Mask is Coming Off ‘Commonsense Gun Safety Law’ Disclaimers

What has changed about human nature, and the penchant of some for tyranny? (British regulars surrender to militia forces –Frederick C. Yohn Painting of the capture of Fort Sackville by George Rogers Clark PD-ART)

USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “No one is talking about taking away your guns,” say those who claim “all” they want is “commonsense gun safety laws.” Someone forgot to tell them that some publications have opinion pieces belying that.

“To Repeat: Repeal the Second Amendment,” columnist at The New York Times Bret Stephens demands. He says “to repeat” because he’s it’s not the first time “the newspaper of record” has shared his sentiments.

The “repeal” sentiment gets more media play. A history professor ignorant of history endorses the idea in Rochester’s Democrat & Chronicle (“Part of the USA Today Network,” which considering its owner Gannett Publications, should come as no surprise.

“I’ve made it clear in the past that I want extreme measures in response to gun violence – such as repealing the Second Amendment to the Constitution,” Law Professor David S. Cohen writes in Rolling Stone.  He has made that clear before, and wants others to join his crusade by “voicing these opinions.”

Plenty more examples exist to refute the reassurances that no wider disarmament goals exist. We’ve got examples from the past, from then Sen. Thomas  Dodd, author of GCA ’68 saying “I would be for abolishing all guns … I hope some day the world will say ‘Destroy them all,’” to Nelson “Pete” Shields, founder of Handgun Control, Inc.,  admitting his strategy to ban guns is to do so incrementally.

Add present-day Nancy Pelosi admitting she hopes any new concessions on guns help accelerate more edicts down a “slippery slope”  and “bipartisan efforts” on “compromise” described as “baby steps,” and it should be clear to all that the “concessions” all go one way and play into the hands of those who will not stop until they achieve complete citizen disarmament and an unchallengeable government “monopoly of violence.”

Actually, after that they’ll just be getting started. History is pretty clear on that.

Anyone who thinks concessions can be made and that will be the end of it is deluding both themselves (assuming they don’t know better) and anyone naïve enough to believe them. Every beachhead allowed or bit of ground voluntarily ceded allows those who want you disarmed to use it to launch their next incursion. To do so makes as much sense as throwing a scrap of flesh to a circling pack of jackals and expecting that it will satisfy them, and persuade them to leave you alone.

These are unsettling times for gun owners, as troubling as any I’ve ever seen. We need to remember that ultimately, we won’t lose our guns unless we as individuals make a choice to surrender them.

I know that’s unsettling to some, but really, isn’t it something we’ve always known?

Now, in the midst of all the sound and fury, with all the demands being made and all the temptations for some who posture as our “gun rights leaders” to resort to “pragmatic” concessions, I’d like to introduce (or reintroduce) readers here to an essay written decades ago that I’ve always found inspiring.

I urge you to read, take to heart and share my friend and colleague Brian Puckett’s “Memorandum on Arms and Freedom” and recommit to its central tenet:

“We will not disarm.”


About David Codrea:David Codrea

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.

In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

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Alan

Captain Bob

Re this Gun Safety routing, who is kidding who. The often stated goal of the anti gunners is, has been and remains the total elimination of priveately owned firearms. Quit dancing to their tunes, recognize that their often stated goals are unchanging, and act to preserve the rights of the citizenry. Nothing less than this will suffice. As to those who refuse to recognize the all to plain facts of the matter, they are undeserving of the rights they will not long in the future loose.

DrRJP

The bottom line with liberals is that they obsessively hate guns and hate the military in part for the guns they carry. So, to hear them join the two together and spout the lies about the AR-15 being “a weapon of war” or alternately “made for the military” weapon “designed to do one thing: kill as many people as possible.” I could say the same thing about big trucks like the one driven by a jihadi in Nice, France who murdered 83 people by mowing them down with a truck (and one that was not a “weapon of war” or… Read more »

Alan

Re The Mask Is Comming Off, what Mask might this be, given that ultimate goals of the anti gun set are, and have been plain as the nose on my face. That aside, exactly what “hidden goals”???? have the antis been persuing lo these many years, goals that not only have been unchanged, but very widely advertised. There are people here who are awake to the facts of life. That said, I cannot help but wonder as to when, gun owners in general will wake up and smell the coffee.

Alan

Wild Bill:

Like some other academic types, the professor, weighted down by academic credentials seems to have forgotten that 2 + 2 still equal 4.

