Second Amendment Sisters Inc., also known as SAS, is a women's advocacy group dedicated to preserving the basic human right of self-defense as recognized by the Second Amendment. They believe in personal responsibility, education, and enforcement of laws against violent criminals.
SAS was founded in 1999 by five women who got together on the internet in response to The Million Mom March, a rally on Mother's Day, May 14, 2000 designed to keep guns out of the hands of kids and criminals through promotion of tighter restrictions.
A counter-rally by the pro-gun SAS was held the same day. The five ladies discovered they had something in common: They didn't want the anti-gun rights Million Mom March to speak for them. For five months, along with a small but dedicated group of volunteers, they planned a rally of their own, using the internet to pull all the pieces together.
The Million Mom March had its roots in August 1999, when New Jersey resident Donna Dees-Thomases saw broadcast coverage of the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting rampage in Granada Hills, California. She decided to march on Washington and protest the lack of "meaningful gun laws" in America. Supporters claimed that 750,000 people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
In their counter-protest, Deb Altrath, Juli Bednarzyk, Dianne Sawyer, Marinelle Thompson, and Kim Watson, along with the "must-do" attitude of their supporters, were able to make a powerful statement - that there were women to whom the Second Amendment meant something, and to whom "gun control" was a false promise.
On their website, the ladies point out that public figures have tried to convince us that the only way to end violence in the United States is to place severe restrictions on private gun ownership. If a tragedy occurs, and the perpetrator’s weapon of choice is a gun, politicians are quick to place blame on the "easy access" to firearms, and the proliferation of the "gun culture" in America. The greater good would be served, they say, by tightly controlling or eliminating guns.
The fact that firearms have been responsible for saving multitudes of innocent lives is, unfortunately, one of the world’s best-kept secrets. There are 2.5 million defensive uses of firearms every year. Most defensive gun uses do not even involve the discharging of a weapon. Simply displaying the firearm is often enough to ward off an attacker, with less than 3% of these instances ending in the wounding or killing of an assailant. By looking at the number of senseless deaths guns prevent, it is obvious that the greater good is being served by having armed citizens.
A woman who owns a gun has an equalizer. Most assailants are bigger and stronger than her, and almost 90% of them will not have a weapon. Women stand a much better chance of getting away unscathed if they are armed. An estimated 17 million women in the United States own guns, and the number is growing.
A nation without weapons, crime and hatred may be an admirable goal, but is hardly a realistic one. We don't need more laws. Virtuous people obey laws; violent criminals do not. Study after study has proven that gun control increases violent crime. In countries where extreme measures have been taken to "control guns" (such as Australia and England), the rates of all types of crime have gone up, proving that the stricter the law, the more of a disadvantage good people face. Self-defense is everyone's right.
Rep. Jennifer Coffey, republican state legislator in New Hampshire and National Coordinator for SAS,has filed a bill (LSR 2010-2015) to remove the prohibition on the sale and carrying of certain knives in New Hampshire, including virtually all one-hand-opening knives which the federal government recently attempted to classify as switchblades under federal law. NH law lists these knives as "stilettos", "switch knives", "daggers", and "dirk-knives", and under current law, simply carrying one of these knives with no criminal intent can lead to a 12-month jail sentence. The only citizens allowed to carry them at all times are police officers, emergency medical technicians, firefighters, those in the military while on duty, and hunters and fishermen while actively hunting or fishing.
If you value your right to self-defense and the 2nd Amendment, join SAS. Annual family memberships are $50 and individual memberships are $25: Second Amendment Sisters, 900 RR 620 S., Suite C-101, Box 228, Lakeway, TX 78734 or visit their website at www.2asisters.org.