2A Defense: From Pretense to Offense

Emboldened by their takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives and passage of their third-straight — and increasingly restrictive — citizen-initiative ratcheting down on the rights of honest gun owners in Washington State, anti-gunners on both Capitol Hill and across the country have dropped the act.

Long-standing contentions claiming they only want “common sense” gun laws have given way to proposals to ban so-called “assault weapons” and “high-capacity magazines” by Democrats now in control of the House. Such things are not gun “control,” it’s gun “prohibition” and they know it. What has changed is they don’t care anymore if we know it!

Even before they resumed House control, Capitol Hill Democrats lining up behind California’s Nancy Pelosi were promising to put gun control high on their agenda.
“One of my top priorities on day one will be passing … gun legislation to save lives and reduce gun violence in our nation,” said Madeleine Dean, a Pennsylvania Democrat elected in November, as quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

They hope to expand Extreme Risk Protection Orders, those worrisome court orders allowing confiscation of firearms from anyone whose family member petition a court by claiming the gun owner might be a danger to themselves or others. Critics of these ERPOs, also known as “Red Flag Laws,” have raised Fourth Amendment concerns but anti-gunners are salivating at the prospect of disarming as many citizens as possible.

This comes even after the shooting death of a Maryland man in Glen Burnie during the early morning service of an ERPO. Gary J. Willis answered his door at 5:17 a.m. gun in hand, to find police with the order. He reportedly put his pistol down and then picked it up again. A scuffle ensued, a shot was fired, and one of the two officers shot Willis, who died at the scene.

At this writing, there still had not been an explanation for why the disarm order was being served so early in the morning.

The ‘Chilling Effect’

Following passage of gun control Initiative 1639 in Washington State in November, Fox News quoted Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF). His analysis was blunt: “This measure will have a chilling effect on the exercise of the constitutional rights of honest citizens while having no impact on criminals, and we will not let that go unchallenged.”

SAF and the National Rifle Association promptly sued the state in Federal court to block the measure stripping young adults ages 18-20 of the right to purchase and possess any semiautomatic rifle. The law now covers self-loading .22-caliber rimfire rifles such as the Ruger 10/22 and Marlin Model 60, along with mandating “enhanced background checks,” creates a new crime called “community endangerment,” requires proof of training within the previous five years to purchase a semi-auto rifle, and adds a 10-day waiting period and more.

But “chilling” the desire to own a firearm seems to be behind most of the gun control proposals. The most alarming of these is in Florida, where Initiative #18-03 is aimed at amending the state constitution by replacing this language, found in Section 8(a): “The right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and of the lawful authority of the state shall not be infringed, except that the manner of bearing arms may be regulated by law.”

Instead, the proponents of this measure would have Florida citizens “declare that a well-regulated militia is necessary for the security of the State and further designate the National Guard of the State of Florida and organized police forces as its militia.” Only the militia would be able to possess “military-style firearms” with a magazine capacity of more than seven rounds. Anyone with such guns would have one year to surrender them to “the local police or militia” for destruction. The complete language appears at Ballotpedia.com but in simple terms, the individual right to bear arms would be erased from the state constitution.

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg supports gun control efforts with his considerable fortune.

The Billionaires Club

Who is behind this energized gun control push? Anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg is one of the people who have weaponized their wealth as if to buy the Constitution. The late Paul Allen, who owned the Seattle Seahawks, was another. Bill and Melinda Gates have helped fund the gun control push in Washington State as have Steve (former Micrsoft CEO) and Connie Ballmer along with venture capitalist Nicholas Hanauer and his wife.

The campaign to pass Washington’s I-1693 was largely bankrolled by less than a dozen people, raising and spending more than $5.3 million.

With deep pockets backing their efforts, gun prohibitionists can push their agenda in any legislature in the nation. In 26 states and the District of Columbia, citizens have initiative and/or veto referendum rights, according to Ballotpedia. In those states, anti-gunners who fail in the legislature can simply finance an initiative campaign.
All of the pro-rights organizations put together including the National Rifle Association, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Gun Owners of America, National Association for Gun Rights and their affiliates cannot match the formidable fortunes of anti-Second Amendment elitists. SAF cannot participate in political activities, but it is the sister organization of the Citizens Committee which can. SAF devotes its energies to education and litigation — the famous McDonald v. City of Chicago Supreme Court case was an SAF effort.

What can you do?

Even with a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court and several Donald Trump appointees on the lower federal courts, this is not the time for beleaguered gun owners to throw in the towel.

2A activists need to be smart, and most gun owners will need to play catch-up. Some gun owners will have to discipline themselves to vote against gun control measures. As the Washington experience has revealed, some gun owners actually vote for restrictions or simply don’t vote at all.

If you don’t know who your state legislator is, and who your congressional representative is, you need to find out now. Every state legislature has a website where voters can find out who their lawmakers are. Likewise, information on your state’s two U.S. Senators and House members is available online.

The next couple of years could be rough, and simply beating your chest on social media under the anonymity of a pseudonym will accomplish nothing!

Anti-gunners are in this for the long haul and they’ve got lots of practice. Driven largely by emotion, they have gained enough momentum to put people in office who are openly anti-rights.

Now they are openly coming after your guns.

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