AG Bonta Weighs-In on Ghost Gun Regulations
Press release from the Office of Attorney General Rob Bonta:
California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general urging the United States Supreme Court to review a decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that held that a rule by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) regulating ghost guns was inconsistent with the federal Gun Control Act of 1968. The coalition filed the brief in support of ATF defending the “Final Rule” in VanDerStok v. Garland that went into effect in January 2023, and recognizes that weapon parts kits and certain partially complete frames and receivers are “firearms” under the Gun Control Act. Under federal law, manufacturers and dealers must keep records of, conduct background checks on, and serialize “firearms” to prevent them from falling into the hands of children or criminals—and to allow the weapons to be traced if they are used to commit crimes. ATF issued the rule to impose those requirements on ghost guns.[Stock photo]
“These requirements are crucial in keeping ghost guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals and critical to preventing and solving violent, firearm-related crimes,” said Attorney General Bonta. “In the state of California, we have seen firsthand the effectiveness of our commonsense gun laws and it is imperative that similar laws are implemented nationwide. Each year, an increasing number of unregistered firearms and components find their way into our state from areas with laxer gun control laws. This not only leaves law enforcement in the dark but also puts our communities at risk. It is a heartbreaking reality that children and teenagers in our country are more likely to lose their lives due to guns than any illness or accident. We cannot accept this as the norm which is why I am committed to advocating for regulations by the ATF in order to ensure the well-being and security of all Californians.”
The lawsuit, filed by individual gun owners and pro-gun groups, seeks to block ATF’s rule that would help law enforcement protect communities from ghost guns, or illegal firearms that lack a serial number. The unserialized weapons allow unlicensed manufacturers and illegal possessors to bypass state laws, including California’s requirements on firearm ownership recording and background checks, rendering them largely untraceable by law enforcement. This is the fourth time Attorney General Bonta
has defended the ATF’s rule, as he joined similar briefs for lawsuits pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and another in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The rule regulates ghost guns by applying critical definitions in the Gun Control Act. Specifically, the rule makes it clear that weapon parts kits and partially complete frames or receivers — the key building blocks for ghost guns — are “firearms” under the Act if they can be readily converted to function as such or are sold with a compatible jig or template. In applying the definition of “firearms” to ghost guns, the rule helps ensure that these kits and partially complete frames or receivers are subject to the same serialization and background check requirements as conventionally manufactured guns. This helps close a dangerous loophole in firearms regulation that enabled people to evade existing gun laws and traffic ghost guns into states, like California, that prohibit these dangerous weapons. The brief filed today argues that the rule falls within the Gun Control Act and was designed to fill in the gaps in state-by-state enforcement.
A copy of the brief can be found here.
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Regulate all you want. Nothing will change.
And what about 3D printers abilities?
Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man
And yet, here we are, in a state with one of the lowest rates of gun violence in the country, and with a firearm-related death rate less than half that of many other states with fewer gun regulations. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
Thanks for sharing!
Basic to the debates on gun control is the fact that most violent crime is committed by repeat offenders. Dealing with recidivism is key to solving violence.
71% of gunshot victims had previous arrest records.
64% had been convicted of a crime.
Victims had an average of 11 prior arrests. 1, 2
63% of victims had criminal histories and 73% of that group knew their assailant (twice as often as victims without criminal histories). 3
74% of homicides during the commission of a felony involve guns. 4
Only 25% of victims and 13% of perps did not show any evidence of engaging in criminal/deviant lifestyles (i.e., prior arrests, gang membership, and/or drug dealing) prior the homicide. 5
Recidivism is exceptionally high among criminals with previous gun-related charges, 70% higher than for non-gun first offenders. 6
Gun Policy Topics
Crime and Guns
Basic to the debates on gun control is the fact that most violent crime is committed by repeat offenders. Dealing with recidivism is key to solving violence.
71% of gunshot victims had previous arrest records.
64% had been convicted of a crime.
Victims had an average of 11 prior arrests. 1, 2
63% of victims had criminal histories and 73% of that group knew their assailant (twice as often as victims without criminal histories). 3
74% of homicides during the commission of a felony involve guns. 4
Only 25% of victims and 13% of perps did not show any evidence of engaging in criminal/deviant lifestyles (i.e., prior arrests, gang membership, and/or drug dealing) prior the homicide. 5
Recidivism is exceptionally high among criminals with previous gun-related charges, 70% higher than for non-gun first offenders. 6
Most gun violence is between criminals with collateral damage. This should be the public policy focus.
