The sound of splodey heads.
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The views in this blog are not those of people who can't think for themselves and rely on others to think for them. For that matter, the views expressed here may not be those of people who CAN think for themselves, but it comes extremely close.
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Coming soon
All your favorites and ALL NEW material too.
Will be available in print format and e-Book.
Pre-order print edition now for $4. Message me.
E-version will be less expensive, but you don't get an autograph.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Slip sliding away
Some people just don't get it. They refuse to see what is happening.
Rose-colored glasses must be marvelous things. Of course, they can't hold a candle to the Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses.
Anyway, take off your reality-perception-altering shades and get a dose of realism right here.
Gun control is already on a slippery slope with an increasing pitch and someone squirting grease on the track ahead. Don't believe me? Let's take a walk through time and see how far this slippery slope has carried us.
Here's ya proof.
In the 1700s, if you wanted to make a gun, you did it. It did involve a lot of work under a gunsmith to learn the trade. Government regulation was scant. Government orders for guns were common.
Government still stepped in with confiscation efforts.
"As British troops sailed to Boston in 1768, the Boston Gazette reported that the ministry commanded things 'more grievous to the people, than any thing hitherto made known'" the first of which was 'that the inhabitants of this Province are to be disarmed.' By 1774, the British were routinely conducting warrantless searches and seizures of firearms in the Boston area, leading the Gazette to exclaim that 'what most irritated the people next to seizing their arms and ammunition' was the arrest of patriot political leaders. King George III ordered the seizure of any firearms imported into the colonies. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1995/05/31/when-the-redcoats-confiscated-guns/e38d0810-af85-4949-8d93-3da746601e65/
"This Article reviews the British gun control program that precipitated the American Revolution: the 1774 import ban on firearms and gunpowder; the 1774-75 confiscations of firearms and gunpowder; and the use of violence to effectuate the confiscations. It was these events that changed a situation of political tension into a shooting war. Each of these British abuses provides insights into the scope of the modern Second Amendment."
So der yaggo. This nation created a revolution in part because the government was taking away the guns.
THE NEW NATION
The first draft of the Constitution did not refer to guns. It was added, in the Bill of Rights, because some forward-thinking Founding Fathers said "Hey. We better codify this, even though it should go without saying."
"The Bill of Rights is a list of limits on government power. For example, what the Founders saw as the natural right of individuals to speak and worship freely was protected by the First Amendment’s prohibitions on Congress from making laws establishing a religion or abridging freedom of speech. For another example, the natural right to be free from unreasonable government intrusion in one’s home was safeguarded by the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirements." http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/bill-of-rights/
LICENSED TO DO BUSINESS
Guns were sold and manufactured back then without any permitting or processing requirements for the most part. Some gun makers did have permission from the governments at the time; more of a blessing than permission kind of thing. If you can find evidence to the contrary, please let me know and I will update this.
In one respect a government order for guns could be considered a license to make guns. But the true business license is a more modern convention. Now, if you want to produce anything commercially you must have a license.
"In the late 1930s, the Court repudiated Lochner, thereby rejecting its prior understanding of liberty and ushering in a more active regulatory state." https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/business-licensing-and-constitutional-liberty Lochner is a term for the economic age where business was not subject to the amount of government regulation now in place.
THE FIRST FEDERAL LAW
The first federal law, not the Constitution, but legislation of the modern firearm era, was in 1934. The NFA - National Firearms Act - was created by Congress. https://www.atf.gov/qa-category/national-firearms-act-nfa
Until this point, full auto firearms and many more weapons were legal for purchase if you had the money. With the 1934 NFA, a $200 tax stamp was imposed. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) was in charge of the tax stamp which also amounted to a permit and background check since the BATF could deny the application. This act also put licensing requirements on people who made NFA-eligible firearms and accessories. It also created a national gun registry, something not heard of since Colonial times.
MORE LICENSES
In 1938, the Federal Firearms Act required licenses for firearm dealers.
MAIL ORDER GUNS
Lee Harvey Oswald, famed killer of JFK, bought a gun mail-order in the 1960s. After the assassination, the law was changed. Mail order firearms were not allowed anymore. With this came background checks, more licenses and regulation. "Under federal law, any interstate firearms sale -- whether the seller is a licensed dealer or private individual -- must be concluded by a licensed dealer with a background check through the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System." https://www.ctpost.com/local/article/50-years-after-JFK-mail-order-guns-still-easy-4988480.php
NFA AMENDED
The NFA was amended, changed, modified, added, whatever in 1968. "…1968, the first year the federal government set age limits for gun purchases. Before then, regulation for non-machine guns was mostly left to states. It’s not clear whether states had formal age restrictions for guns, but gun access in some states may have followed the 'age of majority,' i.e. the age at which you were considered a legal adult." https://www.history.com/news/gun-age-limits-history
"First, the requirement for possessors of unregistered firearms to register was removed. Indeed, under the amended law, there is no mechanism for a possessor to register an unregistered NFA firearm already possessed by the person."
