#oddstuffing.com – Page 16

Liberty Is Essential

While breaking my self-imposed isolation yesterday for a supply run, I saw an older gentleman beside the road in a lawn chair with two flags, an Old Glory and a Gadsden. He was holding a sign that read, “Liberty is Essential”. I couldn’t help but think to myself how appropriate this was right now. Around the country from Maine to California, everyday people are coming together to protest the draconian restrictions, loss of business and the loss of their civil liberties that have become so synonymous with COVID-19. They are demanding that their states begin to reopen their economies and let people get back to work and take care of their families. Seeing these loud but peaceful protests springing up, and this one man sitting alone beside the road, makes me proud of what our country can be.

No doubt you have seen how quickly our rights have been stripped away in the interest of “public health”. Businesses not defined as “essential” by their state or local government have been ordered closed. Of course, there is no standard definition of what essential is. In some areas even those allowed to stay open cannot sell so-called non-essential items such as vegetable seeds or plants. Large retailers are allowed to remain open while small mom & pop shops are ordered closed. Health care has been limited to emergency care only. “Outside is for a brief respite” only. Otherwise, you are expected to remain in your home.

Yet the worst infringements have attacked our natural, constitutionally protected rights. Religious services banned. The ability of the people to assemble banned. The right to petition our government banned. The right to bear arms banned.

All of this has been done in the name of public health. Yes, I know. With no effective means to treat or vaccinate against COVID-19, the current best way to prevent the spread of the disease is isolation, social distancing along with protective masks, gloves and good old-fashioned hand washing. Yet all of that can be accomplished without taking away our rights.

It’s important to keep in mind our constitutionally protected rights don’t have an asterisk next to them. There is no condition, natural or manmade that suspends our rights. In fact, in times of a local, regional or national crisis, I would argue our constitutionally protected rights are even more important.

Yet our history tells us our governments have done just that. Notably during Hurricane Katrina when personally owned firearms were confiscated from everyone, even those trying to protect their lives and property or attempting to flee the city. Residents were not allowed to congregate and were forcibly removed from their own homes and property seized. By all accounts, Katrina was a human rights disaster. As a result, laws were passed to prevent abuses like this in the future. Somehow, all this seems to have been forgotten today.

This crisis has seen the same overzealous enforcement of emergency executive orders as we saw during Katrina. Leaving your home for anything not expressly listed as an essential activity subjects you to arrest. Examples from around the country have shown clearly inappropriate uses of force to enforce social distancing and stay-at-home orders.

In a protest rally at the capitol in South Carolina, a protestor was arrested, and others dispersed by the State Capitol Police. The Raleigh Police defended the action by putting out a statement “Protesting is a non-essential activity.”

In Mississippi and Kentucky, among other places, people attending religious services in parking lots, while sitting in their cars, windows rolled up and listening to the services on low-power radio stations, were cited or reported to health departments for mandatory 14-day quarantines.

Firearms and ammunition retailers have been forced to closed in numerous states and localities as they are not considered “essential”. At the same time, liquor stores and marijuana dispensaries in the same areas have been allowed to operate.

Probably the most telling comment comes from the Governor of New Jersey when questioned about why he allowed arrests at religious services to be part of coronavirus quarantine enforcement. Asked; “By what authority did you nullify the Bill of Rights in issuing this order? How do you have the power to do that?” The governor responded, “That’s above my pay grade, Tucker, I wasn’t thinking of the Bill of Rights when we did this.”

So there you have it. Enacting laws and executive orders without considering the Constitutional implications OR, not giving a damn about the Bill of Rights or just plain figuring they can do anything they want. Either way, our rights are being stripped away.

If you’re thinking, well… this is just a temporary measure for everyone’s safety and protection, isn’t it better to give up our rights for a while? Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. Rights taken away are seldom fully returned. There are always asterisks, conditions and exceptions that come along with it that allow rights to be taken away again and taken further away. This year it’s COVID-19. Next year it could be an earthquake or flood, or a bad year for the seasonal flu, or a small group of protesters marching to the capitol. Are you willing to give up your rights during any time of crisis?