Myth: Gun violence is widespread in America
Gang, drug and prior violence for perpetrators and victims in crime
From “Assessing the interaction between offender and victim criminal lifestyles & homicide type.”
CRIME AND GUNS – Firearm Homicides in the U.S. by age, race, urbanization – 2016
Bureau of Justice Statistics – crime gun sources
CRIME AND GUNS – Firearm Homicide and Ownership Rates by State 2019
Fact: Misuse of guns is highly centralized in a few major metro areas. Fifteen out of 3,124 counties account for 25% of the gun homicides. And within these counties, violence is highly concentrated within specific neighborhoods that typically are street gang territories.
Fact: “Gang homicides are more likely to occur in public settings, to involve a firearm … domestic homicides are more likely to occur in the residence of the victim and/or offender, are less likely to be committed with a gun.” 7
Fact: “At least 75 percent of the [homicide] victims and 87 percent of the offenders engaged in some type of criminal/deviant lifestyle.” hence, only 25% of victims and 13% of offenders did not show any evidence of engaging in criminal/deviant lifestyles prior the homicide. 8
Fact: 52% of homicide victims and 50% of offenders had a history of violent/weapons offenses and drug arrests. 9
Myth: Criminals buy guns at gun stores and gun shows
Fact: Less than 1% of crime guns are acquired at gun shows, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. 10
Fact: In total, about 10-11% of crime guns come from retail sources 11, where background checks are conducted. About 2.3% of guns used in violent crime come from retail sources. 12
Fact: Only 7.3% of traced guns were recovered from the individual who first bought the gun. 13
Fact: One study 14of adult offenders living in Chicago or nearby determined that criminals obtain most of their guns through their social network and personal connections. Rarely is the proximate source either direct purchase from a gun store, or even theft. This agrees with other, broader studies of incarcerated felons.
Fact: Another city-wide study, 15 this one in Pittsburgh, showed that 80% of people illegally carrying guns were prohibited from possessing guns, and that a minimum of 30% of the guns were stolen.
Fact: Other common arrangements include sharing guns and holding guns for others. 16
Myth: Crime guns come from retail
Fact: The Bureau of Justice statistics concludes that only 10% of crime guns come from retail (purchased by the perpetrator) while 43% come from street sources.
Fact: One academic analysis 17 could find no state level association between retail sales of guns or changes in crime rates.
Myth: Crime guns are trafficked
Fact: Most guns recovered in crime were retailed in the same state in which they were retailed, and those that move between states mainly do so via household relocation (moving to a neighboring state). 18
Fact: The time from acquisition to crime is short (two months) but the “time to crime” for recovered guns is typically 9.2 years. 19 This shows the delay as guns migrate from legal to illegal, and/or from state to state.
Myth: Guns are not a good deterrent to crime
Fact: Guns prevent an estimated 2.5 million crimes a year or 6,849 every day. 20 Most often, the gun is never fired and no blood (including the criminal’s) is shed.
Fact: Property crime rates are dropping (especially burglaries). The chart shows the legal handgun supply in America (mainly in civilian hands) relative to the property crime rate. 21
Fact: Every year 400,000 life-threatening violent crimes are prevented using firearms.
Fact: 60% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they knew the victim was armed. 40% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they thought the victim might be armed. 22
Fact: Felons report that they avoid entering houses where people are at home because they fear being shot. 23
Fact: 59% of the burglaries in Britain, which has tough gun control laws, are “hot burglaries” 24 which are burglaries committed while the home is occupied by the owner/renter. By contrast, the U.S., with more lenient gun control laws, has a “hot burglary” rate of only 13%. 25
Fact: Washington DC has essentially banned gun ownership since 1976 26 and has a murder rate of 56.9 per 100,000. Across the river in Arlington, Virginia, gun ownership is less restricted. There, the murder rate is just 1.6 per 100,000, less than three percent of the Washington, DC rate. 27
Fact: 26% of all retail businesses report keeping a gun on the premises for crime control. 28
Fact: In 1982, Kennesaw, GA passed a law requiring heads of households to keep at least one firearm in the house. The residential burglary rate dropped 89% the following year. 29
Fact: A survey of felons revealed the following: 30
74% of felons agreed that, “One reason burglars avoid houses when people are at home is that they fear being shot during the crime.”
