Second Amendment Attacked From Two Directions

Originally Published in Early March

While perpetually in the cross-hairs of those groups trying to destroy the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms has recently come under direct attack from both the White House and Congress.

The attacks from both fronts weren’t unexpected though.

Last week the Attorney General announced he will seek a ban on “assault weapons,” which has always been the broad reaching term used by gun-ban advocates designating any semi-automatic weapon and/or weapon with a detachable magazine as an assault weapon. Their target usually includes most standard hunting rifles, shotguns, and handguns.

Those who studied Barack Obama’s legislative history understood long before the November election that he was a gun grabber from way back. His record of attacking the 2nd Amendment is atrocious.

The nomination of Eric Holder as Attorney General with his abysmal record of assaulting gun ownership and gun owner’s rights was congruent with Obama’s philosophy.

So the actions of this dynamic duo come as no surprise, and demonstrate why the two of them have been the best thing for ammunition and gun sales in a long time.

Record sales of arms and ammunition have been reported across the nation for several months now. An educated public, informed about Obama’s legislative record and true intent, didn’t buy his empty rhetoric. Despite his pleas to the contrary, Americans knew he stood against the 2nd Amendment and have been arming themselves anyway; and rightfully so.

Nor have freedom loving Americans been swayed by those who’ve criticized their purchases, belittling their gun and ammo buying decisions as unfounded hysteria. It’s now proven that their decisions were quite grounded in reality.

Supporters of the Second Amendment knew what was coming. Obama and Holder have proven them right.

The attack from Congress was also expected. It seems to be a yearly tradition.

Congressman Bobby Rush, Democrat-Illinois, has introduced HR 45, the Blair Holt’s Firearms Licensing and Record of Sales Act.

This piece of legislation requires mandatory written firearms testing, licenses for all gun owners, and government access to gun owners’ mental health records. It includes restrictions on who can own a firearm, and places restrictions on sales and storage of weapons. Additionally, it empowers the government to track the ownership and whereabouts of all guns (a sure path to widespread confiscation).

It requires background checks for purchases, forces an individual to submit to inspections of records, and empowers government authorities to inspect the manner in which weapons are stored in the home. It criminalizes gun owners moving without informing authorities or reporting loss or theft of a firearm. Not surprisingly, it places an intrusive, oppressive amount of power with the Attorney General to judge and enforce the legislation.

Though the attack itself is not a surprise, its wide-sweeping nature is. Typically attacks against the Second Amendment have come incrementally. A ban here and a restriction there on the way to the ultimate goal of tearing down our rights has been the modus operandi.

But this bill goes for the whole nine yards at once. Though it doesn’t request an all-out ban on guns, it throws nearly every obstacle imaginable in the way of gun ownership.

While many liberties are at risk with the current gluttonous rate of government growth and those risks are clouded by the fog of size and rapidity of said growth, make no mistake, this is one area where the risk to your liberties is crystal clear.