Jindal: ‘Won’t Be Long’ Before Those Trying to Crush 1st Amendment Go After 2nd
Governor Jindal’s remarks to the NRA as prepared for delivery:
Good afternoon and welcome to Nashville!
What a great crowd we have here today.
I think all of us are what Hillary Clinton once called the “vast right wing conspiracy.”
You remember that? Those were her exact words.
She was wrong about the conspiracy part. But she was not wrong to say it is vast.
And we are going to show her how vast it is next year!
We showed President Obama exactly how vast our movement is.
When he tried to ban green-tip ammo, we rose up and stopped him!
I guess that’s why he complained about how much we cling to our guns and religion.
He said we were bitter. Do you remember that?
Like you, I am not bitter.
But I am gravely concerned about things in our nation… and that is what I would like to talk about today.
This month we have seen something very dangerous happen in our country.
If you saw the news out of Indiana and Arkansas, I’m sure you are just as concerned as I am.
Those two states debated laws to protect the religious freedom of their citizens – laws to keep government from compelling anyone to participate in wedding ceremonies that are incompatible with their deeply held religious convictions.
We saw something in those states uncommon in our history.
We saw Hollywood liberals and editorial columnists form a new alliance with some of the biggest corporations in our country.
They came together to bully the elected representatives of the people.
And let’s not mince words about it.
It was bullying.
Indiana legislators passed a law that matched the values of Indianans.
And in just days, the radical left wing and corporate America bullied them into backing down.
I believe in competition.
And I am not whining because my side lost.
Winning and losing is a fact of life.
But what I am troubled by…. is that this was not a matter of competing policy preferences.
This was different.
This was an attack on our Constitution.
It was an attack on the fundamental right to speech and association and the free exercise of religion.
It was large corporations and Hollywood saying: we don’t care about the First Amendment.
Now I am still a young man, but I remember the days when Hollywood liked the First Amendment. Don’t you?
Maybe they haven’t read it lately.
I guess they’re too busy dealing with record low movie attendance.
Now, I know you did not come here today expecting to hear a speech on religious liberty.
But my friends, if these large forces can conspire to crush the First Amendment, it won’t be long before they come after the Second Amendment.
Michael Bloomberg is already trying.
He’s pressuring grocery stores and restaurants to ban guns.
Next, he will bully sporting goods stores to quit selling guns and ammo.
Bloomberg can not beat Chris Cox and Wayne LaPierre in the elections….so he’s trying to beat us in the boardrooms of corporate America.
When you read the Constitution, there are only seventy-two words in these first two amendments...but in those seventy-two words there is one essential, God-given, truth that defines us as a country.
In America, the people’s voice trumps the government’s voice.
In America, the politicians take orders from the people -- and not the other way around.
In America, the people rule.
That should never, ever, change.
Those first two amendments have no gray area.
It starts, and I quote, “Congress shall make no law” restricting the freedoms of speech or religion.
Did you hear that President Obama?
NO law. NO law.
If they’d known President Obama was coming the Founders might have put executive orders in there too.
The Second Amendment ends by saying that our right to keep AND BEAR guns quote “shall not be infringed.”
Shall NOT.
You don’t need to go to court to have that language interpreted.
That is so clear even Michael Bloomberg ought to be able to understand it.
The Founders knew what they were doing.
They had seen religious persecution first hand.
They had proven that a well-armed citizenry is all that stands between freedom and a tyrant.
They knew that it was impossible to build a society that was truly free without the right to speak…the right to worship…and the right to bear arms.
You sometimes get the idea that President Obama and Hillary Clinton believe these are “crazy right wing ideas” dreamt up by talk radio hosts.
But these are not the ideas of a right wing conspiracy.
They are the pillars of our nation.
That’s why I was proud to write the law in Congress after Hurricane Katrina ensuring that NEVER again could the government seize your firearms in a disaster.
That’s why I was proud to guarantee the right of Louisianians to carry their firearms in their cars to work, even if their employer objected.
That’s why I was proud to pass Louisiana’s own 2nd Amendment to our state constitution, giving us the strongest pro-gun laws in America.
And that’s why I was honored to earn the NRA’s highest national award for legislative achievement.
We are not defending these principles because we just want to beat the other guys.
We don’t fight for these principles for ourselves.
We fight for the right to bear arms and the right to dissent and the right to worship because we know that the day those rights disappear…is the day this is no longer America.
Freedom is the right of every individual – but it’s not a guarantee.
It has never been guaranteed.
It has to be preserved, it has to be protected, It has to be defended by selfless people willing to fight and take action.
That’s why you are here today.
That is why I am here today.
That is why the National Rifle Association is the most effective civil rights organization in America.
It is our duty to not only exercise our freedom – but to defend the freedoms of all Americans.
That is what separates us from our opponents.
Liberal elitists believe CNN should have First Amendment freedom, but average American small businesses should not.
Liberal elitists believe it’s ok for companies to do business in nations with oppressive regimes….and then boycott Indiana.
Liberal elitists believe they should be able to have armed guards and gated communities…while gun control leaves your family defenseless.
The only freedom they believe in absolutely is the absolute freedom to engage in hypocrisy.
You and I are called to a different path.
We stand up for the rights of all Americans.
We believe all men and women should be able to worship their God, speak their mind, and defend their families.
Those are not rights dreamt up by politicians…and they weren’t even created in our Constitution.
They are rights endowed by our Creator…given to humanity by God above.
In closing I want to talk about our road ahead…
There’s a big election next year.
A monumental, history-changing election.
You and I know that after Barack Obama, we need a President who will not settle for even one more Supreme Court Justice who is against our right to keep and bear arms.
No more Kagans!
No more Sotomayors!
Not one more!
We need a President who will push the Congress to guarantee your right to bear arms….
A national right to carry promised by our national constitution.
Your right to defend yourself should not end at the state line.
Every state. Every city. Even Washington. No more exceptions.
That’s what we need.
But before the next President, whoever that might be, embarks on that task we have to face up to a difficult fact.
Barack Obama has fundamentally changed a few things.
In his six years, he has emboldened the left-wing radicals to shoot for the moon.
Now we face not just liberal politicians, but out-of-touch Hollywood elitists…and big businesses afraid to stand up for freedom.
This alliance is determined to rob us of the freedoms we cherish.
There are going to be days when it feels like we are behind.
There are going to be days when it seems too many powerful forces are lined up against us.
But America has overcome tyrants before.
And we will do it again.
In a world wracked with chaos, we can preserve this nation of faith and this island of freedom.
It is the destiny of our nation.
It is the duty of the brave.
And the National Rifle Association will be there in the gap, day in, day out, through sunny days and storms.
Never stop fighting.
Never stop believing.
Never surrender.
God bless you. God bless the NRA. And God bless the United States of America.
