By Rob Morse
Southern California –-(Ammoland.com) I can’t excuse political abuse by calling it a misunderstanding.
Those rationalizations don’t work for me anymore. I can’t explain discriminatory laws as an accidental infringement on our rights. Let’s tell the truth for a change; some politicians hate firearms owners and have passed bigoted laws to punish us. These restrictions certainly aren’t done for public safety.
Here are a few examples of crazy gun laws that put all of us at greater risk. That isn’t an “accident”.
I am a responsible firearms owner, and that isn’t always easy. I’ve had contractors working on my home. Say, my home was damaged in some way and is no longer secure. In some states, I couldn’t move my guns to my neighbor’s house for safe keeping. You heard that right. It is against the law to move your firearms to a safe outside your control. Another good reason to store my guns with a friend for safe keeping is if I’m going to be away from home for several days. Some states [New Jersey] outlaw that simple prudent practice of keeping our firearms safe and secure. I suppose I could sell my firearms each time I go on vacation, but it is illegal for me to store them with a friend on a temporarily basis. To do so would be a misdemeanor. In some states [Washington as of 594], it is a felony once my neighbor gives my guns back to me after keeping them secure. Those are a few of the ways crazy firearms restrictions put all of us at greater risk.
Some states restrict firearms education. In those states, temporary possession of a firearm is against the law. That means I could neither bring a firearm to your house for non-shooting educational purposes, nor could you come to my house or business to learn basic firearms safety. Instruction is only allowed at some official shooting ranges. This is as ridiculous as requiring that student drivers must buy their own car before the student could take driving lessons. Oppressive firearms regulations have made it illegal for an instructor to take someone out on private property and teach the student to shoot. These overly restrictive laws certainly restrict firearms education.
The anti-rights bigots forgot that ignorance about firearms is dangerous! Or maybe they never cared in the first place.
Another way oppressive firearms laws have outlawed instruction is to eliminate shooting ranges. Several cities require practical experience before a citizen can have a firearms permit. Some of these anti-rights city councils also regulated private shooting ranges right out of their city [Chicago]. That looks more like anti-gun bigotry than an mere oversight.
The craziness doesn’t end there. In some cities it is a crime NOT to file a police report if your guns are stolen. At he same time, some of the overworked police departments in crime ridden anti-gun cities won’t come out to investigate the theft of your property. Put those two things together for yourself. YOU must report a crime that the police don’t want to investigate. To do otherwise makes you a criminal.
That goes beyond crazy. That is a legal trap to punish honest firearms owners. Some judges simply view firearms owners as criminals.
Let’s not mince words. People who punish and restrict innocent people are bigots. Much of the language, and many of the actions, by the anti-rights gun-control groups is designed to alienate gun owners from the rest of society. The reason is simple. It is easier for politicians to oppress an alienated minority. Yes, this is government sponsored bigotry.
The state denies us the right of self-defense for the smallest of reasons. Seeing this treatment as bigotry and then calling this treatment out is the first step in stopping it.
Let’s call it what it is.
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About Rob Morse: By day, Rob Morse works as a mild mannered engineer for a Southern California defense contractor. By night he writes about gun rights at Ammoland, Gun Rights Magazine, Clash Daily and on his SlowFacts blog. He is an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.