Angels Camp, CA….Letter written by Tom Tryon to Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association: I am in receipt of your letter and wish to give you my response for not providing further support for your Legislative agenda. First, let me state I am unabashedly a Libertarian. I strongly believe in economic liberty, civil liberty and a small, constrained government. I am not only an adamant supporter of the Second Amendment guarantees but of the entire Bill of Rights. Therein lies my concern. I have the distinct impression that the N.R.A. not only does not cherish the Second Amendment guarantees but also does not hold sacred the fundamental principles of liberty. The Second Amendment is only worth defending in its capacity as one of the principal foundation blocks of liberty; and as the Second Amendment represents the inalienable right of the citizenry to self defense. The N.R.A. seems more intent on furthering the Republican agenda of National Fascism than in defending the Bill of Rights, including the Second Amendment. I refer in general to the drug phobia as preached by the leadership and specifically to the article by Harlon Carter of September 1989. We are in critical need of the Second Amendment to prevent Harlon Carter’s vision from becoming a reality. The leadership must certainly consist of brain dead Republicans if that leadership is unable to make the positive association between the “War on Drugs”, increases in violent crime and increases in the demands for gun control.

I often feel the N.R.A. uses the Second Amendment and abuses the loyalty of its membership in order to push an agenda which will surely destroy our Second Amendment guarantees. The agenda you pursue should be an agenda for liberty, for it is only within that agenda that the Second Amendment will be rightfully respected.

Sincerely,
Tom Tryon, Supervisor District 4

“I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon, if I can. I seek opportunity, not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefits of my creations and face the world boldly and say: This I have done.”