Wild Bill

“I’ve made it clear in the past that I want extreme measures in response to gun violence – such as repealing the Second Amendment to the Constitution,” Law Professor David S. Cohen writes…” Cohen can not be much of a law professor because he does not seem to know that S.CT. case law states that the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is not dependent upon the Second Amendment. The RKBA is a prepolitical, individual, Civil Right that predates our Constitution.

Wild Bill

“I’ve made it clear in the past that I want extreme measures in response to gun violence – such as repealing the Second Amendment to the Constitution,” Law Professor David S. Cohen writes…” Cohen thinks that he would be immune to the death and destruction that would occur in response to the “extreme measures” that he advocates. If Cohen starts the wind, let him reap the whirlwind. But let the Anti-Civil Rights Movement begin the “extreme measures”.

Vanns40

I’m amazed by the sheer number of progun people, including those on this list, who have been lured in by one proposed bandaid solution after another. We just heard from a person here “if they’d eliminate page three on the 4473, blah blah blah”. When do we, as professional, knowledgeable gun owners stop offering up the same panacea for these continuing problems, i.e., either more laws or addendums to existing laws? When do we say no more! Not one more law. You’ve had 50 years (don’t correct me there’s a reason we’re saying 50 rather than 83) and this gun… Read more »

Nottinghill

@Vanns40: AGREED 1000%! Never give up! Never give in! They deserve NOTHING! No GD concessions!!! Not-a-one.

Nottinghill

@Captain Bob: I believe in part that what you say is true. I know many LEOs and Military will cave to do the dirty work also. Especially since Bama lowered the standards of our military. But like you I am older but not too old fight an ex-Vet with skills in both combat and personal ones in the martial arts. I’m not running nor giving any of firearms in and will die to keep them in defending America not Amerika. So let them come. Let try passing laws. Let the NRA continue to cave. I will not!!!

trumped

Why should America adopt a policy of near-zero tolerance for private gun ownership? Because it’s the only alternative to the present insanity. Without both strict limits on access to new weapons and aggressive efforts to reduce the supply of existing weapons, no one can be safer. Editorial, Taming The Monster: Get Rid of the Guns, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 28, 1993, at B6 No presidential candidate has yet come out for the most effective proposal to check the terror of gunfire: a ban on the general sale, manufacture and ownership of handguns as well as assault-style weapons. Editorial, Guns Along… Read more »

Robert Gaudio

Spoken like a true Liberal- don’t accept the responsibility for failed “support” programs that create portions of society dependent upon, and loyal to, those who create those programs in order to continue their positions of power and control over the uninformed. Don’t acknowledge the numerous cases of LAW-ABIDING, ARMED CITIZENS preventing acts of violence from turning into murderous rampages, or harming single individuals. Keep believing that Big Government is benevolent and will take care of us if we only relinquish a few rights in order to ensure our safety, that the police, as we see every day on TV and… Read more »

trumped

https://www.gunscholar.org/gunban.htm

Go to that website and look at the quotes I copied and pasted.

Vanns40

Another troll enters the fray. Or is it just one of the same under another name?

Macofjack

@Vanns40 – trumped has been around awhile, but is a troll!

Alan

What Mask might be a most germane question, for were many sentiment adults ever deluded as to the real goals of these people? Please forgive a dumb question, to which there is an all to obvious answer, that being YES, some of the “deluded” having been movers and shakers at the NRA. As to how that happened, damned it I know, but it did happen.

Ansel Hazen

“I know that’s unsettling to some, but really, isn’t it something we’ve always known?”

Isn’t it time the POTG start making the possibility of going all 1776 a very real threat? They’re only continuing to chant their foolish nonsense because someone hasn’t smashed the butt of a rifle into their mouth.

Wild Bill

@Ansel, Hazan, No, the timing is all wrong. War is won by logistics. If the POTG engage in armed rebellion, then the logistical capability of the US government would be used against them and all would be lost. Now, is the time to get the progressive/liberal/socialist/marxists to revolt.

Randy Schmid

We cannot wait to defend our 2nd amend. The min., no the second the SCOTUS rules in favor of anti 2nd amend legislation we must rise to the call! We must be willing to sacrifice our lives for the future of this country! I have no doubt the people have the honor and heart to fight for our constitution and the other side will not have the honor or the heart to stand for anything if they could get hurt! My only question is who will lead the people in the name of the constitution? I pray it never comes… Read more »

Alan

Perhaps I’m unduly suspicious, however regarding “common sense gun safety laws”, much being said thereabouts, I find myself curious as to the exact definitions for, and the meaning of the terms bandied about, they being “common sense”, and “gun safety” laws. I await clarification from those who wave those terms about, though I must note that, while I wait, I don’t hold my breath. Think the requested clarification might appear any time soon?

