The Worst Gun Bill Ever

BY Herschel Smith
10 years, 1 month ago

Herald Tribune:

You’re at the range.

A longtime friend comes over and asks if he could try your handgun, as he’s contemplating buying one.

Of course you agree. That’s what gun owners do.

If this scenario occurs in Washington State after the passage of Initiative 594, both of you have broken the law.

Initiative 594 would classify this as a transfer — something that would require paperwork, fees, a waiting period and if it involves a handgun, government registration.

The proposed legislation doesn’t even recognize a loan among family members.

A dad couldn’t loan a shotgun to his son on opening day without the proper paperwork.

I am not kidding.

It’s a registration scheme disguised as  “Universal background check” legislation.

I-594 is perhaps the most ill-conceived ballot initiative I’ve ever seen. Sure, there are gun laws that have been more harmful, such as those with “ban” in the title. Few, however, are so poorly thought out.

As you can imagine, there is a lot of money rolling in to support the ballot initiative. Michael Bloomberg and Bill Gates have donated millions.

NRA and other gun groups are getting involved.

Washington gun owners are pushing back hard.  They have created a must-read website, and are getting the word out via social media.

Their handy “pocket guide” explains the bill very clearly.

Well, there are many bad gun laws, and it’s hard to pick out the worst one.  But it’s seems true that the recent surrender on the assault weapons ban by the anti-gunners is a misdirect.  It isn’t what they’re really interested in.  This is what they really want.

The only way we can truly be safe and prevent further gun violence is to ban civilian ownership of all guns. That means everything. No pistols, no revolvers, no semiautomatic or automatic rifles. No bolt action. No breaking actions or falling blocks. Nothing. This is the only thing that we can possibly do to keep our children safe from both mass murder and common street violence.

Unfortunately, right now we can’t. The political will is there, but the institutions are not. Honestly, this is a good thing. If we passed a law tomorrow banning all firearms, we would have massive noncompliance. What we need to do is establish the regulatory and informational institutions first. This is how we do it.  The very first thing we need is national registry. We need to know where the guns are, and who has them.

All gun control is wicked, but perhaps the most wicked is the government desire to catalog all gun owners and their weapons.  Fight it, never surrender.  Never give one inch.  Never compromise.  Never.  Don’t even consider it.  Ever.

Trackbacks & Pingbacks


Comments

  1. On September 16, 2014 at 7:33 am, Frank Clarke said:

    When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I wonder how much havoc might be created by rigid attention to the rule book, say as at a swap meet where one handgun is “transferred” 15 times as it moves around a circle of admirers. Okay, let’s all fill out our paperwork and submit it en masse. Department of Licensing, where can I park this truck full of paper?

  2. On September 16, 2014 at 10:40 am, GomeznSA said:

    And should this ill-conceived and poorly written (perhaps intentionally?) initiative actually pass, that tactic might very well spell its doom. As I recall, WA Dept. of Licensing is having a hard time keeping up with their paperwork now, burying them under a couple of mountains of paperwork might wake up enough folks to overturn it.
    OTOH, knowing how the political bureaucracy there ‘works’ (one of the reasons I moved) they would probably just create yet another agency solely to process (VERY slowly of course) that mountain of paper……………….

  3. On September 16, 2014 at 7:46 am, boogyoogyoogy said:

    Please Frank, let’s not make light of TREASON.

    OUR definition, not their’s.

  4. On September 16, 2014 at 10:28 am, z--man said:

    They may not have to wait for I-594. When Connecticut Governor Mike Malloy wins reelection in November, by December he’s going to start kicking in doors to enforce that State’s “Assault Weapons” ban. Cuomo in New York State will follow. The agents in those States will find themselves seriously outmatched, and they’ll ask for help from the feds, which they will get. That’s when it will really hit the fan and this thing will spread nation-wide..

  5. On September 16, 2014 at 10:35 am, GomeznSA said:

    I’ve been saying it for decades (literally) – if someone could invent a magic ray that would instantaneously vaporize every single gun (and that would include military hardware) – crime would NOT also disappear. It would result in essentially survival of the strongest as there would be nothing to stop them from asserting their will on anyone. Be very careful gun banners, if you get your wish, the consequences might very well NOT be to your liking.

