The saying “nothing succeeds like excess” has been attributed to Oscar Wilde. It seems that Wilde has been channeled by our President, and by Dianne Feinstein, and others leading the full-court press against gun owners’ civil rights in the last few weeks.
From the Boston Herald newspaper, we learn that the anti-gun Vice President designated by our anti-gun President to lead an impartial Washington review of the “gun violence” issue (to which no one from the gun owners’civil rights side has been invited, apparently) has promised anti-gun Boston Mayor Menino sweeping new gun laws by the end of this month. This pleases the seriously ill Mayor Menino, who wonders aloud to reporters how guns can be in the hands of murderous young criminals. Given that before Menino or I or anyone reading this was born, laws were in place against murder and against giving guns to murderers of all ages, we can only hope that the mayor’s health soon recovers to where he can think normally.
A summary of Senator Feinstein’s bill, now before Congress with a mandate to rush it through before clear-thinking people can stop it, can be found here. And if you think THAT’S over the top, check out the bills introduced in the last few days in Illinois, which would have basically limited residents of that state to revolvers, Old West and WWI-period rifles, and double barrel shotguns. HB815 HB1263
Over the top? OH, yeah! Guns you can’t bequeath to your children. Property legally purchased and responsibly owned, to be confiscated? Or – the history-proven first step toward confiscation – “registered”? And, of course, tens of millions of law-abiding American citizens suddenly “criminalized.”
The Illinois bill seems at the moment to be out of play…but it is by no means off the table yet. READ the damn thing: it’s the very definition of “Draconian.” The precedent it would set for criminalization of other lawfully-owned property is nothing less than terrifying.
Are they going this far over the top to create an illusory paradigm in which what last November would have been long-established, Supreme Court approved civil rights, are now bargaining chips for some politically correct “middle ground of compromise”? Damn sure looks that way. Or have we seen the opening of something much more frightening, much more insidious, and with much more potential to send the nation most associated with freedom down a slippery slope that is so steep it could never again be ascended?
Think about it. The demands in the Illinois bill, which even the day after the Newtown atrocity would have been seen by impartial observers as over the top, have now become a reality on the legislative dockets.
Write your representatives in Washington, and at the state level. The anti-gunners are going state level too, with New York (confiscation in the air there!), Florida, Colorado and other states facing this. Let them know, politely but firmly, that this is over the top, and that Reality is still the baseline of reason. And if you’ve let them know already, write them again and remind them.
Mas (et al),
Looking for a “form” letter for contacting our congress. Do you think you could put something together. I am sure there are many of us that want to contact our represenatives, but do not know how to make the arguments.
Thanks!
Chris, I don’t do form letters, either writin’ ’em or signin’ ’em. The legislators and legislative aides tell me these are almost instantly spotted, and are not taken nearly as seriously as a short, clear, polite letter that a constituent obviously cared enough to compose.
After reading the comments, I am guessing the folks from the rest of the 48 states are beginning to see what it is like to be a New York State shooter. This is a ritual we go through each spring when the NYS Legislature is in session. This year, it is quite bad; vigilance and perseverance will try the hardest of souls. Up until now, rifles and shotguns were mostly Federally regulated; however, we currently have a permanent 1994 Assault Weapon Ban. In 2004, the rest of America could have magazines that held more than 20 rounds, in NYS, posession is a D Felony, unless the magazine was made prior to 9/13/1994.
Keep in mind, simple handgun ownership, performed legally, requires permission from the State. There are only two consolations; so far, upstate Part 400 licenses are “good until revoked”, if you behave yourself, good for life and issued for “concealed carry only”. Overt carry in NYS is considered criminal harassment by itself. However, Part 400 licenses took anywhere from 90 days to 11 months to obtain; depending on the bureaucracy and/or any past indescritions in your life prior to application. ALL handguns must be registered in a State database; posession of unregistered handguns is also a D Felony. (Subject to bargaining by the DA’s office, if you are caught.) There are not a whole lot of passes; retired NYPD officers who thought they could retire with their 17 round post-AWB magazines found out different when the City Pistol Licensing bureau targeted them and required magazine inspections. See, NYPD officers own their service sidearm and magazines; now the options were to sell them to a licensed dealer and provide evidence of sale or surrender them or risk prosecution. Retired police officers are now private citizens and may only have pre-ban magazines (even that is questionable in NYC) or 10 round ones. Since I am a dyed in the wool 1911 person, I must be satisfied with single stack boxes (Pre-ban Para 14 round mags can go as high as $100+ each) Adding and subtracting handguns from your license requires a personal journey to the County Seat to complete the transaction. (Some, like my home county will let you accomplish this by mail; however, you would not be in posession of your permit, you must not carry and the guns in your home could be subject to confiscation by Law Enforcement because you are not in physical posession of your permit.)
Yes, registration and licensing are wonderful; another side effect is that your Part 400 license is a matter of public record. The incident where the Journal – Register published an interactive map of Part 400 licensees in Westchester and Rockland County had precedent when a hacker invaded the NY State Police Licensing Database and published the list of ALL PERSONS holding a Part 400 license in the State! It did not recieve much publicity at the time outside of us interested in our Civil Rights.