Nottinghill

@Jolly18Crewchief Storme: We don’t tolerate nor allow constitutional imbeciles here. Please go away… far, far away. Go back to your commie blogs!

Macofjack

@Storeme – Keep your mouth shut and the world may think you a fool, open it and remove all doubt! Or put another way, You just can’t fix STUPID!

Neal Storme

Be honest, you don’t need that AR-15. Nobody does. Society needs them gone, no matter how good you may be with yours. Kids are dying, and it’s time to stop fucking around.

Greg Newman

It was not the gun moron, it was the democrat behind the gun that did the killings stupid.

Vanns40

And Neal, you don’t need a motor vehicle that will go more than the speed limit. People are dying on the highway, it’s time to get serious about that. They need to be gone.

Green Mtn. Boy

@Jolly18Crewchief Storme

The Bill of Rights has nothing what so ever to do with need.

G-man

Then you don’t need two cars two pair of shoes ,no more than one tv and do you think they’ll stop at that you need to wake up ,people who trade security for a little liberty will have neither

Mack

Nobody needs anal sex, either.

Sodomy kills, too.

Wild Bill

@NS, It is my Civil Right to decide what I need or want. You have not the Civil Right to decide for me. If you want to prevent “kids dying” then stop blaming inanimate objects and look for the real cause.

KUETSA

Well the next time a cop shoots a minority, and the riots break out, and one of the operatives instigating the riot say – DON’T BURN DOWN YOUR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD – (seed of thought broadcast coast to coast on CNN after both Baltimore and Milwaukee) – and your choice is to burn to death IN your home – or get beat to death OUTSIDE your home, you may just feel the need for a semi-automatic rifle with a 30 round magazine. If an AR15 and 30 round magazine wasn’t necessary – THERE WOULD BE NO NEED TO EXEMPT ACTIVE AND… Read more »

Don

You don’t need a 450 hp. Mustang, nobody does. No matter how good you may be with yours, people are dying in these things. Wait, this is still America, so stop trying to tell me what’s good for me!

JoeUSooner

The Bill of Rights is not a list of “needs,” but you are correct that firearms are actually not “necessary.” Neither are toothpaste, deodorant, fire extinguishers, auto/home/life insurance, or spare tires… but I have those things – specifically by sane, rational, intelligent choice. Unlike government-granted privileges (like automobiles), ownership of firearms is a natural (pre-existing) right… and it is Constitutionally-guaranteed to all law-abiding citizens. If you do not believe in, support, and uphold that Constitution, then which of us is “fucking around,” as you so eloquently and etherially stated?

Tionico

Our founding forbears KNEW the war was coming, and that it would be an armed conflict, the simple folkspopulating the colonies set against thetyrannical minions of the British Crown, and knew that for at least a coule of decades. Paul Revere was about 40 years old when he had himself rowed across the back bay out of Boston, his sister’s petticoat havinb been shaffled to muffle the oars as they had to go right under the counter of one of the fiercest battleships on the planet and not get caught. Years earlier, when he was sixteen, he had been called… Read more »

trumped

“We’re going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily — given the political realities — going to be very modest. . . . [W]e’ll have to start working again to strengthen that law, and then again to strengthen the next law, and maybe again and again. Right now, though, we’d be satisfied not with half a loaf but with a slice. Our ultimate goal — total control of handguns in the United States — is going to take time. . . . The first problem is to slow down the number of… Read more »

James Higginbotham

and what he said is STRAIGHT OUT OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO. in one of their COMMUNIST PLANKS TO TAKE OVER A NATION ESPECIALLY THIS ONE, IS TO ALWAYS WORK TO CONFISCATE FIREARMS. and that’s their MAIN GOAL, JUST LIKE THE BRITISH TRIED. let me say this to all here as a THOUGHT, and it goes like this. THERE’S NEVER BEEN IN RECORDED HISTORY A NATION OR PEOPLE THAT’S EVER VOTED ITSELF OUT OF TYRANNY, BUT THEY HAVE SHOT THEMSELVES FREE, and as a PRIME EXAMPLE, OUR OWN REVOLUTIONARY WAR, because REMEMBER, at that TIME ALL COLONIST WERE BRITISH SUBJECTS, SO… Read more »

Wild Bill

Richard Harris in 1976… hmmm. Hopefully he is dead by now.

