Eleanor Roosevelt’s Concealed Carry Application
November 25th, 2007 by Syd
…I told ya’. Once upon a time, even liberals understood the value of
self-defense.
She was the most famous spokesperson for civil rights, at a time when the idea of equal rights for people of color was very politically incorrect. “We can’t afford to have two kinds of citizens,” she insisted. “We must have equal citizenship for anybody in our country.”
And though she was a well-known talker, she also walked the walk. In 1958, at age 74, she made plans to go down to Tennessee to speak at a civil-rights workshop at the Highlander Folk School.
The Ku Klux Klan learned about her plans. The day before her trip, the elderly, gray-haired woman was contacted by the FBI. “We can’t guarantee your safety,” they told her. “The Klan’s put a bounty on your head, a $25,000 bounty on your head. We can’t protect you. You can’t go.” But the little old lady answered, “I didn’t ask for your protection… I have a commitment. I’m going.”
And she did. She flew down to the Nashville airport, where she was joined by a friend, an elderly white woman aged 71. The pair got into the car, lay a loaded pistol on the front seat between them, and drove into the night. No Secret Service or police escort. Just the two little old ladies with a gun to keep them safe. They set out for their destination, a “ tiny labor school[,] to conduct a workshop on how to break the law, how to conduct non-violent civil disobedience.” They drove through the heart of Klan territory to teach people how to fight for freedom…” Source: “Her Own Bodyguard” by Dave Kopel
In her own words:
Driving my own car was one of the issues the Secret Service people and I had a battle about at the very start. The Secret Service prefers to have an agent go with the President’s wife, but I did not want either a chauffeur or a Secret Service agent always with me; I never did consent to having a Secret Service agent. After the head of the Secret Service found I was not going to allow an agent to accompany me everywhere, he went one day to Louis Howe [FDR’s secretary], plunked a revolver down on the table and said ‘Well, all right, if Mrs. Roosevelt is going to drive around the country alone, at least ask her to carry this in the car.’ I carried it religiously and during the summer I asked a friend, a man who had been one of Franklin’s bodyguards in New York State, to give me some practice in target shooting so that if the need arose I would know how to use the gun.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt shooting her revolver
[…] I have to wonder if Elanor Roosevelt, in her speaking to Hillary Clinton, ever mentioned this whole thing. Of course, I’m not sure I’d say the Roosevelts were champions of gun rights. After all, it was FDR who put his signature on the National Firearms Act. […]
I’ve read that Elanor always packed heat, license or no.
[…] Somebody’s got to have Eleanor Roosevelt have a talk with Hillary! Shamelessly swiped from Front Sight, Press (link) with a tip of the shameless hat to Snowflakes in hell (link). […]
Hmmm…
Since her last character reference is referred to as “Archie” instead of his real name Archibald, its doubtful such an application would fly nowadays what with the present rules against any sort of abbreviation.
Also, check out the “N.Y.” Instead of New York. Tsk, tsk. Sorry Eleanor.
All NYS License to Posess and Carry Pistol or Revolver are a matter of Public Record - including mine. This application also appears in Chamberlain & Thomas’s “Gun Laws of the State of New York”. It should be required reading for all Citizens of my state who desire to Carry a Pistol or Revolver for all legitimate purposes.
There also was a time when all citizens of the United States understood thier rights and responsibilities. We also had a desire to vote for our representatives to Govern us. Too bad we’ve lost that desire as Citizens of our Great Republic. This must definitiley change as the United States of America as a Constitutional Republic is too great and good a concept to loose.
I differ from Mr. Weisbeck- we are trully no longer a “Constitutional Republic” as stated by him but more accurately as “Socialistic Democracy” since the many unconstitutional changes enacted by Eleanor’s husband, Franklin…