Bill Masters has been Sheriff of San Miguel County, Telluride, Colorado,for over 20 years.

Speech addressed to the Pro Second Amendment Committee, Grand Junction, Colorado
March10,2001
By Sheriff Bill Masters

I am really proud to be an American. We don't say that often enough today.

I thought of this when I was watching the news last week and they were interviewing one of the former directors of the CIA. They were talking about the FBI agent who was a spy for the Russians for 15 years. The reporter was questioning the director about how we could prevent such an incident in the future -- should they use polygraphs on all the agents, better background investigations, and different investigative techniques? And the director had an interesting response. He stated the best defense against these kinds of spies is to have spies in the foreign service of our enemy's government. In that way, foreigners who are spying for the United States could tell us when our adversaries have spies in our government. He went on to say that American traitors, like this FBI agent, who spy on our country usually do so for money and seldom do it for philosophical reasons; whereas the foreigners that volunteer to spy for the US on their governments usually do so out of a philosophical belief that the principles the United States represents are superior to those of the government of their homeland.

He then stated, and this is the important part, "Thomas Jefferson is still our best recruiter". At times tonight, I am going to bore you with some Jefferson.

"A strong body makes a strong mind. As to the species of exercise I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of your walks."-Thomas Jefferson

Zeke Hernandez's family are proud Americans. They have a small ranch along the Rio Grande bordering Mexico, near the Texas town of Redford, population 100. The land there is poor, dry, mostly overgrown desert foliage and weeds. Zeke, he's a sophomore at the local high school, probably not going to Harvard, but known as a nice boy and well liked by his classmates.

Zeke likes to raise goats on his father's ranch. He enjoys the responsibility, like many his age, of caring for the animals. Every day, after school, he takes the goats out of their pens and herds them on the ranch, allowing them to forage on the scrub desert plants that only a goat would enjoy. Years ago, Zeke was given an antique .22 caliber rifle by his grandfather. Now, when herding his goats, he always takes the little .22 with him to do some plinking and fend off the coyotes or wild dogs that come up to prey upon the goats.

But on this day, Zeke doesn't see four US Marines assigned to Joint Task Force Six drug interdiction team. The plinking Zeke and his goats stumble into the camouflaged Marines' ambush formation. The Marines, doing nothing more than what they are trained to do, without warning, shoot and kill Zeke, thereby eliminating an armed threat to their mission of policing United States soil.

Let your gun be your constant companion.

Donald Scott, age 62, was a wealthy man. He lived on a beautiful 250-acre ranch in California, which bordered a federal park. The feds wanted to buy his ranch to include in the park, but Mr. Scott was not interested in selling. Federal agents flew over the house and claimed they saw marijuana growing on the property. They obtained a search warrant for the ranch.

In the early morning hours of the next day, a pounding on the door to their home awakened Mr. Scott and his wife Frances. When Mrs. Scott attempted to open the door, a group of narcotics task force deputies burst into the house with guns in their hands. Mrs. Scott was pushed forcefully to the ground, a gun aimed at her head. She pleaded, Please don't shoot me. Hearing his wife's pleas, Mr. Scott armed himself with a revolver and ran out of his bedroom, only to be shot and killed instantly by the raiding officers. No marijuana plants or drugs of any kind were found on the Scott property.

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