Keep in mind that this legislation was originally enacted in 1917 and became statewide in 1919. Now, the State would really like to confiscate my AR-15, but may settle for registration like a handgun. Oh, well that was proposed about 10 years ago, we had to fight like cornered bobcats to get that one beat back.
Folks, we need to be vigilant as this is only a small portion of what some politicians want to chain you with. It gets old, it gets tiring and it is expensive. I was hoping to enjoy 2013, maybe get some more rifle time in and put in more tactical drills. I can see a good bit of time I should be spending at my reloading bench monitoring my elected congress critters (worry not about Schumer and Gillibrand, but they need to know they do not have my support for more gun restrictions). But my rights and those who come after me are more important right now. I also need to convince others to take up the fight as well; there is strength in numbers.
Remember, the true test of where a politician stands regarding your status as a Citizen is whether or not they support the Second Ammendment and your right as an individual to keep and bear arms. Those who do not support us, are terrified of us as a united group. We must stay united across the land!
Talk about over the top..
Did any of you see Piers Morgan today? He brought on Alex Jones. Strategic and tactical victory by Morgan. Invite a wack job conspiracy nut and then portray him to the viewers as representative of American gun owners. We do not the Alex Jones of the world representing our interests.
I am surprised at all the outpouring of support for the 2A this week but so many of you either stayed home or chosen to vote for candidates that could not EVER be elected. And that has done more to erode your rights than anything.
So now we are faced with a President who does not honor the rule of law and hates you and your guns even that much more.
Folks, what did you learn from last November? You need to look yourselves in the mirror and realize that sometimes an imperfect candidate is still 1000 times better than what we have today. But, should our rights be oppressed because of Obummer, you will only have yourselves to blame.
No matter what anyone tells you, in politics, the only thing that ever matters is winning elections. You may not like it or want to believe it, but it is the system we live with and we are seeing the effects of ignorance on display.
Chris, try this on for size:
It makes no sense to write more laws to regulate the people who have done nothing wrong… when it’s the people who feel that the laws don’t apply to them, who are doing wrong… and are the problem.
“I shall not comply.” That was my message to my US Senators explaining what would happen if the Feinkenstein 2013 so-called Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) became law.
My neighbor, a police officer, is livid about the Feinkenstein 2013 AWB bill. His words were a bit more colorful than mine but could be translated to: “I shall not comply.”
When I pointed out to some people who were just giddy about the proposed renewal and “strengthening” of the AWB that most of the police officers I knew would not participate in collecting their friends’ and neighbors’ firearms, their response was, “The ATF and FBI will.” I mildly suggested that they might not due to the possible danger involved since it would involve millions of Americans instead of an isolated family or a small group of religious oddballs. I was immediately accused of wanting to foment an armed revolution. I just asked them what led to the American colonists’ actions at Concord Bridge. If looks could kill…
I shall not comply.
ECS
Mas,
I think we are fast reaching the point where lots of folks will say, “ENOUGH!”
I’m not one to put a lot of faith in three of the four boxes us citizens have for instituting change, at least lately, and think the time for using the fourth box is fast approaching. For those of you that don’t know what the four boxes are I’ll make it simple; Soapbox, Ballot Box, Jury Box, and Cartridge Box.
My only response to gun grabbers is, Molon Labe.
Vince Dagiel
Mass is there any truth to the rumor that Homeland Security has purchased 50 million rounda of ammunation to be diestibuted to local and state police in the event of a terrorest uprising? Is .223 5.56 ammo being dirvirted from the army to civil law enforcement? There are several others on this same theme floating around. Is it just nuts stoking the fires? At present the best option is lock, load and be prepared. Wait and see if all the money the NRA has spent on Washington will stop the mad man president. One thing for sure after 17 years as a first responder 98 percent of the time if you are lucky enough to get to look back you will find you are standing there alone. Better be prepared to take care of business because someone else isn’t going to do it for you. This may finally be the case when those working in law enforcement or at least some will refuse to do the dirty work of the politations. There were however those dedicated ones in Germany who had no problems throughing babys in the gas chambers because it was the law? I really feel that this could be the undoing of a president. If so lets get it done once and for all and move on with fixing whats wrong with this country in a democratic way as the founders intended.
Our President and VP have gone mad. Everyone predicted he would be going after guns if re-elected even though he promised not and he lied as usual.
All the same players involved with the previous assault weapon bill in 1994 are taking the lead on this and make me sick. They all have heavily armed security with assault weapons guarding all of them and their families yet dislike any of us owning guns for self protection against violent criminals who wlll always have these guns.
I am reading all the comments about how people will stand up and resist.
I don’t believe a single one of you will actually do such a thing, but will more than likely bury your toys out back or simply say they were lost.
For all the chest pounding I see go on with posts I am horrified that none of you ever bothered to vote last fall. Wasted votes for third party candidates… Where are they now when you need them? Folks, Ron Paul is out of office and could care less.
Again, elections have consequences and for some folks, math is hard.
All these paranoid fantasies. The only thing you need to understand is that if you have a firearm in your home, you and your loved ones are 43 times more likely to sustain injury from that firearm than you are to successfully defend yourself or your property. That is a bad bet even for people as fearful as are you all.
xteeth, opposing viewpoints are welcome here. However, you’ll need better “ammunition” than the long since discredited “43 times more likely” study you’re quoting from.