Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire To Be Shown In California State Capitol Building

The movie Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire will be shown, in of all places, the California Capitol Building. Given the assaults on gun and civil rights that have taken place in both the California Senate and Assembly, I can’t think of a better place to show that movie. While I doubt that it will change any of the narrow minds of the gun prohibitionist politicians, the symbolism is enough.

From the release about the event by Cal-FFL along with details of this showing and another public one in Sacramento:

CAL-FFL, California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly to Co-Host Showing of Gun Rights Documentary Inside California Capitol Building

Aug. 28th public screening at the Crest Theatre follows private Capitol screening at noon; CAL-FFL giving away 100 free movie tickets and posters for the public screening.

SACRAMENTO, CA (August 22, 2013) — Second Amendment civil rights are under fire by the California Legislature, according to leading industry and consumer group California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees (CAL-FFL). To help underscore the point, civil rights advocates have taken their argument to the big screen — and are now bringing the big screen to the Capitol Building through the efforts of top-rated Assembly member Tim Donnelly (District 33 – Hesperia) and CAL-FFL.

In conjunction with CAL-FFL, Donnelly, who’s already declared his candidacy for the 2014 gubernatorial election, will host a private screening of the Second Amendment-focused documentary ‘Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire’ inside the State Capitol to educate members of the Legislature and staff about this historic civil rights struggle.

“We are honored that Assemblyman Donnelly chose to present our film on civil rights to his colleagues – the very elected members who are working hard to pass bills that would effectively end the Second Amendment in California for many years to come,” said Emmy Award-winning producer and writer Kris Koenig, the film’s writer and director. “Most of these bills aren’t even rationally related to actual crime data. Our research and film clearly shows that these bills won’t improve public safety. If they watch the film they will come to understand why.”

“I spent the last eighteen months of my life creating this film because I saw our rights being wholesaled off for political gain with no real benefit to public safety,” continued Koenig. “It’s like the NSA invading our privacy with no real connection to global terrorism.”

The Los Angeles Times called ‘Assaulted’, narrated by critically-acclaimed rapper and actor Ice-T, “a reasoned counter to Michael Moore’s ‘Bowling for Columbine’.” The film takes a step back from the public discourse on issues like banning assault rifles and restricting magazine capacity. Instead of heavy rhetoric, ‘Assaulted’ offers a unique historical and legal perspective on the Second Amendment’s significance over the years since America’s founding, taking a critical and objective look at current gun laws and their effect on civil rights and liberty. The film includes commentary by preeminent UCLA constitutional law professors Adam Winkler and Eugene Volokh as well as attorney Alan Gura, the lawyer who secured 2 major victories for gun owners in landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Interviews include Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign, Margot Bennett, executive director of Women Against Gun Violence, and the advocate/entertainer Ted Nugent.

“California’s gun control movement has always been about keeping ‘those people’ from exercising their rights,” said Craig DeLuz, CAL-FFL’s Legislative Advocate. “In the 1800s, ‘those people’ were the Chinese and Native Americans. In the 1960s, it was the Black Panthers. Today, you and I are ‘those people’ – ‘Assaulted’ shows how we got here and why we have to avoid repeating the same gun control mistakes we’ve made in decades past that continue to cost innocent people their lives.”

“The opportunity to educate the members of the California Legislature and their staff about the civil rights aspect of the gun control bills they’re working to pass as we speak is just tremendous. We simply cannot thank Assemblyman Donnelly enough for his generosity and tireless efforts to defend our fundamental Second Amendment rights,” said Brandon Combs, President of CAL-FFL and Managing Director of the national Firearms Policy Coalition.

Continued Combs, “We hope that all public officials and senior staff of agencies like DOJ will watch the film and give real thought to the arguments made regardless of their personal views. When lawmakers make mistakes writing gun laws innocent people go to jail, period. Getting caught in the dangerous, confusing, and expanding gun control spider web is not a very pleasant future for millions of law-abiding California gun owners, visitors, and local businesses.”

CAL-FFL will be hosting a public screening of ‘Assaulted’ at the Crest Theatre, located at 1013 K St., at 6 p.m. that same evening. CAL-FFL is giving away free tickets to the first 100 people who RSVP and request tickets at http://www.calffl.org/assaultedtickets. All Crest attendees will receive an ‘Assaulted’ movie poster that can be signed by Koenig.

