Doomsday Preppers, which airs on the National Geographic channel, explores the lives of otherwise ordinary Americans who are preparing for the end of the world as we know it. Unique in their beliefs, motivations, and strategies, preppers will go to whatever lengths they can to make sure they are prepared for any of life’s uncertainties.
Preppers may have an underground hideout, stockpiles of food, water, fuel – and, yes, guns and ammo. Lots of both. Whack jobs? Could be. But, in a crisis of civil unrest, they aim to survive on their own for months at a time. However, when it comes to firearms and calamities, some governmental entities invoke “emergency powers”, as a means to restrict gun rights just when they are needed most.
A federal district court judge in North Carolina has just struck down that state’s emergency power to impose a ban on firearms and ammunition outside the home during a declared emergency, ruling that the provision violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
The case, Bateman v. Purdue, was brought by the Second Amendment Foundation and others. Defendants in the case were Gov. Beverly Purdue and Reuben F. Young, secretary of the state’s Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, in their official capacities.
In his opinion, Judge Malcolm J. Howard, senior United States district judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina, wrote, “…the court finds that the statutes at issue here are subject to strict scrutiny…While the bans imposed pursuant to these statutes may be limited in duration, it cannot be overlooked that the statutes strip peaceable, law abiding citizens of the right to arm themselves in defense of hearth and home, striking at the very core of the Second Amendment.”
Remember hurricane Katrina? Now that was just such an emergency. The authorities abandoned their posts running for their very lives. In the wake of their cowardice, citizens were left to fend for themselves. However, before the threats were over, authorities returned and actually used gun-registration information to go door-to-door confiscating firearms. Yes, it really happened. If you don’t believe it can happen, take the time to Google “gun confiscation in Louisiana” and you’ll find a laundry-list of videos of soldiers and police disarming “subjects.”
When the water receded, the NRA had to file suit to get the law-abiding citizens’ their guns back. Yet, even today, governmental officials continue the war against its citizens’ rights. Judge Howard explained that the Supreme Court in Heller noted that the right to keep and bear arms “was valued not only for preserving the militia, but ‘more important(ly) for self-defense and hunting.”
“Therefore,” Judge Malcolm wrote, “the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms ‘is not strictly limited to the home environment but extends in some form to wherever those activities or needs occur.
Under the laws at issue here, citizens are prohibited from engaging, outside their home, in any activities secured by the Second Amendment,” Judge Malcolm wrote. “They may not carry defensive weapons outside the home, hunt or engage in firearm related sporting activities. Additionally, although the statutes do not directly regulate the possession of firearms within the home, they effectively prohibit law abiding citizens from purchasing and transporting to their homes firearms and ammunition needed for self-defense. As such, these laws burden conduct protected by the Second Amendment.”
While it is fun to poke fun at extremists, such as preppers, I salute those organizations such as the Second Amendment Foundation and the National Rifle Association for standing with “we the people” and defending our constitutional rights. In extreme cases, our rights are needed most.
