American Thinker · Feb 5, 2013 · By Michael Filozof
In January, the New York State Legislature passed the Orwellian-sounding "SAFE" (Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement) Act. The act was debated in closed session without committee hearings, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it into law within an hour of its passage -- after waiving the required three-day public comment period. Cuomo bragged that New York now has the "toughest assault weapons ban" in the country but claimed that the law respects the Second Amendment and preserves the rights of "hunters and sportsmen." The former is true; the latter is a bald-faced lie. Even if you do not live in New York, you should be very worried, because the SAFE Act is a harbinger of what Democrats in the federal government will do nationwide if they can.
The SAFE Act is far worse than you might imagine. Harold "Budd" Schroeder, member of the NRA Board of Directors from New York, described the law as "the rape of our gun rights." That is no exaggeration. The law is as harsh as (or harsher than) the gun laws of some European nations that do not have a Bill or Rights or a Second Amendment.
The most widely reported provision of the law is the total ban on the sale of military-style rifles classified as "assault weapons," effective Jan. 15. The provision forever prohibits anyone other than a law enforcement agency from acquiring such weapons, including the popular hunting and target variants of the AR-15 rifle. Current owners of such rifles must register them with the state by 2014, and the registration must be renewed every five years. This gives the state a list of persons from which to confiscate them in the future, and the five-year renewal provision gives the state an excuse to find ways to deny ownership once every five years. Current owners of such rifles may never sell them to another New York State resident in the future.
(Excerpt, click on source link above for complete story)
The SAFE Act is far worse than you might imagine. Harold "Budd" Schroeder, member of the NRA Board of Directors from New York, described the law as "the rape of our gun rights." That is no exaggeration. The law is as harsh as (or harsher than) the gun laws of some European nations that do not have a Bill or Rights or a Second Amendment.
The most widely reported provision of the law is the total ban on the sale of military-style rifles classified as "assault weapons," effective Jan. 15. The provision forever prohibits anyone other than a law enforcement agency from acquiring such weapons, including the popular hunting and target variants of the AR-15 rifle. Current owners of such rifles must register them with the state by 2014, and the registration must be renewed every five years. This gives the state a list of persons from which to confiscate them in the future, and the five-year renewal provision gives the state an excuse to find ways to deny ownership once every five years. Current owners of such rifles may never sell them to another New York State resident in the future.
(Excerpt, click on source link above for complete story)
Townhall · Feb 2, 2013 · John Hawkins
In a nation that already has more than 200 million guns, gun control does little other than make the work of rapists, robbers, murderers and nuts like Adam Lanza easier. When faced with gun control laws, the law abiding citizen has no choice other than to disarm or become an outlaw, but people with bad intentions are faced with no such moral dilemma. That's why the best friend of a rapist or a potential Adam Lanza is the gun control advocate who's working tirelessly to insure that his targets can't adequately defend themselves.
On some level, even diehard advocates of gun control know this, which is why they want people with guns defending them. Our police aren't going to disarm, the military isn't going to try to fight our enemies with non-violent protests and the White House will never become a "gun free zone." But, what happens when the bad man with the gun is right there and the military, the police, and the President's Secret Service aren't on the scene? Then having a gun may be the difference between living or dying, between being raped or being okay, between saving your children or watching them die.
The hypocrites who want men with guns to protect them when they're in trouble, but want to prevent other law abiding citizens from defending themselves love to use anecdotal evidence to make their case. Those of us who are pro-Second Amendment then usually talk about our Constitutional rights or reel off statistics to counter them, but we have our own stories. There are thousands of good and decent Americans who are alive today precisely because they had guns. Gun control advocates might think the world would be a better place if those people and the ones you're about to read about were dead and the people menacing them had gotten away with their crimes, but those of us who are serious about our Second Amendment rights disagree.
1) On February 12, 2007, a lone gunman, Sulejman Talovic, opened fire at the crowded Trolley Square shopping mall, killing five bystanders. Armed with a shotgun with a pistol grip, a 38-caliber handgun with rubber grips, and a backpack full of ammunition, he set forth on his rampage through the mall.
(Excerpt, click the source link above for complete story)
On some level, even diehard advocates of gun control know this, which is why they want people with guns defending them. Our police aren't going to disarm, the military isn't going to try to fight our enemies with non-violent protests and the White House will never become a "gun free zone." But, what happens when the bad man with the gun is right there and the military, the police, and the President's Secret Service aren't on the scene? Then having a gun may be the difference between living or dying, between being raped or being okay, between saving your children or watching them die.
The hypocrites who want men with guns to protect them when they're in trouble, but want to prevent other law abiding citizens from defending themselves love to use anecdotal evidence to make their case. Those of us who are pro-Second Amendment then usually talk about our Constitutional rights or reel off statistics to counter them, but we have our own stories. There are thousands of good and decent Americans who are alive today precisely because they had guns. Gun control advocates might think the world would be a better place if those people and the ones you're about to read about were dead and the people menacing them had gotten away with their crimes, but those of us who are serious about our Second Amendment rights disagree.
1) On February 12, 2007, a lone gunman, Sulejman Talovic, opened fire at the crowded Trolley Square shopping mall, killing five bystanders. Armed with a shotgun with a pistol grip, a 38-caliber handgun with rubber grips, and a backpack full of ammunition, he set forth on his rampage through the mall.
(Excerpt, click the source link above for complete story)