Our natural rights were so important that our Founding Fathers listed them in the Bill of Rights, a document that doesn’t grant those rights, but rather limits our government’s ability to restrict them. This nation was founded during a time of crisis, when we were fighting for our independence from an oppressive government. Men and women were putting their lives on the line and dying so that we could live free. Knowing our history, how can anyone believe our Constitution and Bill of Rights do not apply in a time of national emergency?

I’d like to thank that gentleman sitting beside the road yesterday for reminding me and everyone who went by of what is really important. Unfortunately, I’ll likely never know his name and I was only able to give him a couple of beeps of my horn as I passed, but if he provides a little inspiration for just a few us of, then his time very well spent.

Liberty is Essential

Bob

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COVID Part 3: Send Lawyers, Guns and Money

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money

Following the liberal / progressive strategy of “Never let a crisis go to waste”, gun control politicians around the country have been using COVID-19 to make further infringements on your Second Amendment protected natural rights. Calling firearms retailers non-essential, they are ordering these businesses closed. This comes at a time when hundreds of thousands of Americans are choosing to purchase firearms for the first time to protect themselves and their families. Their justifiable fear comes from their local and state governments’ own actions of limiting the types of calls law enforcement will respond to while simultaneously releasing prisoners from state and local lockups “to protect them from COVID-19”. Just as they have always done, the gun control politicians are creating public safety problems and not allowing law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.

There are many facets to this problem. With non-essential businesses closed down, retail property is left unprotected. Downtown shopping districts in cities around the country look like they are preparing for a hurricane with windows and doors boarded up to help protect the property from break-ins. Of course, burglaries have been on the increase despite the pleas from local politicians for criminals to stop their law-breaking activity. Go figure.

At the same time, many law enforcement agencies are no longer responding to non-priority calls, instead taking reports over the phone. Physical arrests are being replaced by citations in most non-violent misdemeanor and felony cases. These actions are meant to minimize the potential exposure of officers, protect the offenders from COVID-19 and not over burden the emergency systems.

To make things even worse, state, county and local officials are releasing thousands of convicted prisoners from jails and prisons ‘to protect them from COVID-19’. In some areas like California, they claim they are only releasing “non-violent” offenders. Of course, keep in mind that California considers assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer; battery with serious bodily injury; solicitation to commit murder and rape/sodomy/oral copulation of an unconscious person or by use of a date rape drug all non-violent. New York has even gone to the trouble of providing transportation, hotel rooms and pre-paid cell phones at no cost to the prisoners being released for COVID-19 protection. In some states, the ACLU is petitioning for large scale release of prisoners to “protect them from COVID-19”. The results of this are what you would expect. Violent crimes, including rape, robbery and murder have been committed by these released convicts.

So now an environment has been created where property is unprotected, officers are not responding to calls and so-called “non-violent” criminals are being released back into the community. This on top of a nationwide shortages of essential consumer goods and millions of people out of work with no source of income.

Guns

A natural response to this would be the desire to protect yourself and your family. Firearm retailers around the country have been mobbed with people looking to purchase firearms and ammunition. So much so that many stores are selling out on a daily basis and desperately seeking new inventory from distributors. NCIS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) reported running 3,740,688 background checks in March, a number 33 % higher than the previous record of more than 2.8 million set in February.

But of course, the reaction from the gun control groups has been predictable stating: “As a result of fears stoked by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other gun-industry groups, we saw more federal background checks initiated in March 2020 than any other on record.”

While the desire to purchase firearms has been an entirely organic response to the decrease in public safety, the most radical anti-gun control states and communities have decided that firearms and ammunition, a natural right protected by the Second Amendment, are not essential and closed firearm and ammunition retailers.

A few examples from around the country:

The governors of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey (see below) and New Mexico decided firearms retailers were not essential and ordered them closed. Some exemptions were given to those retailers and ranges that service law enforcement or security companies.
New Jersey shut down all firearms sales by simply shutting down the state system used to do background checks. One of 12 “point of contact” states that perform their own background checks, it gives the state instant ability to stop sales statewide with the click of a mouse. (Side note: California’s DROS (Dealer Record of Sales) system has the ability to shut off single retailers, groups, geographic regions or the entire state but surprisingly has not been used in this situation, or at least not yet.)
In North Carolina and Ohio, Sheriffs who were overwhelmed by the influx of pistol and concealed carry permit requests decided to stop processing them until after the COVID-19 crisis, effectively shutting down handgun purchases and new concealed carry permits.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff, and other local authorities, determined firearms retailers were not essential and ordered them to be closed.

