Radical new laws in Connecticut and Maryland, U.N. Arms Trade Treaty passes
By Emily Miller
The Second Amendment got attacked this week from three sides, leaving
gun owners scrambling to find safe ground. While President Obama has
lost momentum for federal gun-control laws, he has picked up victories
with his allies in blue states and at the United Nations.
After
Thursday, Connecticut should consider changing its state nickname from
the “Constitution State” to the “Unconstitutional State” after Gov. Dannel Malloy signed an extremely restrictive gun-control law. The bill passed the state House Thursday morning and the Senate on Wednesday.
Before the
Newtown tragedy, the Brady Campaign determined that Connecticut was the
fifth highest-rated state for restrictive gun-control laws. Adam Lanza
ignored those laws — such as including stealing the guns, carrying them
without a permit and violating the federal “gun free” school zone — in
his evil mission to murder school children and teachers.
Connecticut
lawmakers decided that its current “assault weapon” ban, which had a
two-characteristic test, was not severe enough, so all semi-automatic
rifles with one scary-looking feature are illegal. The bill cites 100
specific makes and models that are banned, such as the AR and AK.
There
is a new eligibility certificate required before purchasing or
receiving a long gun, which is defined as any firearm that is not a
pistol or revolver. These certificates cost $35 and are issued by the
Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, but there is no time limit on how long the application process can take.
Also,
buying or even transferring a long gun — such as a father passing down
his shotgun to his son — requires a background check and registration.
The penalty for violating this provision could be a felony. Connecticut
expanded the category of citizens who are permanently prohibited from
having a rifle or shotgun to include those who have been convicted of
misdemeanors including possession of as little as one-half ounce of
marijuana or “unlawful restraint.”
Starting Oct. 1, a gun permit
or a new “ammunition certificate” will be required to buy ammunition and
magazines. Standard magazines that are considered “large capacity” —
which is over 10 rounds — will be illegal. The penalty for a first-time
offense of possession of this magazine, purchased before Jan 1., 2014,
will be a $90 fine. The penalty will be a class D felon for subsequent
offenses or for magazines obtained after that date.
Below the
Mason-Dixon line, Maryland may have to change its state nickname from
the “Free State” to the “Disarmed State” since only the law-abiding will
be affected by its new gun-control law. After months of intense
pressure from Gov. Martin O’Malley, the state House passed Wednesday a
radical new gun-control law. The Senate is expected to pass it Thursday, and it will then be signed by Mr. O’Malley.
Starting on Oct.
1, forty-five specific models of firearms will be banned from the
state. These include semi-automatic rifles based on the AR-15 platform,
manufactured by Bushmaster and all AKs. Any semi-automatic rifle that
has two cosmetic features, such as a pistol grip or folding stock. All
these new regulations are symbolic as so called assault rifles accounted
for just two of the 390 murders in the state in 2011.
The new law
also lowers the legal magazine size from 20 to 10 rounds. It bans the
manufacture, sale, purchase, receipt or transfer of the so-called “high
capacity” magazines. Law-abiding Marylanders who want to buy a handgun
will now have to submit to fingerprinting and licensing, which will
require taking a four-hour training course. (The District of Columbia
got rid of this same course in 2012 because it was so burdensome to
exercising the right to keep arms.)
The United Nations
could change its name to the Gun Grabbing Nations since the U.S. voted
for the Arms Trade Treaty, which passed by the General Assembly Tuesday.
This treaty, which is intended to regulate dangerous global arms trade,
appears to include civilian firearms under the scope section which
covers “small arms and light weapons.”
Despite gun-rights
organizations’ efforts, the Obama administration refused to insist that
the final treaty include recognition of citizens’ right to keep and bear
arms for self defense. The president has said he will sign the U.N. treaty, despite bipartisan opposition in the Senate to ratification.
Sen.
Jerry Moran, Kansas Republican, sponsored a resolution that says the
president should not sign the arms treaty, but if he does, the Senate
should not ratify it. The resolution already has 34 cosponsors, which
is more than enough to block it. Nevertheless, the White House seems
intent on signing onto the global treaty.
Our Founding Fathers
were clear that people inherently have the right to use firearms for
self defense and to protect themselves from government tyranny. The laws
and treaty passed this week are clearly unconstitutional, but it will
take a long time for the courts to catch up to the rapid abridgement of
these rights.
SoRo: With regard to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, treaties between countries or with international, transnational and supranational organisations DO NOT SUPERCEDE the Constitution of the United States, Reid v Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957) whether they are ratified by the Senate or not. In other words, the administration cannot infringe upon our constitutional rights via the United Nations. Period. Story. End of.
No comments:
Post a Comment