Second Term - A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 1) by John Price Page A

it. Seated in his wheelchair in the imposing
Senate Caucus Room on the 3 rd floor of the Russell Senate Office
Building, the only available room that was big enough to hold the media they
knew would come out to cover the unveiling of the Bill, the Senator fired the
first shot, and an impressively large shot it was. I’ve memorialized here the
important part of his formal statement announcing the Bill:
    “Now that I’ve
covered in some detail the specific provisions of 113-S.-1, let’s talk a little
inside political baseball, so to speak. I’m more than mindful of the intensive
efforts by the gun lobby, and their misguided supporters, because my office has
been besieged by their dirty tricks, including robo-calls 24/7 to try and keep
my Senate office phones from functioning. But, my friends, this is not my first
legislative war. I will soon convene hearings of my Committee in this very same
august and historic room, which was the site of the investigation into the
sinking of the Titanic, the Army-McCarthy Hearings, as well as the Joe Valachi Mafia
Hearings, and the Watergate Hearings.
    “We will hear from
several law enforcement officials across this country who were forced by the
gun-bullies to call out their forces to defend the American electoral process.
Let’s not forget that there would have been no need for the President to
declare martial law, if there weren’t all these guns out there. My goal as a
United States Senator, and Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, is to
insure that no future President ever has to again declare martial law, because,
there won’t be any firearms to defend against. The violence that has rocked our
nation in the weeks since the election is even further evidence of why we must
get rid of hate weapons and the hate speech uttered by the owners of those hate
weapons. We can’t afford either, any more, in America
    “We will, of course,
hear from the many supporters of my Bill to make America gun free and safe.
But, just as importantly, I will be subpoenaing, not just inviting to testify, the
opponents of this sensible Bill. I want to make them come out in the open, out
from the shadows so to speak, and tell Americans, under the bright lights of
media coverage, how they could possibly oppose a Bill to make Americans safer
from gun violence. They’ve been sneaking around, lobbying their Senators and
Representatives behind closed doors, I want them out in the open, where we can
all hear what they have to say. Let’s look them in the eye and force these
gun-lusting, right wing, bullies to say in public what we know they’ve been whispering
privately. I’m looking forward to it, I’ll tell you that. The wounds that I
suffered in the ‘Guns Against Government Conspiracy’ will be worth it if we can
pass this Bill and stop all the shooting.”  
    Senator Blevins’ news
conference hadn’t been over two minutes before my office phones in Tyler
started ringing off the hook. Somebody on Blevin’s staff had leaked that I was
among those being subpoenaed to testify in his Committee Hearings, starting in
ten days. Great. So, John, I asked myself when I got these calls, who ya’ gonna
call? An obvious answer - my friend and attorney, Chuck Webster, who as it
turned out, was more nervous than I was about this turn of events.

 
    TWENTY
ONE
    Tyler,
Texas
    “John Madison, how
long have I known you?”
    “What kind of a
question is that, Chuck?” Whenever the two sparred over any topic, they both
knew that John would bring up their standing grade school girlfriend joke.
“You’re my best friend, and you’ve been my best friend since I stole Patty
Pierson away from you in the 5 th Grade of Tyler Elementary. You’ve
never forgiven me, have you? This is all about Patty, again, isn’t it?”
    “If you hadn’t
married Patty, later, I would have never forgiven you, but in light of the
circumstances, I about had to forgive you. No, goofy, this is about how you are
about to get