Chapter 1
My name is Brad Jones; my five closest friends and I are at my house drinking beers waiting for the big game to start. We’re annoyed when the pre-game program is interrupted by the President. He’s sitting behind his desk in the Oval Office; wearing a black armband on his right arm. Which he says is to remember all of the dead innocents lost because so many in the country have refused to accept him as President. He says the first six years of his Presidency has been marked by the far right wing of the Republican Party fighting him at every turn. The right wing is made up of wealthy white families who refuse to accept a black man as President. He announces he’s declaring Martial Law because it’s the only way to bring law and order back to the country. As part of Martial Law, he announces he is putting the Constitution on hold for the duration of the existing national emergency. He said the second amendment is hereby placed on hold, all weapons are to be surrendered to local police offices or military bases within sixty days. The guns will be held for the duration of the emergency. Receipts will be given to every gun owner. After the national emergency, the firearms will be returned to their owners. President Obsma also announces a government buyback program. The Federal Government will pay $400 for each weapon turned in and $1 for every round of ammunition. Anyone not turning their weapons in or not selling them to the government within the sixty-day grace period will be arrested. The penalty is five years in a Federal prison plus a fine of $5,000 per weapon,
My friends Hal Jackson a software designer, Ron Black a county sheriff, and Brian Grovers, who's a sales manager and me, stare at the television with our mouths hanging open. We all owned firearms, all of the guys we hung out with did. Hal, Brian, and Ron are veterans. Ron stares at the image on the screen saying, “He can’t do that!”
I responded, “Ron, old buddy he just did. Are you going to carry out your new orders?”
“Guys, I’ve got to go, I want to get changed and go to the station to see what’s going on.”
Ron leaves while the rest of us are still in a state of shock. Ten minutes later we see his cruiser pull out of our subdivision with his emergency lights flashing. Brian says, “Guess he got new orders, what are you going to do with your weapons?”
Hal looks at the TV saying, “I don’t know, I have a couple I bought from friends who didn’t go through an FFL, it was legal to do so if both parties signed a bill of sale. We both signed the form and then ripped it up. The law never said we had to save the bill of sale. I don’t know if Ron will go along with collecting our weapons, he’s one of us. The part of the President’s speech about turning them into a local military base really concerns me, it sounds like the asshole has decided to order the military to assist the local sheriffs. I don’t like this at all. He started the damn riots with his last national speech. He’s using the riots he stirred up it to do a gun grab, once he has our weapons, we’ll never see them again. This so called national emergency won’t end until he’s President for life.”
I say, “I bet a lot of people are going to turn in their guns and ammo just to get paid, with so many unemployed, many can use the extra money.”
Hal snorts in disgust, “How could so many be unemployed? Didn’t we have a recovery summer and a recovery fall and super jobs winter? Hell look at the unemployment rate; it’s under 6% we’re almost at full employment.”
Laughing, I reply, “Yeah, that's why 55 million, are on welfare, and 130 million are out of a job. Listen, good buddy, the game doesn’t seem very interesting anymore; mind if we do this again another day, I’ve got a lot to think about.”
Hal frowns, he puts his hand on my shoulders, “Brad, please, don’t do anything crazy. I know you’ve been in touch with the local militia; Ron and I talked about it; buddy some of those guys are little off. You know they’re being watched. If you hang out with them, you’ll end up being on someone’s watch list.”
“Hal, we both own AR 15s, don’t you think that puts both of us on the government hate list? I wonder what Ron’s being told at the station, think he’ll share the information with us?’
“Man I hope so, I’m going to leave and sleep on what to do, catch you tomorrow.”
As Hal leaves, I open another beer and collapse in my recliner, Brian says, “What the fuck is the stupid President thinking? Does he want to rip the country apart and cause more upheaval? Hal was right about one thing, at the prices the government is offering to pay for our guns and ammo, a lot of people will be turning theirs in just to get the money they need to feed their families. Damn him.”
Before Brian can finish his statement, Senators Paul Rand and Ted Cruise make a national live announcement, “Good evening our fellow Americans, we heard at the same time you did the illegal message the President made. We pushed for the impeachment of the President because he’s ruling vs. governing; he’s not our king; we have three branches of government. Our government was set up by our founding fathers with checks and balances. The President’s order tonight is ILLEGAL, we are not turning in our guns, we urge you not to turn in yours either. We are moving ahead with the impeachment of the President as quickly as possible.” Before they can complete their speech, the television screen goes black, replaced by the symbol of the Department of Homeland Security, a voice over says, “The previous message has been deemed to be illegal and in violation of the new Martial Law rules for broadcasting. We urge you to check out these new broadcast rules at www.DHS.gov/martiallaw/broadcastrules.gov. DHS is quickly moving to protect you from the civil unrest which caused our President to declare Martial Law. Agents of the TSA will shortly be at every subway station, bus station. Within 30 days, we’ll have agents at toll booths performing random stops to ensure everyone is safe in this time of unrest. Rest assured we will protect you and your property. If you see someone with a gun, or anyone talking subversion, sedition or treason report it at once to our special toll-free number of 888 555 1776. Trust in your government to protect you and keep you safe. Shortly you’ll be seeing members of the American military on our streets; they are here to protect you. When you go to bed this evening, rest easy knowing your government never sleeps.”
