U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- While the First Amendment is the first line of defense for our Second Amendment rights, this defense must be effective. One of the ways to ensure the effectiveness is to keep the fight on as favorable terms as possible – and that requires an honest assessment of what Second Amendment supporters have going for us.
One of the first things we have going for us is the historical record. The opinion by the late Antonin Scalia in District of Colombia vs. Heller lays it out very well. It is a lengthy read, though. The NRA also has extensive information on the history behind the Second Amendment as well. This is one area where anti-Second Amendment extremists have very few arguments. Even claims that the damage posed by modern firearms is severe enough to permit their banning will fall short thanks to a 2016 ruling by the Supreme Court.
That 2016 ruling, Caetano v. Massachusetts, is a total of 12 pages, most of which is a concurring opinion from Justices Alito and Thomas. Indeed, walking through that concurrence can lay out a very logical argument that modern multi-purpose semi-automatics like the AR-15 are protected under the Second Amendment, simply because while they are dangerous (like any other firearm, they can take a life), they are not uncommon or unusual.
Anyone familiar with the facts about long guns, particularly the modern multi-purpose semi-automatic rifles will also note that the misuse is rare, especially with the latest data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Add to that the fact that there are some 16 million modern multi-purpose semiautomatic rifles out there, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and the unconstitutionality of these semi-auto bans should be easy to see.
Put it this way – when you have at least 16 million modern multi-purpose semiautomatic long guns out there, and you have a combined total of 532 murders committed in 2018 with long guns – that means that only one out of every 30,075 modern multi-purpose semiautomatic long guns is being misused to take a life in either a crime or an act of madness.
Put it this way, according to some odds listed at Funny2.com, you are roughly three times more likely to earn the Medal of Honor (1 in 11,000), find a four-leaf clover on the first try (1 in 10,000), or bowl a perfect 300 game (1 in 11,500) than you are to be the victim of a homicide involving a modern multi-purpose semiautomatic long gun. In fact, you’re almost 13.5 times more likely to die from slipping in the shower (1 in 2232 chance). The fact is, the misuse of the modern multi-purpose semi-automatics are very rare.
This is the type of argument that Everytown and groups like the Violence Policy Center want to avoid – like the plague. The big reason is that if the historical and legal underpinnings were to be common knowledge, combined with the perspective provided by the data, then their agenda is pretty much dead on arrival.
You have to give Bloomberg some grudging credit, he has managed to market fear and hatred of gun owners in general. How to overcome this will require accepting some hard truths about some tactics and strategy that simply are not working, and which are likely to play into his hands.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national w
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