no power has the right to remove, or tamper with, or indeed 'infringe'. The Heller case, whilst it restored the understanding of the individual ownership of arms, was - I think - too limited in its interpretation. The Heller ruling still held that restrictions can be placed on the right to bear arms and I stand here before you to say that I believe that determination is wrong. The Second Amendment is indivisible, it is inviolable, and thus no sound jurist can accept, no sound jurist should accept, that any restriction on the right to bear arms is legal. If I am elected as your President, I will seek out originalist justices whose purity of understanding of the Constitution is such. The Second Amendment will be protected from the machinations of both the dangerous Democratic Party, and corrupt, agenda-driven justices!
Of course, I understand guns aren't all about protecting yourself from the violence of the state. There is also the violence of crime and the violence of nature. I'll speak about the latter first, as - if any of you saw my NRATV interview - you'll know that I enjoy a good hunt. Here in Vermont, with the beautiful forests you have, with the abundance of game, it would be downright criminal to deny you your right to go and hunt. Like me, I'm sure you like to make a family activity out of it, not just teaching your children how to responsibly handle their firearms, but also involving them in the process of living in a way that is more... natural, more primitive perhaps, but in the right way. Connecting to an older, simpler time, when we lived off of the land. Everyone can and should understand that, so they don't take their food for granted, which is so easy to do when you pick up meat in a plastic container at the dollar store. I know my sons, Noah, Jonah and Tobias all have learned something about themselves from hunting. So did I, when I went hunting with my dad. Let's not see an America where they take away that formative family experience. It would be a travesty.
Then, of course, there's the matter of crime and self defense. Now, Vermont is ranked the safest state in the country right now, and I don't have a doubt in my mind that comes down to, in part, the fact you have a well armed populace. Some punk in a hoodie and holding a crowbar isn't going to try to turn over your house when he knows you can put two shells of buckshot in his chest. America is safer when we deter crime. Every time men like (not-Phil Scott) take guns out of the hands of good men, whether it's private citizens or even the police, they are shifting the balance of power in favor of criminals. They are blunting and removing deterrence. This is something you all understand, so I'm not going to lecture you.
Instead, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do.
I will only nominated justices to the federal bench committed to an absolute, uninfringed Second Amendment.
I will direct my Justice Department to support, rather than hound, people who have been forced to defend their homes and families with firearms.
I will direct my Justice Department to support, rather than harass, members of the police who have been forced to use their firearms to stop crime.
I will work with Republican Senate and House leaders, in my first 100 Days, to draft and pass legislation to annul the illegal restrictions on the Second Amendment.
A Prendergast Administration will be the most pro-gun administration in American history. That is my promise to you, cast-iron, here and now.
Too long have good, honest, decent Americans like you been pushed around with the extraordinary powers of the state. Too long have you been denied your expression, and your seat at the table. It's fantastic, the work you've been doing here in Vermont, helping communities designate themselves as Second Amendemnt sanctuaries. Your work makes you true patriots. But the truth is, that this revolution, this 'in-the-trenches' defense of the Second Amendment needs to go higher. It needs to go to the highest authority. You have a right to demand that, and that's what I'm here to offer you. In a way, I want to put you out of work, because this isn't what the Founders intended. Ordinary Americans should not need to be taking hours out of their day to fight to protect their fundamental rights. Those rights should be guaranteed. I want to help deliver an America where you can hang up your hats and enjoy your free time as free Americans, rather than having to defend yourselves from a mendacious and untrustworthy state.
I want to say thank you, thank you for your efforts. Thank you for digging in to keep Vermont safe and free. Thank you for putting liberty first. And thank you for hosting me here for this talk."
Like he had after his taxation talk in Concord, he spent time after the talk shaking hands and generally being jovial with as many people as he could get his hands on. Building relationships, leaving warm feelings. He only hoped that his visit to Vermont would prove to pay off in the long run.
