(from washingtonpost.com) [Ed: We have published this piece annually since 2015 for Bill of Rights Day on December 15. The  Bill’s Second Amendment is the reason for our being, in more ways than one.] Today we all should be jubilantly celebrating the 230th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the original 10 amendments to the United States’ federal constitution. Remarkably, it slips by relatively unremarked. Yet our Bill of Rights may actually be the most signi...

[Ed: This came from SCOPE-NY and seems well worthwhile to close Thanksgiving weekend. As it is by an anonymous author, the liberty of a few minor edits were taken for publication here.] We won the lottery when we were born in the United States of America.  We enjoy freedoms and rights and opportunities that no one else in history has enjoyed. It’s more than appropriate that Americans take a day to say thanks for that win. The Bible talks about birthrights and Thomas Jefferso...

Drs. Brodale & Edeen at left, Wanamaker at right. The 39th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, co-hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), was held on Sept. 27-29 at the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley. The theme of this year’s event was “Empower, Educate and Defend!”  The conference was attended by hundreds of gun rights advocates and activists, and featured an impressive roster of leaders in th...

(from gunssavelife.com) The 39th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, co-hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), was held on Sept. 27-29 at the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley. The theme of this year’s event was “Empower, Educate and Defend!”  The conference was attended by hundreds of gun rights advocates and activists, and featured an impressive roster of leaders in the Second Amendment movemen...

(from motherjones.com) A recent publication in the American Medical Association's JAMA Network Open, "Household Firearm Ownership and Firearm Mortality", purports to show a relationship between a firearm being present in a household and suicide involving a firearm. To their credit, the authors note other data suggesting that firearm ownership is unrelated to violence involving a gun, and indeed firearm ownership may reduce the homicide rate. The JAMA report has a number of limitations, of...

(from nationalflagday.org) [Ed: We first published this in 2018. It’s worth repeating.] Today, September 17, is United States Constitution Day—also Citizenship Day, and before that, I Am An American Day. Any day is good to be grateful to be American. This one is especially fitting. What a great day to be celebrating all American citizens, not just those of us that were born here. So many people are striving to become U.S citizens every day and many people that will fill out documents...

(from minnmix.com) [Ed: First appearing on DRGO 5 years ago, we repost this piece yearly.] Memorial Day has now come for the 56th time since it was officially proclaimed in 1967. It has been kept nationwide, though unofficially, since World War II, and as Decoration Day since 1868.  It was born in spontaneous memorials early during the Civil War.  Remembering war dead has been important throughout history, even as the manner of recognition has changed across time and societies. As with...