Dear Mr. President:  
   When Captain Scott O'Grady, USAF, better known by his code name "Basher 52", emerged from the treeline and raced towards the helicopter which had landed, deep within "Serb Country", to whisk him to safety, reports from the Marines who rescued him confirmed that he held "his pistol in his hand", the mark of a true professional ready to engage the enemy at any moment. Again, what was Basher 52 holding "at the ready" ???  

   His pistol, Mr. President. Not a Chiquita banana. Not a well worn copy of Hillary's Guide to Health Care for Downed Pilots. Not a Chuckie Schumer "Junior Policeman" whistle. Not an autographed photo of Sarah Brady. A Model M9 Beretta 9mm semi-automatic high capacity pistol loaded to the max with Serb-stoppin' mil spec ball ammo. And a few extra fifteen round magazines crammed full of the same.  

  That pistol, Mr. President, in the hands of F-16 fighter jockey O'Grady, an honorable, true American hero, was a key, black steel n' alloy element in Basher 52's lifeline. Without that pistol and his ability to use it well "in extremis", Captain O'Grady might not have survived his six day ordeal. You see, Mr. President, that gun, in the "right hands" at the "right time", could literally have been the difference between life and death for O'Grady. Basher 52's Beretta was surely a mighty nice security blanket as Serbian irregulars were trying to hunt him down.  

   Similarly, many of the heroic Marines who participated in the rescue operation carried black, full automatic M-16A2 rifles and, no doubt, full "combat loads" of 5.56mm NATO spec ammo. These camo clad superstars are indeed some of America's finest. Members of Lock n' Load, Inc. The guys to call when the chips are down. Resolute, determined men who, in the blink of an eye, boarded choppers to fly directly into what could have been the jaws of hell to snatch away a comrade, one of their own, from certain imprisonment as well probable torture and execution. Yes, they were carrying ugly black rifles. Yeah, that's right, Chief Sitting Bill (Clinton), real firesticks which shootum many bullets, you betcha. Just the type of rifles to have handy when evil people are swarming around you with the intent of cancelling your tickets. M-16A2s. Not Sarah Brady-approved orange-colored Super Soaker water rifles filled with Poland spring H2O freshened with a twist of lime. Not tickets to an HCI wine and cheese fund raiser. Not copies of the 1994 Crime Bill. Not bows and arrows donated by children of anti-gun members of Congress. Bona fide bullet launchers well designed to protect a few good men (and their pals) in time of dire need.  

    Here's my question, Commander-in-Chief. If Basher 52 or any of his rescuers decide, at some time in the future, to leave military service and pursue careers in the civilian sector, are you, Mr. President, going to inform these American heroes, these true defenders of the Constitution and everything for which it stands, that they are suddenly somehow "untrustworthy" and "unfit" to own high capacity magazines for their handguns and "unworthy" to own the semi-automatic variants of the M-16A2 rifles with which they safeguarded the recent rescue mission's primary landing zone?  

   Well, Mr. President? I'm waiting for your answer. Are you going to call Basher 52 and the men who saved him "fanatics"? Perhaps "domestic extremists"? Maybe even "terrorists"? Part of the "dark underside"? Are you going to call them slime balls if they are NRA members and decry your ongoing efforts to shred the Second Amendment and any other portions of the Bill of Rights which are roadblocks in front of your socialist agenda? I'm waiting for you to tell me that you and your freedom-hating pals in Congress are going to deny Basher 52 and his rescuers the right to keep and bear arms of their own choosing, at any point in their respective life times. Go ahead, Mr. President. Tell 'em that, under the provisions of your beloved Crime Bill of 1994, they are "unfit" to bear arms chosen by you, Chuckie Schumer, Sarah Brady, Boy George Steffie, Ted Kennedy and a host of other members of the Rose Garden Firearms n' Freedom Haters Club.  

   Do it, Mr. President. Tell 'em, "Too damn bad, you extremist gun nuts!" Tell 'em, "Once you leave the military, I decide if you can be trusted to own certain guns!" Tell 'em, "Tough ---- if you don't like it! Now get out of my way or I'll have you arrested!" I dare you, Mr. President. I double dare you. Tell Basher 52 and his rescuers that Willie of Washington places them in the same category as violent felons and career criminals. You're a real man, Mr. President. Show your stuff.  

    Or, if you sense that your nonsensical ban on civilian ownership of a wide range of semi-automatic rifles and high capacity magazines might just cause Basher 52 or his rescuers to bash your political future, tell your boot polishers in Congress to repeal the gun and magazine ban now, before you suffer the kind of public humiliation which no politician, not even a slick one, can survive without resigning from office. Rescind the ban now, Mr. President, or, mark my words, you'll reap a harvest of disgrace when Basher 52 and his fellow Marines figure out that, while they were serving this Country with such distinction, you were working behind their backs to destroy the same Constitution which they were defending.