  6. On September 16, 2014 at 10:43 am, pjb1 said:

    Look at the bright side of I-594. If it passes, there will be a lot of people learning to disobey the law. Obedience is an attribute of slaves, and this law would do an awful lot to mentally free the slaves.

    It’s one thing to pass a law, another thing entirely to enforce it.

  7. On September 16, 2014 at 5:39 pm, Heyoka said:

    First off pardon me for this lengthy rant. It has to be said so that we do not become absorbed in
    untangling the Gordon Knot; we become Alexander, draw our sword and cut through the damnable thing.

    Firts rule reason is not the same as rationalize. Reason is using established scientific forms of the discipline to arrive at the conclusion; rationalize is using any premise available to arrive to support one’s agenda.

    Here is the history on Guns:

    I have uncovered a bit of information he may be interested in. First the information that is current with regard to the Heller Decision. Scalia mentioning regulation of fire arms was done in a vacuum. There was little reference to the issue at bar in the “opinion. The reference to the
    militia statutes is misleading. The statutes define what a militia member must report to duty with as the bare minimum. That is why a fine is stipulated if the militia member does not show up with those bare essentials. The Court’s opinion attempts to limit the arms kept to the bare minimum and hence the “regulate they want so desperately to do. This is not the term as defined
    in the Constitution and the Federalist Papers to drill in movement and formation in order to be an effective military unit; their regulate wants to limit. Here is the reason why it does not.

    Second, and maybe most importantly, there is the fact that cannon were held by the citizens of Boston prior to the Revolution. They were seized by the British under Gage acting as the Military Governor but were taken back by a band of merry intrepid patriots. At the end of the war in 1788 the Massachusetts Government petitioned Henry Knox to have the cannon returned. The statement is as follows and is inscribed upon the gun to this day:

    “Sacred to Liberty: This is one of four cannons, which constituted the whole train of Field Artillery possessed by the British Colonies of North America, at the commencement of the war, on the 19th of April, 1775. This cannon and its fellow belonging to a number of citizens of Boston, were used in many engagements during the war. The other two, the property of
    the Government of Massachusetts were taken by the enemy. By order of the United
    States in Congress assembled May 19th, 1788. ”

    “Belonging to a number of citizens of Boston…” and specifically separating the “Government of Massachusetts” showing ownership was intended to show the appreciation for the use of the guns in the war and the esteem in which the Congress held for the patriotic citizens of Boston. There is no mistake there is no sleight of hand here the proclamation and the words are exact and in plain un-adulterated English. The guns were honored for their part in the
    struggle for Independence.

    General Gage the installed British General was absolutely sure about the arms
    he thought expedient to seize to prevent an outright resistance to the Crown’s
    tyranny.

    “You will march…with the utmost expedition and Secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and destroy all the Artillery, Ammunition, Provisions…Small Arms, and all Military Stores
    whatever…” — General Gage’s orders to Lt. Col. Smith, April 18, 1775.

    The privateer Navy was larger and better gunned than that of the fledgling United States Navy.
    It seems that this hearty group of sea faring folk were in possession of armed ships and were Privateers during the Revolution and during the war of 1812. The US Maritime Marine
    Museum has a sight which quotes their sources and gives very accurate numbers of ships and guns, carriage guns and swivel guns. The site quotes that while there were only 64 armed ships in the Navy there were 1,697 privately owned armed ships operated by privateers. The total guns aboard the naval ships numbers just 1,242 while the Privately Owned vessels had 14,872
    carriage and swivel guns aboard. In short the combined privately owned cannon and swivel guns were nearly14 times that of the Continental Navy.

    So let us have no more rationalization designed to support disarmament of the people for “dangerous and frightening” weapons based upon some disconnected “rationalization’ whose sole purpose is to provide some reaching rationale. There is no reason here it is a screeching demand for disarmament based upon un supported rationalization that merely attempts to show purpose behind the act. There is no logic, there is no “reason” within the meaning of the word there is only clamor for their agenda.