Lawyers

If you’ve read any of my articles before, you already know I’m not a fan of lawyers and filing lawsuits to overturn gun control laws. Even in the absolute best of circumstances, it’s a crapshoot. The chances of getting gun control laws reversed is slim at best and even when they are reversed, new ones are crafted to take their place.

But I’ll be the first to admit that in this particular crisis, we have seen some success in getting the executive orders closing firearms and ammunition retailers and ranges reversed. It hasn’t been across the board and in places like Los Angeles County, they have flip-flopped back and forth so often it’s difficult to keep track of the current status.

Highlighting the issue these lawsuits have is that courts are still using “intermediate scrutiny” to determine the merits of the case. Some courts, especially in most liberal circuits are also relying on faulty evidence and ignoring the Constitution and Supreme Court precedence to reach their decisions. The hope is that someday the United States Supreme Court will rule in favor of “strict scrutiny” for all Second Amendment cases. It won’t solve activist judges ignoring the law, but it will be a start.

One positive thing that has occurred at the federal level is the March 28 guidance from the Department of Homeland Security. In it, the updated list of “essential critical infrastructure workforce” now includes “Workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges.”

Money

Protecting our rights isn’t free. It should be, since supporting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights should be what every United States citizen does every day. But we’ve come to realize that there are those who wish to subvert our rights for the enrichment of their own needs.

Sadly, lawsuits must be filed which means lawyers are involved. So giving to the Second Amendment / firearm rights protection organization of your choice is essential. If you can’t afford to right now, then volunteer a little time to send letters or emails and help get others to contribute.

But always remember, the ONLY way to keep these kinds of unconstitutional laws from being enacted in the first place is to STOP electing anti-gun politicians. Regardless of how attractive their other platform items are, if they can’t support and defend the most basic elements of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, how are you going to trust them to do anything else? Find and support politicians at the local, county, state and federal levels who will support and defend the Constitution.

Warren Zevon got it right, the sh*t has really hit the fan during this health crisis. But rather than sitting back and watching our rights erased before your eyes, it’s time to get up off your ass and do something about it. While mass marches and protests at the capitol aren’t the wisest move during a pandemic, if you have a phone or an internet connection, you can make a HUGE difference. Let your elected representatives know how you aren’t willing to give up your rights for COVID-19. And when you get that “Dear Constituent” letter blowing you off back in the (e)mail, you’ll know who you won’t be supporting in the next elections.

Time to get on the list!

Bob

COVID Part 1: The Needs Of The Many..

To say that we are living in unprecedented times is as much of an understatement as Noah saying, “It looks like rain”. To have our country and the entire planet shut down but for essential services is unheard in the history of man. Not even the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 caused such a widespread shutdown of global commerce and everyday life. The lessons learned from this and other past pandemics has shown the most effective means of preventing the spread in our communities is isolation. Yet somehow, we have a minority of people who believe this does not apply to them. Why? Quite simply we have been raising generations of self-entitled ME FIRST! brats that have no sense of community or responsibility. If you want to know where this came from, look no further than the indoctrination centers we used to call schools and the lack of parenting.

While the ultra-trendy “woke” members of our society look at traditional primary education as being too focused on the nationalism vs. the individual, that patriotic view of our society is what brought us together as a nation. Nowhere in the world is there a nation built from so many different cultures or with such strong individual rights.

But patriots are difficult to control, which is why the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights has never been duplicated around the world. It is also why the focus of our education system became less and less about our rights and duties in a sovereign nation and more about human interaction within a society. In other words, this is why Civics was replaced with Social Studies. If the people don’t know what their rights are, they won’t demand to exercise them.

