It was a noble effort in which America gave firearms, ammunition and equipment to our soon-to-be allies who were on the very brink of collapse in the face of Nazi armies. It was the gift of everyday American citizens to our British cousins in need.

Those were dark days when the free nations of the world expected nothing but defeat by our enemies. On May 25, 1940, the British army had been beaten at a place on the French coast called Dunkirk. In a heroic evacuation - carried out in no small part by private citizens in small private boats - the men of the British army escaped. But they left virtually all of their small arms behind. Once back in England, soldiers had to drill with sticks.

In November 1940, Americans fully expected the Nazi invasion and defeat of the British Isles.

Page six of the November 1940 issue of American Rifleman carried a very important appeal headline: "SEND A GUN TO DEFEND A BRITISH HOME." It explained: "British civilians, faced with threat of invasion, desperately need arms for defense of their homes. THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR DEFENSE OF BRITISH HOMES has organized to collect gifts of pistols, rifles, revolvers, shotguns, binoculars from American civilians who wish to answer the call and aid in defense of British homes. The arms are being shipped, with the consent of the British Government, to CIVILIAN COMMITTEE FOR PROTECTION OF HOMES, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND."

And NRA members responded with the donation of thousands of small arms including rifles, shotguns, revolvers and pistols.

Now in 1997, some of the handguns that will be confiscated from private homes by the British Government may be some of the very same guns that were given by NRA members so that British commoners could defend themselves.

Our nation is run and influenced by people who ignore the lessons of history. It is obvious that the Clinton Administration - perhaps as caustic a danger to our liberties and Freedom as we have ever faced- has no use for history.

Nor do its camp followers in the media. Historians are the keepers of the truth. History and the truth it protects are impediments to what people like Charles Schumer and Bill Clinton want.

In 1940, when NRA members gave arms to their free British cousins, it was to stem an invasion.

People in the Clinton Administration would laugh at the notion of individuals - free men and women - in this day, using personal arms to defend against an invasion.

Yet that is precisely what Americans are facing.

Violent crime is an invasion as dangerous as any by soldiers of any foreign power. Everything about unlawful armed force against innocent persons is an invasion. A criminal in your home is an invasion. A criminal in your car is an invasion. A criminal in your face is an invasion.

Another invasion is imminent - this one by government, to take your property.

And history may repeat itself. What the British do today to disarm their contemporary citizens is the same action they took to disarm their citizens in 1776 - when the people in the 13 colonies called themselves Englishmen. That is why we are not British. That is why we founded the United States of America. That is why we have the Bill of Rights. And that is why we have the Second Amendment.