I won't pull any punches here.
When I see the subject of gun control come up the very first thing I think of is what the government is planning on doing to the people that would make We, the People want to shoot them? Plain and simple. What are you planning to do to us in the future?
Every genocide that occurred in the 20th century has been preceded by gun control. Every tyrannical takeover has been preceded by gun control.
It's also interesting to note that recently in Israel Hamas started their attack on Israel by murdering hundreds of unarmed Israelis. They have no Second Amendment and were unarmed and helpless. They were savagely mowed down.
It is also interesting to note that most of the mass shootings have taken place in gun free zones simply because the perpetrator realized that unarmed people in these gun free zones do not shoot back. They can't.
Ohio has, fairly recently, permitted trained teachers to carry firearms in the classroom. This will serve to make Ohio's classrooms safer.
Yet no individual mass murderer on the planet has even come close to .0001% of the murders caused by governments gone bad that have turned on the people.
Fine. Let's go to another part of your gun control argument.
Bans. Lately a big issue is the so-called 'assault rifle' ban. First of all real assault rifles are already banned and have been so federally since 1934 which is actually before the assault rifle was even invented. A true assault rifle is not semi automatic. It is fully automatic, meaning it can be utilized as a real machine gun.
What makes the AR15 so deadly is its appearance in the media. Nothing else.
Let's look at the success of the bans in other states. NJ, NY, and CT have assault rifle bans. Compliance is reportedly in single digit percentages. I can recall Governor Molloy being informed that the law was being ignored and throwing a temper tantrum and making threats to have the State Police enforce the law.
What he didn't stop and think about is that an inordinate number of state policemen were ignoring the law also. Few of them were likely to enforce the new law. Few PA Troopers are likely to get behind enforcing the law. One reason is that many of them likely own the very guns that you want to see banned. They don't want to get rid of them, either.
There are an estimated 20 million AR 15s in the country today. Personally I think that is a low figure. Do you really think people will turn them in?
It's unconstitutional to compensate property without due compensation. Due compensation means what the item is worth. Do you think that someone is going to accept a $100 token for a $2500 rifle?
While we're on the subject of the AR15 rifle, I can easily explain in simple terms what makes the rifle so deadly in the eyes of the public.
Simple answer: the media.
The average PA hunting rifle is far more powerful than the .223 cartridge used in the AR15. In fact nine states outlaw the cartridge for deer hunting because it's not powerful enough to insure a humane kill.
The same holds true in NJ and Upper state NY. The law is being ignored and will likely be in PA. By such reasoning that makes it a bad law which Americans by nature totally ignore. Can't say as I blame them because there are a number of laws I ignore. I'm no different that anyone else. If a law is fair and just I obey it. If it is tyrannical and unjust I simply break it. Like all good Americans I would not have ratted out Anne Frank who was hidden by lawbreakers and ratted out by law abiding citizens.
One thing that is certain is that the laws enacted have not decreased crime a bit. Instead they have increased it by creating felons out of otherwise law abiding citizens. These laws will immediately create a delinquent subculture.
The 18th Amendment of the US Constitution is a prime example. It heralded the entry of organized crime on an unprecedented level and the Volstead Act was flouted. Bootleggers and moonshiners were national heroes.
No elected official wants to vote for a law that is likely to be ignored. Politically it is a dumb thing to do. It makes them look foolish.
You have justified your stand with your career as an MD. "As an MD I have had to deal with..." and you talk about gun violence. I understand. You want to make it go away. Fact is it can't. That dab of toothpaste came out of the tube in 1788 when the Constitution was ratified.
Gun control serves only to enable those looking to commit evil acts and weakens honest citizens.
On the other hand look at the countries that have no Second Amendment. They are not as 'civilized' as some people think.
Now lets go to the State Constitution re-ratified as recently as 1968. I seriously wonder how many of our elected officials have ever even sat down and read it.
I won't go to Article 1, section 20 which reads "The right of the people to bear arms in defense of themselves and the state shall not be questioned." Instead I will go to the inherent rights of mankind.
§ 1. Inherent rights of mankind.
All men are born equally free and independent, and have certain
inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, posessing and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing their own happiness
For those that have to do this they need the proper tools. Arms.
That is why Section 20 (or Section 20 in 1968) was enacted. It was put there to give us the proper tools to work with. It shall not be questioned.
Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince says that a government that does not trust its citizens to be armed is not to be trusted. If you have not read Machiavelli and aspire to a career in elected office I recommend it.
Fact is that if you don't trust the people to be armed there is no reason whatsoever to trust you. That goes for government in general.
Now let's look at the current trend of so-called 'red flag' laws which enable anyone to disarm their neighbors by a complaint that they are scared simply because their neighbor owns a firearm. (Which is how such a law is likely to be abused.)
This is often done by someone knowingly issuing a false report to a police officer. This empowers someone that is under no real threat whatsoever to deny a citizen of the Commonwealth a basic right.
To quote Dante, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions".
On the other hand, I could go along with this under certain circumstances. The accused should be allowed to defend themselves at the expense of the Commonwealth. The matter of denying a citizen of a basic right should be decided by a jury of his peers. A court order by a judge (in many cases a person with a political agenda) is not good enough. This should go to a jury. Justice should not be decided by who has the deepest pockets or party politics.
Another thing about any law enacted is not what is intended to do but how it can a (and will) be abused. Red flag laws will be abused by people with an agenda and they will be permitted to do so anonymously with impunity.
Which leads to a couple of things you could do that would make a difference to all of us. Enact legislation making issuing a false report to police officer at least a misdemeanor crime and put the necessary teeth in it to force county DAs to prosecute this crime.
When a false accusation against someone can cause them a lot of trouble. It ties up valuable assets and can lead to a false arrest. This holds double when the false accusation involves a firearm. This is called 'SWATTING' and it endangers the firearm owner and the officer that has to deal with the situation.
The other thing you could get behind is Constitutional Carry, meaning a person does not need a permit to carry a firearm either openly or concealed. Governor Landry of Louisiana just signed a Constitutional Carry bill which will make Louisiana the 28th state in the Union to have permit less Constitutional Carry.
It should be carefully noted the predictions of Constitutional Carry creating a scene 'straight out of Dodge City' have not come to fruition. On the contrary, Ohio reports a decrease in violent crime. So have many other states.
I have no idea what your knowledge of firearms is. If you would like to learn about firearms I will cheerfully extend you the offer to take you to a local sportsman club and teach you and familiarize you with a number of firearms at my expense at any mutually convenient time. At least you will be familiar with what you are voting on.
Currently you are looking at making a felony out of home building a firearm. You might want to take a look at the people that do build their own.
It takes skills to build a rifle and those with those skills are in demand industry and have jobs. These are not a part of the criminal subculture. They do nobody harm and are basically good citizens. These are not the people you are after.
Many serious competitive shooters build their own firearms simply because they can get a more accurate firearm by picking and choosing the parts that go into them.
Don't go after honest citizens, go after the real criminals. The current 'catch and release' programs don't work. Go after the criminal element and punish them severely.
We, the People are sick and tired of paying for the misdeeds of the criminal element with a loss of our basic rights.
Education is important because there is nothing worse than an elected official voting on something they are unfamiliar with. A classic case of this is Carolyn McCarthy when she referred to a barrel shroud as "The shoulder thing that goes up" making her the laughingstock of the firearm community and also proving that a number of our elected officials have no clue whatsoever with what they are doing and are just going along with what someone else told them to vote on.
This is in no way designed to be a personal attack. It's just a case of a fellow Pennsylvanian keeping an eye on his elected officials like he is supposed to. According to Thomas Jefferson, The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
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