Along with this, we began losing our sense of community and belonging. Our communities and our nation became a distant second to the wants and desires of individuals. As long as the individual gets what they want, the impact to others or the community doesn’t matter. With less and less individual’s contribution to the community, more and more tasks and responsibilities were given over to the government, where they were gleefully taken up.

With the rise of technology, we’ve also seen the decline of the family. Parents used to spend a lot more time with their children, teaching and mentoring them in everything from basic life skills to the norms and mores of the community. Then came television, the first substitute parent and babysitter, followed by computers, video games and the Internet. Family interaction and communication was replaced by artificially scripted worlds of fantasy where there is no responsibility for your actions.

As a result, we now have a couple of generations of self-entitled individuals who care nothing about anything that doesn’t enrich their own lives. These aptly named COVIdiots can’t be bothered with self-isolating to avoid catching COVID-19 or self-quarantining to keep others from catching it from them. COVIdiots come from every walk of life, every socioeconomic status in every part of the country. What they all have in common is the disregard for anyone other than themselves.

The current worldwide COVID-19 crisis will pass in time. As testing becomes more available outside the circles of the rich, famous and powerful, more can be done to treat and isolate those who are infected. Effective treatment and vaccinations will become commonly available. Until then, it is up to us to act responsibly for ourselves, our families and our communities.

It shouldn’t take increasingly draconian control measures from oppressively inclined government officials to keep you from passing on or catching COVID-19. The most basic level of personal responsibility, social distancing and sanitation, is enough to stop this, if we can be bothered to think about the needs of the many before the needs of the one.

Oh yea, and we can do this without giving up a single one of our natural rights.

Bob

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Power To The People

This past year has seen an unprecedented number of gun control bills submitted around the country. While another year of gun control laws that do nothing but punish the law-abiding is nothing new in the nanny states, even traditionally firearm friendly states have seen an influx. Why is quite simple. Politicians put in place by big money special interests are ignoring their constituents and their oaths of office and peddling unconstitutional laws. But guess what? The people are standing up and standing together to say no. And it is working. Draconian gun control bills are being altered, tabled, shelved and defeated. What could be more patriotic than the people taking control of their representatives and their government? But there is still a long way to go.

If you live in states like California, New York, New Jersey or Massachusetts, you’ve probably grown used to seeing a new crop of gun control laws come out every year. Sold to the public as laws that are “common sense”, will “save lives” or to close “dangerous loopholes” in existing laws, they build on the already oppressive laws that do absolutely nothing to promote public safety. In reality, they make the public more vulnerable to crime and violence. Yet with each additional law, more restrictions and more costs are put on law-abiding citizens.

But even outside the most restrictive states, extremist politicians swept into office in 2018 by those big money special interests have been busy paying off their debt by introducing anti-Second Amendment bills. Some highlights:

Arizona: Assault weapon and “high-capacity” magazine ban, firearm registration and transport restrictions
Nebraska: Proposed waiting period for firearm sales and universal background checks
Maryland: Proposed home firearm storage (unloaded AND locked) and new firearm dealer monitoring requirements
Hawaii: Ammunition purchases limited to calibers of registered firearms
Washington: Ban on “high-capacity” magazines and concealed carry training requirements
New Mexico: A so-called “red flag” law
Connecticut: A 35% tax on ammunition
Vermont: A 30-day proceed on firearms purchases (vs. the federal three-day default), a ban on carrying semi-automatic firearms in most public places, expanding the “red flag” law
Rhode Island: Assault weapon, “high-capacity” magazine and 3D gun ban
Virginia: Assault weapon, “high-capacity” magazine, suppressor and 3D gun ban, universal background checks, limit of one handgun per month, “red flag” law, removing state preeminence for firearm laws

Keep in mind this is not an exhaustive list. It is simply a sampling from around the country. When you start looking at what is being proposed in the various communities and state legislatures around the country, you start to get a sense of how expansive the assault on our Second Amendment rights really is. And like most things, if you follow the money it leads back to the usual suspects, the fringe left wing extremists funded by billionaire money.

So how about some good news? Law-abiding citizens from all walks of life and every demographic imaginable are standing together to fight back against these Second Amendment infringing laws. They are gathering at state houses around the country by the thousands to peacefully protest and let their representatives know they do NOT support these proposed laws.

