Gun rights, then and now

By Mark Pearson

I am amazed by how short the memory of some folks are, especially liberal politicians. Before the ’08 elections, some Democrats were saying, “Do not allow a disaster to go by without using it for some political gain.”  And so they have. The Obama administration created “Fast and furious” to cause people to demand that something be done about weapons in the hands of criminals.  When that blew up in their faces, they needed another catastrophe. They got it with the school shooting in Connecticut. The VP stated back then that the president was going to enact at least 12 different executive orders that were designed to achieve their anti-gun agenda.  This same leopard hasn’t changed his spots.

People, we need to wake up and pay attention. In the 1930s a cheap hood was arrested for carrying a concealed sawed-off shotgun.  He declared that he had the right to carry it under the 2nd amendment of the US Constitution.  His case was appealed all the way to the US Supreme court. That court ruled that his weapon had “no military value” therefore it was not covered under the 2nd amendment.  That ruling was upheld in the ’70s or early ’80s involving the so-called Saturday night specials. Now the liberals want to remove weapons out of the hands of law-abiding citizens because they have “military” value.  Excuse me? They can’t have it both ways.

This issue is not just about the 2nd amendment, it is, in fact, an assault on the Constitution in its entirety. But one clause in the Constitution that has been deliberately overlooked by both the media and leftist politicians is article 1 chapter 10 and this clause is not an amendment added later.  It states that “congress shall make no…ex post facto law,” period.  In modern English, it means retroactive.  No civil, criminal or any other law for that matter, can be written by congress that penalizes people for actions that were committed or for purchased items that are in their possession before that law was enacted. This same clause states that the states also cannot pass ex post facto laws. 

When the Virginia governor demanded that no firearms be allowed on the VA capital grounds during a pro-gun rally, he was the one violating the law.     

Therefore anyone legally owning a weapon or a certain magazine that may hold a certain round capacity cannot be declared illegal.  All ownership of the above-stated items before a law banning such items is enacted is not in violation of that law.  Any law that attempts to confiscate such weapons or magazines is unconstitutional and therefore illegal.  If Congress or any president (even though I don’t expect President Trump to sign such a bill) passes such a law “it” in effect makes them the outlaws, not the law-abiding gun owners.

Does anyone remember a portion of the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence?  “That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.” Remember that before the American Revolution the colonists put up with and endured several illegal tax laws. It wasn’t until the British army went after the guns at Lexington and Concord that the shooting started.

Every totalitarian dictator throughout history has attempted to disarm the population, from the Philistines not allowing the Jews to have swords, [1^st Samuel 13:19] right up to the present time.  After they seized power Hitler, Mao and Stalin confiscated all the weapons and we all know what the result of that was.  I remember the words that have been attributed to the Spartan king Leonidas in his response to the King of Persia when he demanded that they lay down their arms.  He said, “Come and take them!” These in effect were the words of the “Minute Men” who stood at Lexington and at Concord.

Do we honestly think that leftist politicians won’t stop trying? The old saying, “If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” is not quite true.  Unfortunately, If guns are outlawed then only the “government” and outlaws will have guns. That scares me even more than the first part of that statement.  Eternal vigilance was needed back then and it is still needed now.

Since then, we have had many more incidents involving firearms and the politicians still continue their rants.  Ex VP Joe Biden in his campaign debates still promises that if elected, he will take on the NRA and other gun lobbies to restrict our gun ownership. Make no mistake about it, if the second amendment is abolished then the rest of the Constitution and all the other protected rights contained therein will be lost.