The Beginning of the End

I've asked in prior posts: Where is your line in the sand? At what point do you say "this far and no farther"?

David Codrea of the War On Guns, alerted by Jeff Knox of The Firearms Coalition really stirred a hornet's nest over on his National Examiner Blog today.

H.R. 45 was introduced on the first day. The effective result - the registration of all long guns with detachable magazines, and handguns by requiring a permitting system whereby all gun owners must take training and pay for a permit to prove their worthiness to exercise their inherent right to self defense. Further, there are national safe storage requirements, additional record keeping requirements, and, short of "occasional" gifting of firearms amongst family members, the Government steps in and regulates all transfers of firearms by requiring background checks.

Please go read David's writeup at the Examiner link above, it is excellent and will bring you up to speed.

So obviously, I read that post this morning, and the rage filled me (I think I spilled some coffee). I figured I'd post a comment on that site, adding to the sounds of who were giving the bill a richly deserved blasting.

Lo and behold, here comes Mr. Fudd himself! A poster styling himself The Rifleman immediately started defending the bill on the basis that it did not actually ban guns, and it's ok to license guns just like we do cars.

My response to him, and to this bill follows (I regret that I mistyped David at one point in my original response on the Examiner site - if you are reading it there under the handle Triptyx, please replace that one instance of "David" with "The Rifleman"):

The Rifleman. Every confiscation effort *ever* has begun with "common sense" regulations - like this registration scheme. This is unconstitutional (licensing a right guaranteed by the constitution), it's stupid (criminals will not register, they will not get their thumb print taken, and they will not use a gun registered to themself in the commission of a crime), and it's absolutely pointless.

What happens next year when they increase the exam requirement to yearly, and institute a fee of $500 to take it?

How about the year after that when they refuse to allow half of authorized exam proctors to re-up their authorization?

What about when they suddenly decide you don't "need" a handgun any more, and show up at the door of every registrant to take them with a SWAT team?

Hunters such as you, The Rifleman, that refuse to see that just because a restriction doesn't affect your bolt-action hunting rifle or shotgun now, doesn't mean they won't call it a sniper rifle and demand it be turned in next year, are the one of the key factors in the erosion of our rights.

This is not about "safety", it is not about "security", it is not about stopping crime, it is the first step to full blown confiscation. Plain and simple. If you refuse to see that, if you refuse to step up and stand united with other gun owners against laws that will do nothing to improve safety, or reduce crime, and cost billions of dollars of your tax money for no real gain, you'll pay the price later when they come for *you*.

This *is* the line. It shall not be crossed.

The Rifleman posted again later and said:
"

After making my post, I talked to a colleague of mine and predicted exactly the kind of wild attacks that appeared here today. I wonder how many of you were this concerned with warrantless surveillance on Americans. I suspect, very strongly, that the majority of you were in support of it. Hypocrites.

"

And there is more prattling on about how you can't yell fire in a theater, etc. At no point does he actually address any one of many well thought out and reasoned responses to his original posting. Naturally "Karen" then chimes in that seeing the responses to the article, she thinks maybe we *should* ban guns. Wow Karen, you don't see that every day. (end sarcasm)

That's ok though. We know that The Rifleman and Karen are either liberal plants, or a person whom we will not convince anyways.

Here is what the myriad of responses on that article should tell anyone who is supporting, lobbying, or voting for this bill:
You, the sponsors, supporters and enablers of this bill, are hereby placed on notice that there exist a large number of people in this nation that will not tolerate this. They will do what Americans have done since (and before) the founding of this country. They will dig in their heels and refuse to heed your decree. They know all too well that the Government that registers arms rapidly becomes the Government that confiscates those arms. Shortly after that, they become the Government that exterminates large percentages of its people.

You will either have to arrest or kill us. You will have to go door to door to make sure everyone registers, and you still won't get even 30% participation. And all the while, criminals will still be out there killing indiscriminately. Your bill is worthless garbage. It isn't worth the paper it is written on, nor the air that will be expended by all of you pompous, vapid windbags as you ramrod it through Congress. This bill is doomed to fail. Yes, you might get it passed into law, but you will very likely be signing death warrants for some number of the Police Officers that will enforce the law. You will be creating even more criminals to stuff in your overcrowded jails - the same ones you're having to release people from right now since you can't even bloody well afford to keep them there. You will be marginalizing a class of people for whom self sufficiency and a sense of honor is treasured. Attempting to remove that treasured heritage will result in bloodshed.

This bill itself might just finally finish tearing the fabric of this country irrevocably. You are pusillanimous tyrants, fit only to wallow in your own excrement and gorge from the trough of public funds. You are liars, and, worst of all, are without honor.

This far, and no farther. We will not register. We will not prostrate ourselves upon the floor and beg permission to exercise those rights which are granted to us merely by living in this world. We do not recognize your usurpation of the Constitution in this matter, and never will. You may kill some of us, others you may throw in jail, but you will not succeed.
III

Progress of this bill can be monitored at OpenCongress.org.