Government officials, staff, and members of the press can request a complementary ticket to the 6 p.m. screening at the Crest Theatre by emailing Craig DeLuz at cdeluz@calffl.org or by calling him at (916) 595-0264. Tickets may also be purchased for $12 from Tugg at http://www.tugg.com/events/5116.

Participants are invited to join Kris Koenig, Craig DeLuz, and Brandon Combs for discussion and Q&A about the film, gun control in California, and the status of Second Amendment litigation immediately following the 6 p.m. showing at the restaurant Pizza Rock, located at 1020 K St., just steps away from the Crest Theatre.

DETAILS

WHAT: Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire (Private Screening)
WHEN: August 28, 2013 – 12 Noon

WHERE: California State Capitol Building

WHAT: Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire (Public Screening)
WHEN: August 28, 2013 – 6 p.m.
WHERE: Crest Theatre (1013 K St., Sacramento, CA 95814)

Assaulted Hits The Theaters

The Second Amendment movie, Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire, opened yesterday and will be showing in a number of theaters across the country. It has been reviewed by papers ranging from the Washington Post to the OC Weekly. The reviews range from your typical gun prohibitionist’s drivel in the Post to a rather thoughtful review in the OC Weekly.

Here are the reviews and the places where the movie will be playing.

Last night Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire opened in theaters across the country. We did it! Thanks to you. 
This week leading up to the release we have received a wide range of reviews:
The film will run all weekend at the following theaters: 
ARIZONA
You can also check out these TUGG events or create your own: http://www.tugg.com/titles/assaulted-civil-rights-under-fire 

So take a couple of friends and enjoy the show.  
Finally, DVD and downloads will be ship/available in the fall. This delay is caused by the theatrical contract restriction of 90 days before the film can be released on DVD or VOD (video on demand). 

Assaulted Theatrical Trailer

The Second Amendment documentary Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire has its theatrical debut on June 20th. They have just released the theatrical trailer for the film which is below.

The executive producer Kris Koenig was interviewed by FoxNews about the film yesterday.


“’Assaulted’ turns the gun debate around. It is a civil rights issue, and we take a look at the history of the Second Amendment. It’s a right that has been abused over the years and one that gets overlooked the most,” the film’s executive producer, writer and director, Kris Koenig, told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “It’s a self-defense right that gets distorted into self-offense. Our civil rights are very precious to us. The reason our country exists is to balance individual rights against the whole. It has kept our country safe.”

Narrated by Ice-T, the film features myriad voices on the topic. Nugent appears along with Dan Gross, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence,as well as UCLA professor and author Adam Winkler. The movie aims to take a critical look at our current gun laws, Koenig explained, and how the concept of people rising up against the government in the U.S. may not be so farfetched.

“When you look at what is happening with the IRS targeting certain groups, or the FBI looking into media phone records, you realize it doesn’t take a lot to push a government into tyranny. I’m not suggesting we are anywhere near that point now, but governments do break down,” Koenig cautioned. “Look at what happened after Hurricane Katrina, or the L.A riots. The government wasn’t there to protect the people, and Koreatown was left as something of a battleground. We see small incidences like this where the government does fail us.”

The Fox article also quotes one of our favorite “historians” and gun prohibitionists Ladd Everitt.

“Our chief concern with ‘Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire’ is its advocacy for ‘Second Amendment remedies’ – the perverted and treasonous idea that there is an individual right under the Second Amendment to threaten and/or initiate violence against government officials when one senses ‘tyranny,’ said Ladd Everitt, director of communications for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “The film glorifies those who have employed political violence in the past and makes fraudulent historical claims.”

That should be enough to get most of us to go to the theater and I have not been in a movie theater since the year 2000!

Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire – Round 2

I have been tardy in getting this notice up. Kris Koenig of Dead Patriot Films has started another Kickstarter campaign to raise monies for post-production costs. The filming is done and they expect to release the film in March of this year.

From Kris:


Distribution

We will pursue a theatrical release of the film in March 2013 followed by distribution by Southern Oregon Public Television to PBS and PTV stations across the nation.
How will the funds be used?

Post-Production

Talent costs money and high-quaility, national level editors don’t come cheap; no matter how well the story is written, a bad edit will sink a film. Post-production also means meeting PBS engineering standards and practices. There are direct costs associated with a PBS review that the producer pays for on top of the overall production.