57% of felons polled agreed, “Criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police.”
Myth: “Ghost guns” are widely used by criminals
Fact: A survey of the top 100 police agencies for calendar year 2019 showed that at most 1.3% of crime guns were DIY guns (when outlier agencies were removed) and maybe 2% with outlier agencies included.
Myth: Private guns are used to commit violent crimes
CRIME AND GUNS – Homicides and Handgun Supply by State with high-population cities compared
Handgun use in crime as a percentage of handgun supply – 2017
Fact: 90% of all violent crimes in the U.S. do not involve firearms of any type. 31
Fact: Even in crimes where the offender possessed a gun during the commission of the crime, 83% did not use or threaten to use the gun. 32
Fact: Fewer than 1% of firearms will ever be used in the commission of a crime. 33
Fact: Two-thirds of the people who die each year from gunfire are criminals being shot by other criminals. 34
Fact: Cincinnati’s review of their gang problem revealed that 74% of homicides were committed by less than 1% of the population. 35
Fact: 92% of gang murders are committed with guns. 36 Gangs are responsible for between 48% and 90% of all violent crimes. 37
Fact: Most gun crimes are gang related, and as such are big-city issues. In fact, if mayors in larger cities were more diligent about controlling gang warfare, state and nationwide gun violence rates would fall dramatically.
Myth: 40% of Americans have been or personally know a gun violence victim
Fact: This data was from an unpublished survey conducted by a political research organization. Their own footnote reads “Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for the New Venture Fund (Aug. 2011). Note, this is not publicly available data.” 38
Myth: Interstate transportation of guns defeats local gun control
Fact: The BATF reports that the average age of a traced gun is 11 years 39, meaning that most guns moving from state to state were transported when legal owners moved.
Fact: Fewer than 5% of traced guns in California, many of which were not crime guns, came from neighboring Nevada and Arizona. 40
Myth: High-capacity, semi-automatics are preferred by criminals
Fact: The use of semi-automatic handguns in crimes is slightly lower than the ratio of semi-automatic handguns owned by private citizens. Any increase in style and capacity simply reflects the overall supply of the various types of firearms. 41
Myth: Banning “Saturday Night Specials” reduces crime
Fact: This was the conclusion of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Gun Policy and Research – and it is wrong. They studied firearm homicide rates from Maryland after passage of a “Saturday Night Special” ban in 1998. It seems the firearm homicide rate has not subsided and remained between 68-94% higher than the national average through 2008. 42
Fact: Even banning guns does not slow down criminals. In the U.K., where private ownership of firearms is practically forbidden, criminals have and use guns regularly, and even build their own. One enterprising fellow converted 170 starter pistols to functioning firearms and sold them to gangs. Hundreds of such underground gun factories have been established, contributing to a 35% jump in gun violence. 43
Myth: Criminals prefer “Saturday Night Specials” 44
Fact: “Saturday Night Specials” were used in fewer than 3% of crimes involving guns. 45
Fact: Fewer than 2% of all “Saturday Night Specials” made are used in crimes.
Fact: “What was available was the overriding factor in weapon choice [by criminals].” 46
Myth: Gun shows are supermarkets for criminals
Fact: Only 0.8% of convicts bought their firearms at gun shows. 39.2% obtained them from illegal street dealers. 47
Fact: Fewer than 1% of “crime guns” were obtained at gun shows. 48 This is a reduction from a 1997 study that found 2% of guns used in criminal offenses were purchased at gun shows. 49
Fact: The FBI concluded in one study that no firearms acquired at gun shows were used to kill police. “In contrast to media myth, none of the firearms in the study were obtained from gun shows.” 50
Fact: Only 5% of metropolitan police departments believe gun shows are a problem. 51
Fact: Only 3.5% of youthful offenders reported that they obtained their last handgun at a gun show. 52
Fact: 93% of guns used in crimes are obtained illegally (i.e., not at gun stores or gun shows). 53
Fact: At most, 14% of all firearms traced in investigations were purchased at gun shows. 54 But this includes all firearms that the police traced, whether or not they were used in crimes, which overstates the acquisition rate.