    The basis for all precedents to be overturned is “unreasonable”. So in several short paragraphs we have shown that all gun control measures are not pursuant to the historical context, they
    are not based upon reason and they are no supported by the plain language of the Second Amendment.

    Did the meaning of the Amendment include field artillery; of course it did and does. There is no
    limit the colonists had excess to the most destructive military implement invented in the day. There is no ruling on the limitation of the Second Amendment, thus far, that will show with reason that there was a limitation placed upon the arms that the people may possess.

    Every rationalization no matter how close to form it is written to appear as a valid authority of any court can stand this light of day. The rulings are void of reason with the defined meaning of the term and therefore void and unconstitutional have been reach by fallacious and twisted attempt to make rationalization appear as reason.

  8. On September 16, 2014 at 11:08 pm, Dubs said:

    Capable arms in the hands of citizens are needed.
    Draw a line. Divide into 8 parts. Far left is no arms, far right is all arms.
    From the left, do you believe in self defense? What tools will be available? If SD ok, then one step to the right. From the right, access to NBC (nuclear, biological or chemical) weapons? OK to keep a NBC weapon in basement under private control? What restrictions are reasonable? If no, move to the left. We have now established that there are freedoms subject to limitations.
    From self defense, what tools? Traditional weapons, black power weapons, modern weapons? Move to right. From limits on personal weapons, after NBC, are crew served weapons, machine guns, or modern weapons ok? Move to left. We are arguing about a small subset.
    Please note, I support the removal of the Hughes amendment, the ease or elimination of class three and destructive devices, and question the constitutional legality of many gun laws. I cannot support private use of NBC weapons.
    This from a Life member of NRA and GOA. What is reasonable? And what do we do when the phaser plasma rifle is constructed? Or other new technology.
    Anything that the sheriffs office can have, citizens can have. Anything not conducive to personal defense, but generalized destruction and environmental destruction should be restricted. We can argue a lot about what this entails.
    Thoughts?

  9. On September 16, 2014 at 5:46 pm, Russell Smith said:

    This is why I don’t own guns. I lost all mine in a boating accident. Even that beautiful wood furniture AK-47.

  10. On September 17, 2014 at 1:26 am, Shinypartsup said:

    There are more out there. Buy one or more, but keep them dry this time. I am sorry for your loss but don’t let it define you.

  11. On September 17, 2014 at 6:51 pm, Russell Smith said:

    (The running gag is “I may or may not have guns, but it’s not the business of the NSA that’s likely looking for code words in my posts.”)

  12. On September 17, 2014 at 7:42 pm, Shinypartsup said:

    I get the humor. Unless you live like the Unibomber (but peacefully) you have left lots of information laying around.

  13. On September 17, 2014 at 7:55 pm, Russell Smith said:

    I’ve considered getting myself a “Unicabin” and spend the rest of my life fishing quietly, but it’s getting harder and harder to just ‘vanish’ these days. That’s a sad commentary on the ‘right to be left alone’.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment


You are currently reading "The Worst Gun Bill Ever", entry #12741 on The Captain's Journal.

This article is filed under the category(s) Gun Control and was published September 15th, 2014 by Herschel Smith.

If you're interested in what else the The Captain's Journal has to say, you might try thumbing through the archives and visiting the main index, or; perhaps you would like to learn more about TCJ.