Whole communities in states all over the country are banding together to declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries. County sheriffs and law enforcement officers are standing up WITH and leading their communities in opposition, even as they themselves are targeted by the rouge anti-gun legislators.

And it is working. Not everywhere and not on all bills, but cracks in the gun control foundation are forming and these new gun control laws are being defeated.

Despite what the media is telling you, Second Amendment protected firearm rights is not a red vs. blue thing. It’s not a rural vs. urban thing. It’s not how much someone makes or the color of their skin. It’s about natural rights for all United States citizens. And that is why protest rallies don’t just represent one part of the population, they represent everyone.

THIS is why the cracks in the gun control foundation have formed. Representatives are starting to realize they need to be accountable to their constituents in order to keep their jobs. And the people are pissed! Those special interest dollars aren’t going to do a damn thing for them when voters band together to replace them.

If nothing else, this year’s assault on our Second Amendment rights has gotten people off the sidelines. They are realizing the power of the people who stand together and fight for a common goal.

Every elected seat at every level in every community in every state makes a difference. Only by standing together to protect our rights will we be able to counter the fringe special interest dollars trying to alter our communities to put their needs above ours.

Bob

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Six Seconds

That’s how long it took for an armed civilian to take down an active shooter in a church in Texas. Six seconds. As many have noted, the duration of active shooter events is determined by the arrival of the SECOND firearm on the scene, be it by law enforcement or an armed civilian. In all cases, unless law enforcement is already on the scene, the armed civilian response will ALWAYS be the fastest response. So why do gun control politicians insist on disarming law-abiding armed citizens in public and private places? Sadly, the answer is because they would rather sacrifice the lives of you and your family in order to promote the false narrative that gun control is the only way you can ever be safe. Guess what? A 71-year-old man in Texas just proved them wrong.

Facts and videotapes are hard things to ignore. While the shooting in Texas was caught on video, it hasn’t stopped the anti-gun zealots and politicians from making up their own facts about the incident. For one, they claim that this shooting would never have occurred if the Texas Governor hadn’t signed a law allowing firearms in churches. Of course, the facts they are conveniently burying is that 98% of all mass shootings in the United States since 1950 have occurred in “Gun Free Zones”. Infamously, the only protection most of our schools have is a little sign declaring it to be a Gun Free Zone. THIS is all the protection your children receive under gun control.

So too do they attempt to dismiss the heroism of the man who stopped the shooter in Texas by claiming he is not an ‘ordinary’ armed citizen. Yes, he was a former reserve deputy sheriff (for six years), as well as a firearms instructor. But note reserve deputy; not full time. And let’s also look at the situation. He had just witnessed two of his friends shot at close range with a shotgun by the shooter who was moving away from him. He drew from concealment, while moving, and… having to wait to take his shot because of innocent people between him and the shooter, took a single shot to the shooters head from about 50 feet and ended it in six seconds. It doesn’t matter if you are a firearms instructor, former reserve deputy, full time law enforcement, SWAT, special forces or Spetsnaz, that was a masterful shot! And have you forgotten the guy is 71 years old.

Yes, he had more training than most, but that’s not why this shooting ended in six seconds. It ended because he was prepared. It ended because the church was prepared. There was a security team in place who had planned and trained extensively for exactly this kind of remote possibility. Let’s not forget that two members of the volunteer church security team also lost their lives in the first few seconds of this shooting. And had the one shot not stopped the shooter, at least five others in the church were armed, drawing firearms and prepared to stop him themselves.

There too the gun control zealots say is something that shouldn’t happen. They say only the police should have guns and only they should be able to take someone’s life. In this particular case, the citizens in the church should have just waited for the police to get there and deal with the shooter. Of course, in every gun free zone mass shooting, we’ve seen how many people die waiting for the police to show up. That didn’t happen here because there were people ready and able to defend their lives and the lives of others already there.

After every shooting (that meets the political criteria the anti-gun politicians are looking for), there is an immediate call for more gun control. They claim only more gun control laws, taking away guns from the law-abiding firearm owners, will keep people safe. But what do the people actually think?