This was the second time the feds created a background check. "House Resolution 17735, known as the Gun Control Act, was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 22, 1968, banning mail order sales of rifles and shotguns and prohibiting most felons, drug users and people found mentally incompetent from buying guns." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Control_Act_of_1968
1968 is also the start of universal serial numbers on guns. Before this, guns could have serial numbers, but it was not required. I have a Trapdoor Springfield made in 1878 that has a serial number. I have a single-shot .22 carbine made in the early 1960s without a serial number. The difference? The Springfield was government order rifle. Gummint needs tracking numbers. The SS .22 was made for the civilian market.
Which one is more lethal? Both will drop any animal native to North America in its tracks with one shot. I killed a 1500 pound animal with a .22 firing .22 shorts. A .22 short is the most anemic powder-fired round available.
NFA AMENDED AGAIN
The NFA was again amended in 1986, the Firearm Owners Protection Act (the title is proof government lies). "The Act also amended the GCA to prohibit the transfer or possession of machine guns. Exceptions were made for transfers of machine guns to, or possession of machine guns by, government agencies, and those lawfully possessed before the effective date of the prohibition, May 19, 1986." This effectively banned the production of FA firearms except for government use. http://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/national-firearms-act
Ronald Reagan, the liberal president, lobbied for and signed the 1986 legislation. "The Ku Klux Klan, Ronald Reagan, and, for most of its history, the NRA all worked to control guns. The Founding Fathers? They required gun ownership—and regulated it. And no group has more fiercely advocated the right to bear loaded weapons in public than the Black Panthers—the true pioneers of the modern pro-gun movement."
BUSH I
Bush I approved a law banning the import of certain kinds of guns in 1989. "The Bush Administration declared a permanent ban today on almost all foreign-made semiautomatic assault rifles. Imports of the weapons have been suspended since spring."
NICS
What we now know as the "background check," the NICS, was started in 1998.
"The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a United States system for determining if prospective firearms or explosives buyers' name and birth year match those of a person who is not eligible to buy. It was mandated by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Law) of 1993 and launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1998."
THE GUN BAN
The 1994 The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Act banned manufacture and import of some specific firearms and accessories. It did not outlaw ownership. The law did have a sunset provision. Attempts to resurrect this law have so far failed.
The 1994 act also moved someof guns into the Class III category.
TIAHRT AMENDMENT
It is very questionable if the Tiahrt Amendment is pro or anti-gun. "The Tiahrt Amendment, proposed by Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), prohibited the ATF from publicly releasing data showing where criminals purchased their firearms and stipulated that only law enforcement officers or prosecutors could access such information."
The reason I say questionable is because once this information is requested, it eventually becomes part of the public record of a criminal investigation.
PROTECTION OF LAWFUL COMMERCE
No question the Protection of Lawful Commerce act is pro-gun. Gun manufacturers cannot be sued in federal or state civil court by victims of gun violence.
Now liberal heads will go all splodey. "Since he launched his campaign, (Bernie) Sanders has taken flak from Clinton and other gun controllers for supporting the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which bans lawsuits based on 'the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products by others when the product functioned as designed and intended.'”
Also, that liberal bastion Obama expanded gun rights. "In fact, Obama signed only two major laws that address how guns are carried in America, and both actually expand the rights of gun owners."
HELLER
The 2008 Heller decision at the Supreme Court was a smackdown on gun bans. The High Court narrowly ruled a Washington DC handgun ban was unConstitutional. "“The handgun ban and the trigger-lock requirement (as applied to self-defense) violate the Second Amendment.”
IMPORT BAN
In a case of one step forward and a major retreat, in 2014 Obama also blocked importing some guns from other countries. "Executive Order 13661, titled, 'Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine,' was signed March 16th in response to Russian actions in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine."
TRUMP TRAIN
The current Liar in Chief has also put the STOMP! of approval on bans. "On June 20, 2017, the U.S. Treasury Department added Molot to its list of Ukraine-related sanctions 'for operating in the arms or related material sector of the Russian Federation and for acting or purporting to act for on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Kalashnikov Concern,' the Treasury Department said in a statement."
BANS SINCE THEN
States and some cities have enacted their own bans.
"With minor exceptions, state law prohibits giving an assault weapon to anyone; distributing, transporting, or importing an assault weapon; or keeping, offering, or exposing any such weapon for sale. It also, with minor exceptions, prohibits possession of an assault weapon unless the owner lawfully possessed the weapon before the ban took effect and obtained a certificate of possession from the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) for it (in effect, registered the weapon)."
"New York prohibits the manufacture, transportation, disposal and possession of any large capacity ammunition feeding device, which New York law defines as “a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that: 1) has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than ten rounds of ammunition; 2) contains more than seven rounds of ammunition; or 3) is obtained after January 15, 2013 and has a capacity of, or can be readily restored or converted to accept more than seven rounds of ammunition.”
Others are trying this too.
HAPPENING RIGHT NOW
Moves to repeal the 2nd Amendment are also on the increase.
PICKING UP SPEED
The truth is, gun rights are on a slippery slope. Anyone who says otherwise is ignoring the facts here.
Some will insist otherwise. "Nope. No slippery slope here. Nothing to see here citizen. Move along. Uncle Sam will tell you what you need to know and what you are allowed to have."
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