26th MEU (10)
Abu Muqawama (12)
ACOG (2)
ACOGs (1)
Afghan National Army (36)
Afghan National Police (17)
Afghanistan (704)
Afghanistan SOFA (4)
Agriculture in COIN (3)
AGW (1)
Air Force (40)
Air Power (10)
al Qaeda (83)
Ali al-Sistani (1)
America (22)
Ammunition (284)
Animals (297)
Ansar al Sunna (15)
Anthropology (3)
Antonin Scalia (1)
AR-15s (378)
Arghandab River Valley (1)
Arlington Cemetery (2)
Army (87)
Assassinations (2)
Assault Weapon Ban (29)
Australian Army (7)
Azerbaijan (4)
Backpacking (3)
Badr Organization (8)
Baitullah Mehsud (21)
Basra (17)
BATFE (229)
Battle of Bari Alai (2)
Battle of Wanat (18)
Battle Space Weight (3)
Bin Laden (7)
Blogroll (3)
Blogs (24)
Body Armor (23)
Books (3)
Border War (18)
Brady Campaign (1)
Britain (38)
British Army (35)
Camping (5)
Canada (17)
Castle Doctrine (1)
Caucasus (6)
CENTCOM (7)
Center For a New American Security (8)
Charity (3)
China (16)
Christmas (16)
CIA (30)
Civilian National Security Force (3)
Col. Gian Gentile (9)
Combat Outposts (3)
Combat Video (2)
Concerned Citizens (6)
Constabulary Actions (3)
Coolness Factor (3)
COP Keating (4)
Corruption in COIN (4)
Council on Foreign Relations (1)
Counterinsurgency (218)
DADT (2)
David Rohde (1)
Defense Contractors (2)
Department of Defense (210)
Department of Homeland Security (26)
Disaster Preparedness (5)
Distributed Operations (5)
Dogs (15)
Donald Trump (27)
Drone Campaign (4)
EFV (3)
Egypt (12)
El Salvador (1)
Embassy Security (1)
Enemy Spotters (1)
Expeditionary Warfare (17)
F-22 (2)
F-35 (1)
Fallujah (17)
Far East (3)
Fathers and Sons (2)
Favorite (1)
Fazlullah (3)
FBI (39)
Featured (190)
Federal Firearms Laws (18)
Financing the Taliban (2)
Firearms (1,798)
Football (1)
Force Projection (35)
Force Protection (4)
Force Transformation (1)
Foreign Policy (27)
Fukushima Reactor Accident (6)
Ganjgal (1)
Garmsir (1)
general (15)
General Amos (1)
General James Mattis (1)
General McChrystal (44)
General McKiernan (6)
General Rodriguez (3)
General Suleimani (9)
Georgia (19)
GITMO (2)
Google (1)
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (1)
Gun Control (1,672)
Guns (2,338)
Guns In National Parks (3)
Haditha Roundup (10)
Haiti (2)
HAMAS (7)
Haqqani Network (9)
Hate Mail (8)
Hekmatyar (1)
Heroism (5)
Hezbollah (12)
High Capacity Magazines (16)
High Value Targets (9)
Homecoming (1)
Homeland Security (3)
Horses (2)
Humor (72)
Hunting (38)
ICOS (1)
IEDs (7)
Immigration (114)
India (10)
Infantry (4)
Information Warfare (4)
Infrastructure (4)
Intelligence (23)
Intelligence Bulletin (6)
Iran (171)
Iraq (379)
Iraq SOFA (23)
Islamic Facism (64)
Islamists (98)
Israel (19)
Jaish al Mahdi (21)
Jalalabad (1)
Japan (3)
Jihadists (81)
John Nagl (5)
Joint Intelligence Centers (1)
JRTN (1)
Kabul (1)
Kajaki Dam (1)
Kamdesh (9)
Kandahar (12)
Karachi (7)
Kashmir (2)
Khost Province (1)
Khyber (11)
Knife Blogging (7)
Korea (4)
Korengal Valley (3)
Kunar Province (20)
Kurdistan (3)
Language in COIN (5)
Language in Statecraft (1)
Language Interpreters (2)
Lashkar-e-Taiba (2)
Law Enforcement (6)
Lawfare (14)
Leadership (6)
Lebanon (6)
Leon Panetta (2)
Let Them Fight (2)
Libya (14)
Lines of Effort (3)
Littoral Combat (8)