Then there are duplication costs, tapes, lawyers fees, insurance, and health insurance for the crew…on and on.

With your help we can produce a great film about a serious subject that affects lives, our civil rights, public safety and our liberty.

Risks and challenges

 We’re lucky to have an experienced editorial team onboard for this project. Jon Fischer (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1502707) our lead editor, is a highly respected reality TV editor, and will co-manage with director/writer Kris Koenig (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2861174) and producer Eric Katzenberg (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2890899) a team of assistant editors and production assistants to bring the vision of the script to a finished film.

Jon is concurrently working on other broadcast productions, so additional personnel is critical to help him execute the script on the editor. Not having the financial resources to secure additional talent will challenge us from being able to meet our production schedule of 60 days.

Since our initial funding here on Kickstarter, Kris and Anita Ingrao (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2871870) have traveled across the country to secure over fifty interviews of politicians, educators, lawyers, law enforcement, victims and gun owners to capture both side of this debate. Each of these interviews have been ingested into the editor and transcribed for the editor’s and writer’s use. All in 90 days!

This campaign is seeking “good money after good action” since our first Kickstarter success. It will be heartbreaking to limp to the finishing line 6 months from now after this debate is over in congress without our film having an impact in the discussion.

Finally, Kris was the overall manager of his last major project, 400 Years of the Telescope (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1231285). This project involved over 125 individuals, a 9-month deadline from initial funding, and required the crew to film on five continents over six weeks. All while managing the creation of a PBS science special, full-dome planetarium program, a PBS affiliate outreach component,website development and original score performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The $2.9 million dollar budget was highly controlled by Kris and whole project was delivered ahead of schedule. Kris has the experience to overcome production obstacles but he is only human. Sickness, injury or death are the only things, except funding, that will keep him from finishing this film on time.

As I said, I was tardy. They only have five more days to go. If you would like to make a pledge, go here. I made my pledge this morning. The pledge button is on the right hand part of the page.

An Update On Assaulted

As of 9:30pm this evening, 616 pledges had been made to produce the film Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire. This leaves it approximately $21,500 short of the $65,000 goal. This is significantly better than it was on Sunday afternoon. Still, there are only 50 hours left before Kickstarter closes this pledge drive.

You can make your pledge here and I would really encourage you to make a pledge. Even a few bucks will help towards reaching the goal. You can see a trailer for the film here as well as read more about it.

I have met Kris and Anita. I think they will make an excellent film if only they can raise enough money. They already have the commitment from Southern Oregon Public Television to handle the distribution of it.

It Can Still Be Done

The film Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire still needs funding to get it off the ground. As of this afternoon, Kris Koenig is still $37,750 short of the needed $65,000 to conduct the initial interviews and there are only four more days to raise it on Kickstarter.

I had the opportunity to meet Kris and his assistant Anita this weekend at the Gun Rights Policy Conference. They are good people and they are dedicated to the Second Amendment. Kris conducted a number of filmed interviews for the film this weekend and is off to a good start.

Kris has the contacts and the commitment from public television to get this program on the air. However, as I said in the opening paragraph, he needs money to finish the project. Personally, I have raised my own pledge four-fold because I believe in this project.

The readers of this blog are backers of gun rights or they wouldn’t be reading my blog. Here is my challenge: if everyone who reads my blog in next couple of days would only pledge $5 it would put this project over the top.

Let me put $5 into perspective. Five bucks is:

  • 4 softdrinks at $1.25 each, or
  • 1 fancy coffee drink at Starbucks plus the tip, or
  • Less than the cost of a Big Mac meal at McDonalds
  • The change scattered on the top of your dresser, or
  • The cost of a big box of popcorn at the movies, or
  • Less than the cost of a movie ticket.

I think you get the idea. Five bucks isn’t a lot of money in and of itself but if enough people donate five bucks it begins to add up. 

So please, consider making a pledge to this project. You can make your pledge here.

It’s Crunch Time For Second Amendment Film Project

October 5th is the deadline for pledges of support to Dead Patriot Films and their project Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire. I received this email from the producer Kris Koenig today:

We’re at the bottom of the seventh and it’s not looking good for us, but this is America and we never give up.  I still believe we can reach our goal by Oct 5th. Why? We each know three friends that can join this campaign.  We just need our friends to match our pledges to reach the target.

