In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled that Americans have a right to possess arms in the home for self defense – a ruling that prevents government from enacting overly restrictive gun-control regulations. In 2010, the court announced that Second Amendment rights apply not only in federal jurisdictions but throughout the country in state and local jurisdictions as well.
It seems that it would be a simple edict to follow except the language “overly restrictive gun-control regulations”. Tis the fly in the ointment and politicians such as Governor Brown of California will test the law’s intent with their version of “reasonable” laws, as if just one more law will do the trick.
But, the rush is on in California – the rush to mass exodus, that is. Last week, gun legislation signed into law by Governor Brown signals the floodgates to open even wider, as sportsmen’s voices were ignored.
Liberalism was on display, as California bucked the national trend to loosen gun ownership restrictions by requiring the preservation of records for long guns sold or transferred after January 1, 2014 with the passage of AB 809. The measure was cheered by Dallas Stout, President of the California Brady Campaign Chapters who said, “The Governor has shown common sense and real courage…”
But, it is this type of “intellect” that has created a budget deficit as much as $28 billion this year and over $20 billion annually for the foreseeable future. The National Shooting Foundation’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel Larry Keane said, “The bill[s]will increase costs for the taxpayers and the state’s retailers, most of whom are small mom-and-pop businesses. It will cost the state jobs and tax revenue, all the while doing absolutely nothing to reduce crime.”
Of course, this bill and AB 144 also signed into law, which prohibits carrying in public openly displayed handguns, are cited as viable means to control crime. Sounds logical to the uninformed, but oh, those pesky facts.
The gun-control advocates rely on scare tactics and fear that never materialize. Remember how they were quick to sound the alarm when the landmark Supreme Court cases of Washington D.C. and Chicago struck down restrictive gun bans? It’s emotion. Nothing else.
District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty had this prediction: “More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence.”
Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley predicted disaster. He said that overturning the gun ban was “a very frightening decision” and predicted more deaths along with Wild West-style shootouts and that people “are going to take a gun and they are going to end their lives in a family dispute.” . . .
According to John Lott, author of “More Guns, Less Crime”, in the first six months of this year, there were 14 percent fewer murders in Chicago compared to the first six months of last year (when owning handguns was illegal), which marks the largest drop in Chicago’s murder rate since the handgun ban went into effect in 1982. Similarly, in the year after the 2008 Heller decision, the murder rate in Washington, D.C., fell two-and-a-half times faster than in the rest of the country.
Here’s a little prediction of my own: The 2012 election will continue the revolution toward freedoms at the polls that swept this country in 2010 like a new broom. That’s one fact the liberals won’t be able to dodge. Will they understand? Probably not.