Logistics (50)
Long Guns (1)
Lt. Col. Allen West (2)
Marine Corps (280)
Marines in Bakwa (1)
Marines in Helmand (67)
Marjah (4)
MEDEVAC (2)
Media (68)
Medical (146)
Memorial Day (6)
Mexican Cartels (41)
Mexico (61)
Michael Yon (6)
Micromanaging the Military (7)
Middle East (1)
Military Blogging (26)
Military Contractors (5)
Military Equipment (25)
Militia (9)
Mitt Romney (3)
Monetary Policy (1)
Moqtada al Sadr (2)
Mosul (4)
Mountains (25)
MRAPs (1)
Mullah Baradar (1)
Mullah Fazlullah (1)
Mullah Omar (3)
Musa Qala (4)
Music (25)
Muslim Brotherhood (6)
Nation Building (2)
National Internet IDs (1)
National Rifle Association (97)
NATO (15)
Navy (30)
Navy Corpsman (1)
NCOs (3)
News (1)
NGOs (3)
Nicholas Schmidle (2)
Now Zad (19)
NSA (3)
NSA James L. Jones (6)
Nuclear (62)
Nuristan (8)
Obama Administration (221)
Offshore Balancing (1)
Operation Alljah (7)
Operation Khanjar (14)
Ossetia (7)
Pakistan (165)
Paktya Province (1)
Palestine (5)
Patriotism (7)
Patrolling (1)
Pech River Valley (11)
Personal (73)
Petraeus (14)
Pictures (1)
Piracy (13)
Pistol (4)
Pizzagate (21)
Police (656)
Police in COIN (3)
Policy (15)
Politics (980)
Poppy (2)
PPEs (1)
Prisons in Counterinsurgency (12)
Project Gunrunner (20)
PRTs (1)
Qatar (1)
Quadrennial Defense Review (2)
Quds Force (13)
Quetta Shura (1)
RAND (3)
Recommended Reading (14)
Refueling Tanker (1)
Religion (495)
Religion and Insurgency (19)
Reuters (1)
Rick Perry (4)
Rifles (1)
Roads (4)
Rolling Stone (1)
Ron Paul (1)
ROTC (1)
Rules of Engagement (75)
Rumsfeld (1)
Russia (37)
Sabbatical (1)
Sangin (1)
Saqlawiyah (1)
Satellite Patrols (2)
Saudi Arabia (4)
Scenes from Iraq (1)
Second Amendment (685)
Second Amendment Quick Hits (2)
Secretary Gates (9)
Sharia Law (3)
Shura Ittehad-ul-Mujahiden (1)
SIIC (2)
Sirajuddin Haqqani (1)
Small Wars (72)
Snipers (9)
Sniveling Lackeys (2)
Soft Power (4)
Somalia (8)
Sons of Afghanistan (1)
Sons of Iraq (2)
Special Forces (28)
Squad Rushes (1)
State Department (23)
Statistics (1)
Sunni Insurgency (10)
Support to Infantry Ratio (1)
Supreme Court (62)
Survival (201)
SWAT Raids (57)
Syria (38)
Tactical Drills (38)
Tactical Gear (15)
Taliban (168)
Taliban Massing of Forces (4)
Tarmiyah (1)
TBI (1)
Technology (21)
Tehrik-i-Taliban (78)
Terrain in Combat (1)
Terrorism (96)
Thanksgiving (13)
The Anbar Narrative (23)
The Art of War (5)
The Fallen (1)
The Long War (20)
The Surge (3)
The Wounded (13)
Thomas Barnett (1)
Transnational Insurgencies (5)
Tribes (5)
TSA (25)
TSA Ineptitude (14)
TTPs (4)
U.S. Border Patrol (6)
U.S. Border Security (19)
U.S. Sovereignty (24)
UAVs (2)
UBL (4)
Ukraine (10)
Uncategorized (99)
Universal Background Check (3)
Unrestricted Warfare (4)
USS Iwo Jima (2)
USS San Antonio (1)
Uzbekistan (1)
V-22 Osprey (4)
Veterans (3)
Vietnam (1)
War & Warfare (419)
War & Warfare (41)
War Movies (4)
War Reporting (21)
Wardak Province (1)
Warriors (6)
Waziristan (1)
Weapons and Tactics (79)
West Point (1)
Winter Operations (1)
Women in Combat (21)
WTF? (1)
Yemen (1)

November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006

about · archives · contact · register

Copyright © 2006-2024 Captain's Journal. All rights reserved.