Please email, Facebook and tweet this project (http://kck.st/OllEYn) to everyone you know.  Let them know why this is important to you and why getting this film made should be important to them.  Remember, if each of us bring three of our buddies to this campaign, we’ll easily round the bases and launch this film.

Thank you,

Kris

They have a goal of raising $65,000. As of a few minutes ago, they’ve received a bit over $23,000 from 317 backers. I’ve made a pledge and would encourage you to do so as well.

In his email, Kris states that he’ll be at the Gun Rights Policy Conference this coming weekend in Orlando. I hope to meet up with him and learn more about this project.

And if you haven’t registered for the conference, it isn’t too late! While pre-registration is officially closed, you can still register at the door. This will make my third GRPC and I can barely wait until Friday. If you live within driving distance and have an interest in Second Amendment rights, you owe it to yourself to attend.

Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire

Dead Patriot Films is using Kickstarter to raise funds for a new pro-Second Amendment film production called “Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire.” In the last 15 days the producers have raised over $15,000 for the film. This includes contributions of $5,000 each from the Second Amendment Foundation and the CalGuns Foundation.

I have made a contribution and would urge you to consider doing so as well.  Getting this message out to what is not a traditional Second Amendment audience is important.

,

The producers have posted this description of the film which they intend to distribute through Southern Oregon Public TV.

Assaulted – The Fight To Bear Arms

When the subject of
California’s gun control laws are discussed, rarely are they associated
with the civil rights movement and the quest for equal rights for
all. This film will compare the historical aspects of gun control
targeting the indigenous tribes of North America and emancipated slaves
through the Jim Crow era to today’s laws that favor elitists and denies
the rights guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment to the most vulnerable in our
society.

The film takes a critical look at the original intent
of the current California guns laws in contrast with crime and murder
statistics before and since their implementation; and compares these
laws to those of the adjacent states. Story threads also look at the
myriad of concealed carry permitting processes across the state to
illustrate that not all residents are treated equal.

A Few Threads of the Film

The threads below will be woven with current events in California and
Nationally that are creating demands for new assault weapons
legislation and ammunition sales restrictions. Are these law in the best
interest of public safety or infringement of our civil rights?

We will seek out interviews with leading constitutional historians,
anti-violence leaders, gun rights activists, law makers and gun owners
to create a film that will start a meaningful conversation, not add to
rhetoric.

Battle of Athens

When the 2nd Amendment is discussed, the concept of the citizens’
rights to defend themselves against a corrupt or tyrannical government
is sure to be included. The idea of the people rising up against the
government here in the USA seems farfetched. Just the stuff of a
Hollywood film, but it has happened.

In 1946, returning GIs from WWII faced off with a corrupt county
sheriff and his cronies in McMinn County, Tennessee. The film will look
at the causes of the conflict, and how the soldiers and the citizens
restored the rule of law to their county by the applied use of the 2nd
Amendment.

Deacons for Defense

The civil rights movement of the 1960’s is always associated with the
nonviolent actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and civil rights workers
that spread out across the South. Rarely mentioned are the “Deacons for
Defense” and how a handful of armed black men protected the civil rights
workers, broke the stranglehold of the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana and
secured civil rights for all citizens in the South.

Guns for the White Man only

Gun laws from the beginning of the United States of America have
always favored the wealthy white man. The first laws written barred
Native Americans and Blacks (freed or enslaved) from possessing firearms
and continued through the Jim Crow era.

World War II saw gun confiscations precede forced interment of
Japanese-American citizens just because of the fear of war empowered the
white man to do so. The fact that no German-Americans or
Italian-Americans had their firearms taken just supports that gun laws
have been written for the white majority.

The California Gun
Control Act of 1968 has been said to be a knee-jerk reaction to the
Black Panther’s use of loaded rifles in peaceful protest to bring
attention to white bigotry in the Oakland police department and abuses
by its white police officers against black citizens. Even today, the
majority of Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) permits issued in California
are given to white males.

This racial trend in gun control has also jumped the color barrier to
only favor the rich who can financially afford their 2nd Amendment
right to bear arms and secure self-defense CCW permits through political
campaign donations while the single mother in the inner city can’t
legally acquire an affordable gun to protect her family.