Oath Keepers Opposes Anti-Gun Activist David Petraeus for Secretary of State

https://www.oathkeepers.org



by: Stewart Rhodes 

Just Say “No!” to General “Betrayus,” an Oath Breaker and Enemy of the Right to Bear Arms.  Mr. Trump, if you really want to make America great again, make America CONSTITUTIONAL again.

Retired General and former CIA Director David Petraeus is a bad choice for Secretary of State, Oath Keepers advised President-Elect Donald Trump, strongly supporting a call to action initiated by Gun Owners of America.  In addition to “mishandling” classified information and sharing it with his mistress (he avoided felony charges, prison time and “prohibited person” status against owning firearms by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor),  Petraeus’ advocacy of infringements on the right to keep and bear arms effectively renounces the obligation he freely took when he swore an oath to “support and defend the Constitution…”
Petraeus turned his back on that oath when he joined with retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal and other veterans to form “The Veterans Coalition for Common Sense.” The group is part of retired Captain Mark Kelly’s and Gabby Gifford’s “Americans for Responsible Solutions,” which posted a list of all the military notables lending their names to the effort.  By doing so, they’re disregarding the paramount importance of civilian control of the military, and are presuming to overturn the Founders’ judgment about what was and is “necessary to the security of a free State” – a militia of the people, well armed.

As Founding Father Tench Coxe described it:

The powers of the sword are in the hands of the yeomanry of America from sixteen to sixty. The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be tremendous and irresistible. Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress has no power to disarm the militia. Their swords and every terrible implement of the soldier are the birthright of Americans.

Petraeus, McChrystal, and the other gun-gabbers disagree, and they want their preferences to trump the intent of the Founders and the rights of the people secured by the Bill of Rights.

“Every Terrible Implement of the Soldier.”  That’s What it Takes to Stop Bad Guys the World Over, Including Here at Home.  A Ferguson, MO Store Owner Gets it Done During the 2014 Riots.

“As Secretary of State, Petraeus would play a key role in deciding whether to remove the U.S. from the UN Arms Trade Treaty (UN ATT),” GOA warned in a member alert. “This agreement would mandate gun registration, and would authorize comprehensive gun bans — all goals supported by Petraeus’ colleagues Kelly and Giffords.
“Petraeus would effectively decide whether to push for ratification of the anti-gun UN Small Arms Treaty. Finally, Petraeus would have jurisdiction over the international trade (ITAR) regulations,” GOA continued. “Under Clinton/Kerry ‘guidance,’ these regulations have been expanded to outlaw gunsmithing. In addition, a gun technician who communicates ‘how-to’ information about guns on the Internet (without purchasing a $2,250 State Department license) could be prosecuted and imprisoned.”
“You can read GOA’s comments against these anti-gun State Department regulations here,” the alert elaborated. “If anti-gun Petraeus is nominated and confirmed, we can expect these policies to be continued and expanded.”
That’s vital information for informed gun owners to understand.  But being informed without taking action doesn’t do much good, so Oath Keepers joins GOA in urging members to contact President-Elect Trump to express unequivocal opposition to David Petraeus being part of his cabinet, let alone Secretary of State. To that end, they have included a contact email address that will get to Trump’s team:

info@donaldtrump.com
You can use GOA’s pre-written letter or craft a message of your own.  And don’t forget there are other ways to reach the president-elect, including by leaving comments on his Facebook page or by sending him a Twitter “tweet” along with a link to the GOA Alert and/or to this announcement of Oath Keepers joining the opposition to Petraeus.
Oath Keepers goes the additional step of letting President-Elect Trump know that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney are also unacceptable candidates for the same reasons stated by GOA about Petraeus.  That’s because “America’s Mayor” betrayed his oath when he backed federal testing/licensing of gun owners, semi-auto bans, and suing manufacturers. Romney has done the same throughout his political career, despite attempts by “gun lobby” compromisers to minimize his betrayals, and even paint them as necessary strategic moves.
“Just say ‘No!’ to General ‘Betrayus,'” Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes declared. “As GOA noted, ‘Donald Trump was elected with the broad support of members of the Second Amendment community.  We believe it would be a huge mistake to begin his transition by putting an anti-gun activist in a position where he could regulate and ban guns.’  Not only would it be a huge mistake, it would be a violation of Trump’s own Oath, which he will take on January 20, 2017.  Petraeus is either ignorant of the purpose of the Second Amendment (that the people, as the militia, have the military capacity to ‘execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions’) or he is a willful oath-breaker who wants to gut the Second Amendment.  Either way, Petraeus is spectacularly unfit for any post now that he has blatantly turned his back on the right of the people to keep and bear arms.  President-Elect Trump can, and must, do better.”

Regarding a series of troubling Trump appointments and possible appointments, Stewart Rhodes said:

If President-Elect Trump really wants to “drain the Swamp” he needs to drain the GOP side too, and flush out the anti-constitution “neocon” slime, right along with the anti-constitution Marxist slime.  Two sides of the same globalist, totalitarian, Constitution killing coin.   Trump really needs to start listening to the hardcore patriots and constitutionalists who got him elected, not the inside-the-beltway, Bush Admin leftovers, and “lesser of two evils” oath breakers in the GOP.  Root them all out.   Drain the whole damn thing. 

Mr. Trump, if you really want to make America great again, make America CONSTITUTIONAL again.

Please take a moment to contact Trump and tell him “No gun-grabbers at State. Petraeus, Giuliani and Romney are wrong for gun owners, and wrong for the Constitution we all swore to defend.”
For the Republic,
Oath Keepers
* Note:  We sincerely thank David Codrea for his work on this statement.