In an article similar in spirit to those here at TCJ, Paul Markel at Ammoland writes on California Compliant Firearms: Enabling Bad Behavior.

Whatever area of business or politics you examine, when you get down to the nitty-gritty, the back room deals, its all about control. Who is in control? Who will control whom? When a state legislature passes some type of arbitrary ruling that a firearm must be configured this way or cannot be configured that way, they are exercising control. They are forcing private enterprise, and that is what gun companies are, into a position of even greater subservience and submission. Do these bureaucrats do so from genuine interest in public safety? If you answer honestly, it is no. Then why do it?

There is this little thing called precedence. You could also use the terms “establishing a narrative” or “setting the tone”. When a group of politicians get together and “set the terms” for how firearms can and cannot be manufactured they are essentially setting a precedent …

Gun registration is an excellent example of fallacy being presented as fact. In certain states, New York for example, lawful citizens must ‘register’ their handguns with the state. Because of this precedence, citizens in New York have a misconception that this registration policy is universal throughout the United States. Thanks to Hollywood, non-gun people or new gun owners assume that they have to ‘register’ their guns or that everyone who owns a gun must register it with the state …

When it is suggested that firearms makers refuse to make guns that ‘comply’ with the thoughtless and empty regulations of certain states the word “fair” gets thrown around. It’s not ‘fair’ to punish the citizens for the actions of their government some will say. Why should we be punished? To that question I would ask, who elected and continues to elect the politicians who pass these empty, feel-good laws? If not the citizens of the state, then who?

Corporate executives will attempt to placate ‘hot-headed’ customers who question their motivation and spinal status regarding the sale of “compliant” guns. These professional businessmen will explain that it is “complicated” and not so black and white …

For the “it’s complicated” crowd I would offer this. Every time you comply, every time you take the “reasonable” approach, you perpetuate and enable bad behavior.

I’m sympathetic to the objection that in rejecting compliant firearms we’re punishing people who didn’t vote the totalitarians into office.  But in the end, innocent people always suffer in the wake of bad decisions.  Consequences is no respecter of persons.

“Hot heads.”  I guess that’s what they think.  We bloggers and gun owners who reject compliant firearms and lobby for companies to relocate and allow states to feel the affects of their actions, while also voting with their own dollars to shutter businesses who go along to get along with the totalitarians – we’re just hot heads.

We aren’t well considered, thoughtful, free market practitioners of liberty, we’re hot heads.  So be it.  They can call us whatever they want.  We must follow our conscience whether they consider that to be principled or hot headed and spiteful and non-pragmatic.

As one more leverage point for principled gun owners, friends don’t let friends enable bad behavior.  Just say no to compliant firearms.