Look at the most recent shooting in El Paso, Texas. The police response was about five minutes, which for a major city is actually pretty impressive. Yet by the time they got there the shooter was done, either out of ammunition or had just killed enough people and was taken into custody without incident. Following this incident and the politician’s call for gun control, the people started preparing to protect themselves. Firearm sales increased and concealed carry training classes in the area, which usually ran at about half capacity, were sold out. The people realized that they were their own best protection and first responder.

Still, the hypocrites behind the gun control movement claim you do not need a firearm for protection in public. And every day they show how much they believe in this by surrounding themselves with small armies of heavily armed law enforcement and private security professionals, all carrying the very firearms they say you don’t need to protect yourself and your family. Perhaps gun control isn’t about “public safety” at all. Perhaps it’s really just about control.

Later today, Texas Governor Greg Abbott will award Jack Wilson with the Texas Medal of Courage at the Governor’s mansion in Austin. The highest award the Governor can bestow on a civilian, it is given to civilians who display great acts of heroism by risking their own safety to save another’s life. I can’t think of a more fitting description for Jack Wilson’s actions.

If you haven’t seen the video from inside the church, there is a link to at bottom of the page. It is raw and graphic, but not bloody. Still, it shows two men losing their lives before the shooter is stopped. It is a striking reminder of how quickly a violent incident unfolds, and the courage of ordinary men and women who are willing to stand up to evil and stop it in its tracks.

I encourage you to use this horrific incident as inspiration to be a better defender of your own life and the lives of your family and friends. Train like your life depends on it, because that’s exactly what is at stake. Don’t be afraid, be prepared and be ready. And don’t ever let anyone tell you an ordinary law-abiding firearm owner can’t make a difference. You know better.

Bob

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2020 – Time To Get On The List

In the past, my New Year message has included a call to go out and introduce a friend or family member to the shooting sports. After all, only by breaking down the barriers and showing others what a responsible, law-abiding firearm owner is really like can we hope to gain support in battling oppressive, unconstitutional gun control laws. But this year, I’m asking for something different. I’m asking for you to get off your ass and get involved in stopping these anti-Second Amendment laws. It’s time to get on the list!

What can you do? You can contact each and every one of your elected representatives from your local town/city/county councils to your state and federal representatives. Don’t know who they are? FIND OUT!! The internet is your friend here folks. Figure out who they are and what their address, email address and phone number is. Pick the medium and send a message.

What should you say? It doesn’t have to be long or particularly artful. All you have to do is let your representatives know you DO NOT support gun control legislation and you DO NOT support elected officials who do support gun control legislation. Urge them to vote NO on any proposed gun control laws. That’s all there is to it!

For those who resist doing this because they don’t want to get put on a list of some kind, guess what… You are already on the list. If you’ve purchased firearms and ammunition, belong to a gun group or range, read a pro-Second Amendment blog, liked a picture of a firearm on social media, you’re already on ‘the list’. Get over it!

And if you’re not on a list, why they hell aren’t you?? The ONLY way we are going to stop these local, state and national infringements on our Second Amendment protected natural rights is to stand together. Just the few people who make a lot of noise isn’t going to cut it anymore. We ALL need to stand up and get counted.

Trust me, there are worse things than being on a list of pro-Constitution, pro-Second Amendment, pro-independent thinkers, pro-freedom loving patriots.

Take a look around you. Look at what is happening in Virginia, Texas, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. Look at what’s already happened in California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii. How much of your rights or your family’s rights are you willing to give up staying off the list?

There isn’t one state in this country where our Second Amendment rights are not being challenged. If you think you are safe where you are because of long standing traditions and state level protections, think again. Everything and everyone is in play here.

You are the only one who can make a difference here. Make 2020 the year you get involved and get on that list.

Bob

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Eliminating Firearm Retailers

Following the lead of other gun hating / gun control states, the freshly elected Democratic Governor of Illinois has signed a new Gun Dealer Licensing law. Not content with firearms retailers already being one of the most heavily regulated industries, closely monitored by the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives), the new governor has created a licensing scheme guaranteed to do one thing and one thing only, eliminate firearm retailers in the State of Illinois.