Fact: Gun dealers are federally licensed. They are bound to stringent rules for sales that apply equally whether they are selling firearms from a storefront or a gun show. 55
Fact: Most crime guns are either bought off the street from illegal sources (39.2%) or through straw-man purchases by family members or friends (39.6%). 56
Myth: All four guns used at Columbine were bought at gun shows
Fact: Each of the guns was either bought through an intermediary or someone who knew they were going to underage buyers. In all cases there was a purposeful criminal activity occurring and the actors knew they were breaking the law.
Myth: 25-50% of the vendors at most gun shows are “unlicensed dealers”
Fact: There is no such thing as an “unlicensed dealer,” except for people who buy and sell antique — curio — firearms as a hobby (not a business).
Fact: This 25-50% figure can only be achieved if you include those dealers not selling guns at these shows. These non-gun dealers include knife makers, ammunition dealers, accessories dealers, military artifact traders, clothing vendors, bumper-sticker sellers, and hobbyists. In short, 50% of the vendors at shows are not selling firearms at all!
Myth: Regulation of gun shows would reduce “straw sales”
Fact: The main study that makes this claim had no scientific means for determining what sales at the show were “straw sales.” Behaviors that Dr. Wintemute cited as “clear evidence” of a straw purchase were observational only and were more likely instances of more experienced acquaintances helping in a purchase decision. No attempts were made to verify that the sales in question were straw sales. 57
Myth: Prison isn’t the answer to crime control
Incarceration rates, handgun supply and homicide rates 1978 thru 2016Fact: 24 states, in a four year period, enacted habitual offender laws (in response to escalating violent crime rates) and the incarceration of these repeat offenders led to violence rates dropping nationally while the handgun supply kept rising. See our study on habitual offender laws.
Fact: Why does crime rise when criminals are released from prison early? Because they are likely to commit more crimes. 67.5% were re-arrested for new felonies or serious misdemeanors within three years. Extrapolating, those released felons killed another 2,282 people. 58
Fact: 45% of state prisoners were, at the time they committed their offense, under conditional supervision in the community – either on probation or on parole. 59 Keeping violent convicts in prison would reduce violent crimes.
Fact: Homicide convicts serve a little more than half of their original sentences. 60 Given that men tend to be less prone to violent behavior as they age, 61 holding them for their full sentences would probably reduce violence significantly.
Fact: Los Angeles County saw repeat offender and re-arrest rates soar after authorities closed jails and released prisoners early. In less than three years, early release of prisoners in LA resulted in: 62
15,775 rearrested convicts
1,443 assault charges 63
518 robbery charges
215 sex-offense charges
16 murder charges
Fact: In 1991, 13,200 homicides were committed by felons on parole or probation. For comparison sake, this is about half of the 1999 annual gun death totals (keep in mind that gun deaths fell from 1991 to 1999).
Myth: Waiting periods prevent rash crimes and reduce violent crime rates
Fact: The “time-to-crime” of a firearm is about 11 years, making it rare that a newly purchased firearm is used in a crime. 64
Fact: The national five-day waiting period under the Brady Bill had no impact on murder or robbery. In fact, there was a slight increase in rape and aggravated assault, indicating no effective suppression of certain violent crimes. Thus, for two crime categories, a possible effect was to delay law-abiding citizens from getting a gun for protection. The risks were greatest for crimes against women. 65
Fact: Comparing homicide rates in 18 states that had waiting periods and background checks before the Brady Bill with rates in the 32 states that had no comparable laws, the difference in change of homicide rates was “insignificant”. 66
Myth: 86% of Americans, 82% of gun owners favor universal background checks
Fact: Those statistics came from a pair of surveys reported by gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, who has been caught stacking survey responses by polling left-of-center mailing lists.