Vanns40

@Alan: That’s the way it always goes, “so, you want us to compromise our freedoms? Well, what are you offering in return?”.

The answer, throughout history, has always been perfectly clear, not a damn thing that is worth it!

John Evans

The Nazi’s pulled the Jewish’s “Teeth”, confiscating their weapons so they could not resist. Then systematically rounded them up for extinction. The PEOPLE and PATRIOTS of this Great United States WILL wage another civil war if need be when the Government TRIES to come and take away Lawful Abiding Citizens Weapons. The PEOPLE are empowered to keep the Government in CHECK. PATRIOTS like myself, only use my guns to shoot steel targets, paper targets, maybe a bean can once in awhile, and of course protect myself and my family from idiots, thugs and the like, that would TRY and harm… Read more »

Bill

Nothing equals the value of freedom, yet so many will foolishly trade their birthright for a bowl of lentils. “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”

Clark Kent

‘PREVALE’? Is that some sort of pre President’s day sale?

BobD

Of course not, stupid! It’s French for a male enhancement device, something you should probably look into.

Paramedic70002

If as hinted, Trump concedes to some type of expansion of background checks, let’s see what he gets us in return.

Captian Bob

I’ve heard that hint, as well. Scary. Actually I would not be totally against “Universal background checks IF, and only IF, they eliminated page 3 of the 4473 form. That is the page where the details of the firearm(s) that are being bought are listed (Make/model/serial number/type/caliber) and that is what the Feds are using as “back door” gun registration as we speak.Right now it’s just for guns bought from Dealers. This is little talked about but, if we have a background check for every firearm transferred, in a few generations the Feds will know the ownership/location of EVERY firearm… Read more »

Alan

Shut down the ATF aka BATfE and eliminate their baloney “regulations” otherwise known as bureaucratic dictats. Do it retroactively.

kenneth kaplan

I agree with all of the above comments.There is a good chance that a 2nd civil war is coming our way.With all the talk going on about expanded back ground checks and etc. When will all the talking and action stop? If there is a call to take your weapons away what will you do? Will you turn them over to what every police or federal police show up?Remember what happened in N.O. There is always a chance that if you wait for the police to come and you refuse.to turn your weapons over to them they may kill you… Read more »

Nottinghill

The Ghost of Bill Cooper is crying tears of joy for all you here! Time to rid this nation of the funk of the Clintons, Bamas and communists! The Gov’t Agency Heads (FBI, DOJ, State Dept.), MSM and the US Congress are on D R U G S & SSRIs. They should be tested and then summarily fired. Starting with Feinstien and Pelosi then ending with Reid and Ryan. The ‘runny-ones’ with their liberal BS traitorous mouths and the Rinos too including those in Florida. We’ve known since Columbine that US schools needs no less than ‘TWO ARMED Guardians’ and/or… Read more »

Mile66

If achieved, and that’s a very long shot, repealing the 2A will still leave ALL guns with the American people. Keeping and bearing arms won’t be a right anymore, but governments will still have to go and retrieve each one of them, the easy way or the hard way. Now, how is it that about 800,000 LEOs will be able to “retrieve” the over 300 million guns from an estimated 80 million Americans? They’ll probably have the upper hand on the very few initial days and kill some gun owners during raids. Then, with 100% certainty, they will be target… Read more »

Green Mtn. Boy

Just say NO ! No more discussion,coming together,seeking common ground on the Second Amendment. That has resulted in the Second Amendment becoming the second class right it has become today. As Mr. Codrea put it “We will not disarm.”

Marc DV

There will be a 2nd civil war , Before people disarm !
Those that chose early to disarm will be the first dead .
History has shown armed masses frenzied up over ,
propaganda can and will do unspeakable to unarmed,
people. Who don’t even care one way or the other ,
about the plight their aggressor .

Vanns40

50 years and 22,000 gun laws later this failed social experiment called gun control continues with calls for “just one more”. Enough, time to stop what doesn’t work and repeal all those useless laws. Start with a clean slate and a clear goal in mind; you rape, rob, assault or murder with any weapon you go to jail and you stay there for a long time. In the case of the mentally ill, if you’re so mentally disturbed that you’re considered a threat to fly or own a gun, then you’re too dangerous to be on our streets and should… Read more »

Tionico

you rape, rob, assault or murder with any weapon you go to jail and you stay there for a long time. This needs a bit of a revision. you rape, rob, assault or murder ………………….you go to jail and you stay there for a long time. There. Fixed it for you. It is never the tool used to rape, rob, assault, or murder. It is the heart of evil lurking within the perpetrator. THAT heart is what must be disarmed. If that heart is there, and the firearm is removed from the equation, next time out it will be a… Read more »

Mark

There are no mental facilities. They were shut down in the 80’s.