The television screen returned to the news broadcast with the anchors discussing the new rules. I turn to the Wolf News Network, seeing a message on my television, “THIS STATION HAS BEEN STOPPED FROM BROADCASTING DUE TO A VIOLATION OF THE SEDITION ACT. THIS STATION’S BROADCAST LICENSE HAS BEEN REVOKED. PLEASE TURN TO YOUR MSNBC STATION TO RECEIVE THE LATEST NEWS.” I sit in my recliner with my mouth open. I can’t believe what I see, first Martial Law, and now on air censorship. Brian looks at the screen, saying, “I think I’m going to take off, I have a bad feeling where all of this is going to lead. I’d like to be home with Terry and Daniel before the shit hits the fan.”
Shortly after Brian leaves and before I can catch my breath, my doorbell rings. Getting up to see who’s there I look through the front window, not seeing anyone, I wonder if it was a late package delivery. Opening the door, I notice a small white note sticking out from under my front mat. I don’t see anyone around who could have left it, bending down I grab the note. The note’s printed on plain white paper; it says, “Tonight, 0300 basement of Jakes.” Jake is one of our local gun stores, it’s where the members of the militia hang out.
Almost a third of the 225 channels on my cable system are no longer on the air. They display the same message like that on Wolf News. Censorship is in full effect for the first time in our history. I’m trying to decide if I should go to Jake’s this evening, do I have anything to lose? What happens if the police bust the store? Are we going to be doing anything illegal? I don’t think so, maybe they have an insight to what’s going on. Maybe they’ll have a plan how to evade having to turn in our guns. I decide I have nothing to lose by going.
Before I do anything else, I figure this is a good time to take inventory of my supplies. I separate the guns I bought through an FFL and those purchased through a private sale into two different stacks. I walk around
my house trying to figure out where I can hide the privately purchased ones so in a house to house search they won’t be found. I figure whoever comes looking for them will have a metal dictator so burying them is out as is just hiding them inside our walls. I wish I could talk to Ron about it; however, I’m not sure which side of this mess Ron is going to fall on. I’ve known Ron since we were little kids; I know he knows right from wrong. I hope he comes out of the right side. If he supports the President’s plan, I’m going to be very disappointed in him.
I’ve been buying ammo every month for a couple of years; I’d lost count of how much I actually had. I was surprised to find I had over 10,000 rounds per caliber. I can sell some and come out way ahead while still holding on to thousands of rounds, that is if I can figure out a place to hide them. I have a bad feeling that the supply chain for ammo has been closed, whatever is used or sold will be gone forever. I’m going to head over to my local Wal-Mart before another shoe drops driving food and water prices up and supply down.
Chapter 2
Ron arrives at the local sheriff’s station he works out of; he’s met at the door by an Army Major wearing an Army combat uniform with an MP (military police) armband. He asks for Ron’s ID after checking to make sure Ron is assigned to this station, he directs Ron to the conference room where Ron discovers it’s filled with every officer assigned to the station. Ron realizes he’s the last one to arrive. Taking a seat Ron nods to his friends, everyone in the room is quiet. The local Sheriff and the Army Major take the stage; the Sheriff begins, “Good evening everyone, I’m sorry to have to call you all back to work. I realize many of you just got home after your shifts. I’m sure you’ve all heard the President’s speech tonight. Major Sparrow would like to address us.”
The Major moves to the podium, “Deputies, thank you for accepting the call to return to the station. I’m sure you realize we’re all going to be very busy since Martial Law has been declared. We have a number of tasks assigned to us. First and foremost is to maintain the peace. We are going to have a zero tolerance policy for any infractions. I don’t care if someone is driving one MPH over the limit, you will pull them over and give them a citation, there will be no more warnings or talking’s too. We are going to enforce the curfew. Now you may not have heard yet, but tomorrow the President is going to announce a national curfew. No one without a special pass will be allowed outside their homes from 9PM to 5AM local time. Within a week special license plate stickers for those who work critical night shifts or in the medical industry and emergency workers will be distributed, this will enable us to determine if someone should be out at night or not. Next we’re going to set the station up to receive all of the firearms that are going to be turned in. These turned in weapons will be removed from the station in an armored vehicle. The same armored vehicle will be bringing the cash to purchase the firearms under the President’s plan. Everyone selling a firearm is to be fingerprinted, and their facial photograph will be entered into our data files as an ex-weapons owner so we can check on them later to ensure they didn’t hide any firearms. Copies of all locally purchased firearms are being sent to the electronic file folder listed on the forms. After 60 days, we will use the copies of forms 22-33 and 29-37a to start going home to home collecting the firearms that haven’t been turned in or sold to the government. You, the local sheriffs and we the military police will be working together during this very difficult time of trouble. Working together, we can ensure peace and safety for the citizens. Does anyone have any questions?”
