A good find by user Jacobdw on GlockTalk:
“Let them take Arms” is from the historic Thomas Jefferson quote:
“What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.”
— Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787. ME 6:373, Papers 12:356
Comments
9 responses to “Gun Owner Stamp on American $1 Dollar Bill”
Just on a side note, prompted by the earlier post about the artist using laser-cut bills to make pieces of art, but it is a crime to deface money, and this would count. I recall reading a while back about some people that were prosecuted (successfully) for marking bills in a manner similar to this, but with some type of pro-marijuana logo and saying.
Make sure you’re not stamping your name on there as well.
Interesting that someone actually did get in trouble for marking bills. I’m glad people seem to be generally scared of getting in trouble over this, because the last thing I want to see is permanent advertising marking up the bills in my wallet.
I was about to question the legality of something like this, but Josh beat me to it. Still seems like it’d be difficult to prosecute someone for this.
I’m sure the odds of getting caught doing it are pretty slim unless you’re running some sort of major operation to mark up bills. Still, it’s kind of ironic to be voicing support of our founding federal document by committing a federal crime.
Wow… these bozos are really open about it http://www.normalbobsmith.com/store/stamp.html
Interesting. The site even refers to it as an “illegal money-defacing GOD IS FAKE stamp.” There’s nothing illegal about the stamp, it’s the act of using it to mark up a bill. You know the old saying, “Stamps don’t illegally mark bills, people illegally mark bills.”
I found a 50 dollar bill and just thought I would check it out. Thought it might be another wheres george
Have says gun owner one stamp, separate stamp support the second amendment.
Folks,
See that image – The GUN OWNER with the “Let them take Arms” tag line? That is my stamp, I designed it and made it. Here is the full story.
About 15 years ( or a bit more ) ago as part of an MCSM activity we started the Money Stamp project.
To make things simple here is the full text from the “Instructions” page we put out.
I could post it as a PDF file, but don’t see how to do that.
We made two stamps – the regular GUN OWNER and the Gun Owner with an attitude.
I wanted to find some suitable short quotes from other presidents on the bills, but could not.
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MCSM; MONEY & BILL STAMP; Gun Owner
“Let them take arms”
Gun Owner
Thank you for obtaining and using this stamp, as a First Amendment free speech expression, to show your support for the Second Amendment and firearm rights in America. This stamp was made at Office Depot at a discount price for bulk purchase. This note is a small “thank you” to Office Depot for supplying them at a discount to MCSM. They are sold AT COST. This is a message effort, not a profit center. Please; Steal This Design !! Have stamps made for your friends. The pre-inked stamp should be good for about 40,000 one-at-a-time impressions. It is equipped with a snap on cover.
THEREFORE; The Gun Owner stamp is Maryland Legal; it is SEMI AUTO, with a 40,000 round magazine (not detachable) and a safety latch, but without flash hider or bayonet lug!
The use of this stamp is legal as far as we know. Defacing currency so that it is no longer suitable for use in commerce, and then using it, is illegal. Marking it with a stamp (as banks often stamp stacks of bills) does not make it unsuitable for commerce. The “Gun Owner” message is a First Amendment protected expression. Liberals may not like it but… that’s their problem. This issue was investigated by the group for their stamp. Here is what the treasury department has to say;
“Defacement of currency is a violation of Title 18, Section 333 of the United States Code. Under this provision, currency defacement is generally defined as follows: Whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued, shall be fined not more than $100 or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.”
You may get a few negative comments and odd looks when you use the stamped bills, but you will get a lot more positive responses! PLEASE, use the occasion of spending a stamped bill to start a positive conversation. A brief statement like, “Gun owner – yes I am one and that states my position… Just waiving the flag… Gun owners walk among you… Etc.” will often get others to talk about the issue and will encourage their support.
BTW; Small bills ($1 & $5) stay in circulation for a short period of time, weeks or months before they wear out. Larger bills ($50 & $100) stay in circulation for years. Smaller bills will usually be kept in a store to make change and if deposited at a bank MAY be tossed in the spoiled bill bag for replacement by the treasury. Larger bills will usually be deposited, not kept for change, but they stay clean and crisp longer and therefore may not get tossed in the spoiled bill bag as quickly. So what’s the lesson here? STAMP THEM ALL !!
This stamp was produced as an outreach project by MCSM. Visit the web site at for more information. Please send your comments and suggestion to MCSM.
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This project began in 2001 and the sheet reproduced above is from 2007.
At that time MCSM ran a political action gun rights table in many of the Silverado Gun Shows in Maryland. We made 10 or 20 stamps at a time and the local Office Depot gave us a discount for a cost of around $9/stamp. That made it an easy sell AT COST at the shows. We always had a stamp or two available for anyone to stamp as much as they wanted at the shows. We probably sold 100+ stamps over a several year period, over about 50 shows. As far as I know the stamps are still being used by the MCSM fill in crew operating out of Monumental Rifle and Pistol Club in Marriottsville, MD. doing the Howard county and Frederick shows.
Very rarely have I had a negative comment. Generally the recipient looks at the bill and sees the mark and that opens the way for me to make a brief comment, “Yep, I am a firearm instructor… etc.
If you have any questions on this, let me know by e-mail.
BTW, I just today got a bit of spending cash from the bank to resupply and am now stamping it all for future use.
Bob