Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
There are an estimated 20,000 “gun control” laws on the books in the United States, or that was the alleged case at one time, with detractors saying there are about 300 “gun control” laws on the books. The actual number of freedom limiting laws that we have shouldn’t serve as a “we’re doing something” scoresheet, however. There could be one million laws and it would not make a difference.
A fairly astute person could quickly override all of them, compressing them into one: “Thou shall not commit a crime with a firearm.” Just as the Ten Commandments embraced the simplicity of murder being a “no no”, we could surely cut the fat when it comes to what we may and may not do as human beings, in particular the arena of so-called “gun control”.
Take for example a recent report of a convicted felon being in possession of six firearms. Not only were they guns, they were scary black guns, which also had their serial numbers defaced. From the article:
A Washington man is facing weapons charges after being found with six rifles with their serial numbers removed.
The Seward County Sheriff’s Office says they pulled over a car Monday afternoon on I-80 for a traffic violation.
Authorities say a search turned up six M4 semiautomatic rifles, all with their serial numbers removed by a grinder.
The passenger, 31-year-old Montray Patton, claimed the guns.
Authorities say Patton is a convicted felon who has ties with a motorcycle gang in Washington state.
If Patton is in fact a convicted felon, he is a prohibited person under federal law and not allowed to possess firearms. Further, defaced firearms, those with the serial numbers removed, are also prohibited to have under federal law. Patton also likely violated Washington State’s universal background check law, which requires checks on all transfers of firearms, as well as state-level prohibitions on defacing firearms and felons possessing guns. Where did the disconnect happen? From the report, Patton seemingly had a rather ho-hum attitude by admitting the firearms were his. Would Patton’s criminal history shed light on what gave him his current felonious status? It’s doubtful that we’re discussing tax evasion or the convoluted situation of being caught selling bootleg cassette tapes in this person’s criminal history.
I doubt you’ll hear many politicians in Washington State use Patton’s arrest to call for more gun control laws, because he’s evidence that trying to gun ban our way to safety doesn’t work. More generally, however, there’ll be more cries for more laws, and there’ll be zero net effect on violent crime or public safety. More laws will be broken, and more people will become criminals for non-violent, possessory crimes dreamt up by gun control groups. The only true effect further freedom limiting laws will have on our citizenry is that rights will be trampled and gun ownership will become more onerous. Patton and others out there will have an easier time preying on people with more laws on the books that only the responsible gun owners will follow. The progressive plan includes doing to the Second Amendment what was done to the serial numbers on those rifles.