An African American sheriff’s sergeant stands up and asks, “Major, all of us took an oath to uphold the Constitution, gun grabs or whatever else you call them, and I don’t care if you call it a buy back or whatever, is illegal. It violates the second amendment; I can’t break my oath by following an illegal order. Any illegal order is one doesn’t need to be obeyed. Major, I for one can’t and won’t go house to house taking people’s legally owned firearms away from them.”
“Sergeant you of all people should realize the need to remove all firearms off of the streets. In addition, you know any order by the President of the United States isn’t illegal. By the very nature of the order coming directly from the President, it’s a legal order. Are you telling me that you are refusing to follow a direct order from the President?”
“Major, taking people’s firearms won’t remove them from the streets. If the President gives an order that breaches the Constitution then, it’s not a legal order. By the way, why are you here? Why are you operating inside the country? Why are you breaking your own oath?”
“Sergeant, I took an oath to follow the orders of my Commander in Chief and the officers appointed over me. The Commander in Chief has given the military a direct order. My oath forces me to carry out my orders.”
“Major, your orders from the President are clearly illegal, you shouldn’t be following them, and his latest orders breach our Constitution. Our Constitution stands above the President. It stands above all of us. It’s what holds out country together.”
“Sergeant, if you feel so strongly, I’m going to make you and everyone else here a one-time offer, you can remove your badge and gun, stand up and leave. If you do leave, you will be a normal citizen as they say, a little person. Or you can stay, and my offer is, I’ll forget what you just said. However, if you leave and are found to own a firearm after the 60 days, you will be arrested. If you break any law, you will be arrested. Do any of you wish to resign?”
All of the deputies look around the room; the sergeant stands making his way to the front of the room. Soon Ron too stands, in all, 25 of the 35 sheriff’s deputies resign. They turn in their badges and side arms. All 25 walk out of the station led by the now ex-Sheriff. Major Sparrow looks disgusted at those leaving, saying, “You’re all traitors, you’re all a disgrace to the uniforms you wore; none of you should have ever been allowed to wear the uniform of a county sheriff. Get out of here, don’t take your patrol car home. I assure you if we catch you doing anything illegal you will be arrested and tossed into jail with the same people you put there. Think about the warm welcome you’ll receive from them. Now get out of my sight you traitors.”
The ex-Sheriff tells his people, “Be safe out here, I fear we just made an enemy who will seek revenge. He will be keeping both of his eyes on each of us. My gut tells me this isn’t going to end well. We all swore an oath to protect the Constitution and the people in this country, I fear both are about to be trampled into the dirt.
My phone rings, I’m wondering who the hell it is at this hour, checking the caller ID I see it's Ron. “Hey buddy, what’s up?”
“Brad, I need a favor, can you come by the station and pick me up?”
“Sure, what happened, did you wreak the cruiser again and they don’t have a spare?”
“Buddy, it’s a long story, I’ll tell you when I see you.”
“You’re lucky; I just got home from shopping, man, and you should have warned me the stores were going to be a war zone. See you in ten minutes, need anything else?”
“Brad, I had no idea the stores were going to be a problem, no one told us at the station. I don’t need anything but a ride; I’ll tell you everything when I see you.”
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Senators Paul Rand and Ted Cruise are stopped by a group of TSA agents as they are trying to leave the Capitol building. They’re taken to a local police station where they’re told they can’t make any phone calls; their cell phones are taken away. They’re told to just wait until they are picked up and taken to a new federal facility. Paul looks at Ted saying, “What the fuck? Why is a bunch of TSA agents arresting us?”
Ted frowns, saying, “I think we just lost our country, America is being ruled by a dictator who is using the power of the DHS to back up his wishes. I guess they found us guilty of treason or something because we spoke out against our new dear leader.”
“Any idea where they’re going to take us?”
“Yes, there’s an FEMA c
amp outside of Manassas, Virginia, I guess the DHS has turned it into a camp to hold those of us that have spoken out against the President.”
“What do you think the military is going to do?”
“I’m betting that half or more are going to revolt. I’d say we’re looking at a new civil war, may God have mercy on our country.”
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34 Republican state Governors place what they hope is a secure conference call together. The Governor of Michigan starts the call off, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President has just declared himself a dictator. He’s set up network censorship; he’s announced a total ban on all firearms, while doing nothing about the rioting that he’s calling innocent youths expressing their first amendment rights. He caused the rioting and refuses to do anything to stop it because he’s trying to avoid impeachment. He has to be stopped, I don’t know about you, but four of my largest cities are nothing but burnt out shells, we’ve had thousands killed, raped and injured. I for one am not going to turn in my shotgun or my M1. I suggest we call a state's convention to pull the rug out from under the President.”
Each Governor shares their story of destroyed cities, killed and raped citizens, and the loss of the National Guard. While discussing when and where to hold the states convention their conference call is cut off, each governor hears a recorded message, “This communication has been disconnected due to a breach of the Sedition act. All parties of this call should remain where you are; members of the Department of Homeland Security are on their way to secure all parties of this illegal call.”
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Freedom vs.Tyranny Page 2