Wild Bill

@Vanns, I could not agree more. If the progressive/lib/socialists/marxists really wanted a safer society, then they would advocate methods that work, rather than blaming inanimate objects. Once the progressive/libs get people controlled, and have the reins of government then watch the executions go up.

Laddyboy

To make it know!
The Second Amendment makes it a certainty that the Constitution and the Amendments will survive the momentary whims and fancies of the governmental Political actors who want the general population to be SLAVES to serve them.
Let there be no misunderstanding, American Patriots who believe in the Constitution will NOT surrender our weaponry.
According to the Constitution, We the People have the right to be equipped with the same weaponry as the armed army of the government.
Let there be no restrictions upon the LEGAL LAW ABIDING CITIZENRY of Americans.

tomcat

@Laddyboy you said it, the Constitution and Bill of Rights will outlast these a$$hats. The documents have survived more than two generations of the same pests, but I think they are more zellious now than 200 years ago. Crime is much higher now, as well. That says there is more reason we need to be able to defend ourselves.Never give it up.

Captain Bob

Easy to say; Hard to follow through. Many young people, when faced with 20 years in jail and a $250,000 (which would wipe out most folks) will cave in and turn in their “banned” guns.
It’s going to be the older folks, with only their life to lose and not a lot of that left, who will “stand and defend” the 2nd Amendment. I hope I’m wrong but I’ve seen this kind a boasting before but when the time comes they quit with a whimper.

Wild Bill

I forget who said, “We are only one generation away from slavery.”, but it is true. We need new and more powerful controls on our employees in government. And the younger generations must jealously guard their freedom.

Macofjack

If you want to see where commonsense gun control will go look at CA!

Nottinghill

The communists LIE every and ALL the time that their mouths are opened!!!

Mike

We will not go quietly into the night. This I pledge…my state of Washington is pushing some horrible ideas..if they pass the laws they are considering now I believe it will trigger something that nobody wants..we can’t shy away from it…we will need to prove to our ancestors that we are worthy of the name American…we law abiding citizens really just want to go to work..love our families and friends…just like those who marched with bloody feet to valley forge…

AJ

+1000

Cindi

God Speed!

Rob J

In the plethora of online discourse I’ve had the last few days, this is exactly what is being called for. When tjeybstary talking UK or Australia I ask them to just come out and say so if they are talking confiscation. Too mamy start off the conversation claiming not to want confiscation, them eventually concede that is exactly what they want bit only for “assault rifles’ until you prove to them that physics dictates the cosmetics of a semi-auto can have absolutely no influence on its lethality. Then they admit that all semi-auto need to be banned and confiscated. It… Read more »

just jim

That a man with the last name of Cohen should advocate stripping the populace of the means for self-defense…. I knew people who bore the tattoos of the concentration camps on their arms…

At the recent town hall meeting of my state legislators in WA, those law makers made it clear that semi-automatic weapons were next on their list for restriction and/or outright ban.

Cowboy Dan

Jim, is the Washington State compaliance rate any better than it is Colorado or Connecticut?

I think the top estimate is barely in double digits. There are lots of newly minted felons out there, and I can’t see it going well for anyone wanting to take away their arms or put them in jail.

Heed the Call-up

After NYS “SAFE” Act was passed, they expected 1.5 million registered firearms, less than 50,000 have been registered. Citizens will not willingly abrogate their rights under unconstitutional laws, even under the threat of becoming a felon. Our Patriots were traitors and fought under the threat of the death penalty. Ironically, these anti-rights people believe someone will enforce these bans. Who might they believe that would be, one of their own or those that possess firearms? NYS admits they don’t know who owns these weapons, have not arrested anyone for them and don’t know where to start. Good luck to these… Read more »

Alan

I grew up and lived for many years In NYC, gave up thereon in 1967. What it boils down to, in my view, is the following. For the wealthy and or the “connected”, government is there to serve. For the rest of us, the vast majority, government rules, andit rules poorly. I for one found this corrupt system less than either acceptable or desirable, ergo I departed and have not looked back. Of course, things do not seem to be moving in the right direction, that is government serving rather than ruling, which is in large part, the fault of… Read more »