Tilting At Windmills

Tilting at Windmills

If you believe much of the news you hear, those of us in the Second Amendment community are simply tilting at windmills. They claim we are fighting a false enemy, one that does not exist. They claim they do not want to take away our gun rights or guns. They claim they support the Second Amendment and we have nothing to fear from the “common sense” gun control laws they want to pass. But guess what? The enemy is real and our cause is valid.

How many times have you heard someone say “I support the Second Amendment”, but then in the next sentence describe how they believe there are “reasonable” or “common sense” measures they support which infringe on those very rights they supposedly support? As a reminder, the last four words of the Second Amendment are: … “shall not be infringed”.

Have you ever noticed that gun safety “activists” or “advocates” refer to firearm owners as “gun enthusiasts”? The association they are trying to draw is that those of us in the Second Amendment community are simply pursuing a hobby, leisure or sporting activity, not a Constitutionally protected right to bear arms. By keeping the strong, noble terms for themselves, they imply they are fighting for a worthy cause. None of it is by accident. It’s all done to convince those who are on the fence to support their cause.

These gun control activists look at us with a straight face and say nobody wants to take your guns. It’s a great line and it’s meant to calm the fears of the people who own firearms. They say they just want to implement some “common sense” regulations in the name of public safety. Who could argue against public safety?

The problem is, public safety has nothing to do with the laws they are promoting. Oh sure, things start out innocently enough. The first step is usually outlawing private party sales so all firearms must be transferred through a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) Why? Because if you are ever going to confiscate firearms, you have to know who owns them.

The lack of knowing who has the firearms is why the Australian gun confiscation model was, and continues to be such a failure. The most generous estimate of how many firearms were confiscated following the first mandatory buyback program in 1996 is 20%. By having a full firearm registry of the firearms and who bought them in place before the eventual all-out ban and confiscation of firearms is initiated, or even a subset of firearms, they will be able to collect and destroy more legally owned firearms. Having all firearms transferred through a FFL ensures that list is created.

But gun control never ends with the first step. It is a never-ending incremental strategy to eliminate your ability to own and use a firearm. Limitations on the number of firearms you can purchase in a given time period, the type of firearms you can buy or own, the type of accessories you can buy or own and the type and amount of ammunition you can buy. Then of course there are the licensing fees. There are always more licenses and more fees just to own the firearms you already have. By making owning a firearm and ammunition more expensive, it helps eliminate the possibility of firearm ownership by the lower economic class.

If the entire set of Second Amendment infringement laws were proposed all at once, there would undoubtedly be a nationwide revolution since everyone would be impacted all at once. Rather the slow, measured approach is taken. Like boiling a frog, you don’t realize what is happening until it is too late.

For those who don’t believe this is the gun control goal, take a look at what has already happened in California, Oregon, Washington, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts to name only a few. Then take a look at the bills currently under consideration in the gun control dominated legislatures of these states. All in the name of “public safety” and to close loopholes in the laws they’ve already implemented to ensure public safety.

Remember, gun control does absolutely nothing to increase public safety and the answer to fix that shortcoming is always to implement more gun control.

Unlike Don Quixote, our opponent is real, as is the cause we are fighting for. The gun control, or more correctly termed gun elimination movement is big, well funded, well organized and is spreading to the most vulnerable areas across the nation. The good news is it can and has been stopped in some areas. Good, honest and patriotic people have seen through the lies and stopped the threat to the Second Amendment and their ability to defend their lives and the lives of their families.

Call it whatever you like, I for one will continue tilting all I can.

Bob

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