The purported intent of this law is to enhance “responsible business practices” and uses as justification that the ATF is far too busy to keep a close enough eye on Illinois’s approximately 2400 Federal Firearm Licensees (FFLs). It also claims the ATF lacks the authority to enforce the kind of “responsible business practices” the State of Illinois thinks should be implemented on the state’s firearm retailers.

Among the many things the $1500 five year state license gets a firearm retailer are increased record keeping requirements including electronic inventory and sales records linked to the State, the need for increased security systems including 90 days storage of video surveillance – reviewable by law enforcement at any time, mandatory training and annual in-service training for the owner and all employees, interviews for approval from the State, the right of denial by the local law enforcement agency, specifically worded legal signage in one inch high letters, state mandated zoning limitations and of course, unannounced inspections and review of all business operations. All additional cost and administrative burdens firearm retailers must now bear.

Like most gun control measures, this is being sold as a “public safety” law without any proof that any of the things it requires will actually increase public safety. It all plays into the myth that firearm retailers are the cause of violent crime solely because they legally sell firearms.

Ignored are numerous statistics proving criminals don’t buy their guns legally. Even the recent study by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has found that the vast majority of criminals armed with firearms obtained their guns from a place other than a gun shop or gun show. The evidence revealed that only 1.3 percent of prisoners who committed crimes with firearms had obtained them through a retail sale.

The Illinois State Rifle Association and the National Rifle Association have called this unprecedented and have promised a lawsuit. Unfortunately, it’s a little too little, a little too late. The precedent has already been set by other states.

For those of us who work in the firearms industry in California, this is old news. The State has long since licensed firearm retailers and by implementing its electronic DROS (Dealer Record of Sale) system has registered the buyer, seller and firearm information of every transaction for years.

But wait, there’s more!! The Illinois Gun Dealer Licensing law specifically calls out that there is nothing that prevents local jurisdictions from implementing further restrictions and regulations. Again, this is nothing new to those of us in California.

Local anti-gun cities have been enacting their own firearm retailer licensing schemes, each with redundant or additional security, record keeping and inspection requirements. All of which require local political approval and additional costs. The justification being used is that the ATF and the State licensing agencies are far too busy to keep an eye on all the FFLs in the area.

But that’s not all!! The latest trend in the most progressive anti-gun municipalities – my hometown included – is to funnel any new firearm retailers through the local Conditional Use Permit process, a politically based ‘feel good’ process that has no clear definitions of what is needed to be approved and can be denied just because the local NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) crowd doesn’t want a new gun store in town.

All of this has one purpose and one purpose only. By making it so costly, so complex and so easy to make an administrative mistake in the myriad regulations from so many licensing authorities that firearms retailers will simply be run out of business.

The City of San Francisco, CA is held up as a model city when it comes to firearm dealers. Its comprehensive package of ordinances, designed to “ensure that local firearms dealers utilize common sense and responsible business practices”, has had the exact impact intended – the last firearm retailer in the city closed in 2015.

The San Francisco supervisor who wrote the ordinance that finally drove the store to close had this to say: “From my perspective, if the last gun store in San Francisco wants to close its doors because of my legislation, so be it,” he said. “This store sold over 1,000 guns each year. I would much rather have a preschool or coffee store in the neighborhood than a gun shop.”

So there you have it; firearm retailers are being driven out of business one by one, state by state, community by community. Does this impact your Second Amendment rights? So far the courts have said no since you have other buying options in other communities. But what happens when they are gone too? What happens when your entire state has been purged of firearm retailers and the law says you can’t buy firearms out of state?

If you think it can’t happen, look to our neighbors to the south. Mexico has one, and only one legal firearm retailer. The Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales is outside Mexico City and run by the Mexican Army. Funny thing is Mexico’s Constitution also guarantees the right to bear arms. But years and years of limitations and regulations – all in the name of “public safety” have restricted firearms so heavily that almost nobody can buy one legally. And you can see for yourself the type of “public safety” the Mexican people now enjoy.

How “safe” do you have to feel before you help stop the erosion of your Second Amendment rights?

Bob

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