By Dave Workman
It was on the morning of Wednesday, April 19, 1775 when hundreds of British troops were dispatched from Boston to the villages of Lexington and Concord in an effort to seize arms and ammunition from colonial militias, which the British feared would be used in a revolution.
Instead of catching the Colonials by surprise, troops were first met by about 80 members of the Lexington militia, which had gathered on the town commons, under the command of Capt. John Parker. And the rest, they say, is history, and a splendid account of the day’s world-changing events can be found at Wikipedia.
On Saturday, the Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League will observe the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord during a sold-out dinner to be held at the Roxboro Regency Hotel & Conference center in Boxborough. It’s promising to be quite an event, with scheduled appearances by former Congressman Allen West, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Doug Hamlin, Second Amendment Foundation Executive Director Adam Kraut, Dick Heller, Cam Edwards, Jared Yanis and Toby Leary, according to a GOAL announcement.
According to history and legend, Capt. Parker told his men stand their ground, not to fire unless fired upon, “but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”
This Saturday’s dinner is a fundraiser for GOAL, which is actively opposing increasingly strict gun control laws in Massachusetts. The irony is hardly lost on the gun rights movement. Here is the state where it all began two and one-half centuries ago, and currently the state government is trying to do legislatively what the British Regulars attempted through force. Evidently, people haven’t learned much in 250 years.
“This event aims to honor the enduring legacy of American liberty and support ongoing Second Amendment advocacy efforts,” according to GOAL.
Nobody is certain who fired the first shot. It might have been an accident. But once the “shot heard round the world” was fired, there was no turning back.
GOAL is a state affiliate of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, which issued a statement Thursday calling attention to this monumental occasion.
“April 19th marks that day in history when the government of the era sent troops to seize the arms of Americans, and our ancestors replied with a decisive ‘No’,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “While the Declaration of Independence didn’t happen for another 15 months, the Revolutionary War actually began at Lexington Commons and the Concord North Bridge in the Spring of 1775, and it can honestly be said Americans have been fighting hard and shedding blood ever since to defend not just their natural right to be free from tyranny, but to protect and perpetuate what was and remains the uniquely American concept of freedom and liberty.
“The events of that April morning didn’t just show the British that our forefathers had drawn the proverbial line in the sand,” Gottlieb continued. “The two battles solidified the importance of our fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms, and we honor the wisdom of our Founders to make it the cornerstone of our Bill of Rights.
“The Second Amendment,” he observed, “isn’t enshrined in our Constitution just so people can hunt ducks and deer. The right protected by the Second Amendment guarantees that Americans can defend themselves, their families and their homes from oppressive tyranny, and from crime and brutality. The Amendment doesn’t give us anything. Instead, it protects the fundamental rights we are born with from government infringement.
“The Founders knew what they were doing,” Gottlieb said. “They gave us a Republic, and the means to keep and protect it. They provided guarantees for our freedoms of speech, religion, the press and our privacy. We cannot be compelled to testify against ourselves, nor can we be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment, or deprived of legal representation. The right to keep and bear arms is our insurance policy that all of these other rights will not be trampled, nor turned into government-regulated privileges.
“The Second Amendment is part of our heritage,” Gottlieb added. “Today it is sad there are so many willing to erase it, while at the same time it is gratifying there are so many more willing to protect it. The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is going to make sure we keep it that way.”
Dave Workman is editor-in-chief of TheGunMag.com, and a nationally-published firearms writer.
