Second Amendment Sisters, Inc. (SAS) is a non-partisan women's advocacy group in the United States dedicated to the protection of gun rights, specifically for the purpose of self defense. It is an all-volunteer 501(c)(4) non-profit organization based in Texas, with chapters nationwide.
SAS was founded in January 2000 by five ordinary women from around the country, in response to the media portrayal that the Million Mom March spoke for all women with regard to firearms rights. Using the Internet, these women and a handful of other volunteers staged a counter-rally in Washington, DC, on Mother's Day, May 13, 2000. In the months preceding these events, the media regularly called upon SAS to represent the equal counterpoint to the Million Mom March in print, radio and television, including a two hour televised Good Morning America town hall meeting from the White House on the Saturday before. On March 18, 2008, SAS organized the rally in support of Dick Anthony Heller's right to keep an operable handgun for self-protection in his home subject of the United States Supreme Court hearing of DC v. Heller in Washington, DC.
SAS interprets the Second Amendment as recognizing the pre-existing natural right of individuals to bear arms as tools of self-defense, and promotes gun safety and marksmanship among their members. They focus on community outreach, women's firearm shoots, women's personal safety training, and political advocacy. Citing FBI crime statistics, they assert firearms are the only reasonable means of self-protection, especially for women, people of short stature, people with disabilities, and the elderly.
Second Amendment Sisters has a featured column in Gun Week. The group's slogan is "Self defense is a basic human right."
Famous quotes containing the words amendment and/or sisters:
“Every family should extend First Amendment rights to all its members, but this freedom is particularly essential for our kids. Children must be able to say what they think, openly express their feelings, and ask for what they want and need if they are ever able to develop an integrated sense of self. They must be able to think their own thoughts, even if they differ from ours. They need to have the opportunity to ask us questions when they don’t understand what we mean.”
—Stephanie Martson (20th century)
“The miller quickly drew the dam,
An’ there he found a drown’d woman.
You cou’dna see her yallow hair
For gold and pearle that were so rare.”
—Unknown. The Twa Sisters (l. 32–35)