Myth: Gun makers are selling plastic guns that slip through metal detectors
Fact: There is no such thing as a ‘plastic gun’. This myth started in 1980 67 when Glock began marketing a handgun with a polymer frame, not the entire firearm. Most of a Glock is metal (83% by weight) and detectable in common metal and x-ray detectors. “[D]espite a relatively common impression to the contrary, there is no current non-metal firearm not reasonably detectable by present technology and methods in use at our airports today, nor to my knowledge, is anyone on the threshold of developing such a firearm.” 68
Incidentally, Glocks are one of the favorite handguns of police departments because it is lightweight, thanks to the polymer frame.
Myth: Machine guns 69 are favored by criminals
Fact: In the drug-ridden Miami of 1980, fewer than 1% of all gun homicides were with machine guns. 70
Fact: None of over 2,220 firearms recovered from crime scenes by the Minneapolis police in 1987-89 were machine guns. 71
Fact: 0.7% of seized guns in Detroit in 1991-92 were machine guns. 72
Myth: Corrupt dealers sell almost 60 percent of crime guns
Fact: Only 0.5% of the reported traces were for an original purchase of three years or less before the trace was conducted. 73 Thus, 99.5% of retailer sales had left their control long before the gun was traced (and many traces are not for crime guns).
Fact: The average “time to crime”, the time between the retail sale of a firearm and its use in a crime is eleven years. A firearm can change hands and travel far in six years.
Notes:
1. City of Charlotte Gunshot Study, Department of Criminal Justice, Lumb, Friday,1994 ↩
2.Homicides and Non-Fatal Shootings: A Report on the First 6 Months Of 2009, Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission, July 13, 2009 ↩
3. Firearm-related Injury Incidents in 1999 – Annual Report, San Francisco Department of Public Health and San Francisco Injury Center, February 2002 ↩
4. Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2011 ↩
5. Assessing the interaction between offender and victim criminal lifestyles & homicide type; Pizarro, Zgoba, Jennings; Journal of Criminal Justice; 2011 ↩
6. Examining the Recidivism of Firearm Offenders Using State Criminal History and Mortality Data; Westley, Kang; 2018; Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority ↩
Bonta is a rabid gun hater. His attempts to disarm us are overturned by the 9th District Court but he appeals the decisions for years at tax payer expense.
He wants the next appointment as governor.
You nailed it…
This article has nothing to do with disarming anyone.
It sure seems that any effort to regulate parts that could be used for guns as an effort to make it harder for people to arm themselves.
Call it preemptive disarming if you prefer.
So if I bought all the parts to build a car in my garage, I can avoid having a license, registration, insurance?
You sure can. You might run into problems with that on the road, but you can still build it without license, registration and insurance.
…and use it on private property without issue.
So we’re talking end-use regulation rather than up front regulation. So why the opposition to doing that with guns and gun parts? Why not require a license, registration, insurance for anyone who carries a gun in public?
There’s two ways to try and regulate anything — up front manufacturer/ sales regulation like background checks and registration at point-of-sale or end use regulation like we do with cars. I’d support either one to promote responsible gun ownership and accountability but there’s huge resistance on the end-use regulation side of things so it seems more reasonable to try and up-front instead.
It’s that pesky Constitution thing again, They would like to tax your pen and paper and regulate your speech also but we don’t allow that either.
We actually do regulate speech that can cause direct harm. For example, you can’t go into a crowded theater and yell “Fire” without consequences for your speech. You can’t defame or libel folks either, that’s speech regulation.
It’s funny because the supreme court case that referenced that statement (you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater) was overturned because the statement in question was someone opposing the draft in WW1. Wikipedia on the case:
So no there is no regulated speech, there is laws that pertain to the affect of said speech.
https://www.justia.com/constitutional-law/freedom-of-speech-under-the-constitution/
So, using your false analogy, do you support the registration, licensing and insuring of car parts before you buy them just in case you may build a car and not register, license and insure it?
Our government is supposed to protect our liberties, not control our lives.
You seem to have missed the point. If you want to regulate guns you either need to regulate them at the point of manufacture or sale, which is what they do now but have a huge loophole concerning major parts, or you regulate public use, which is how we regulate cars.
The big difference is there are many fewer parts in a gun than in a car so addressing those loopholes seems the easier path.
Those aren’t “loopholes”. Those are features of liberty. It’s the administrative overlords that are strangling those liberties bit by bit. The manufacturer of firearms by individuals in the USA is as American as Apple pie.
“…shall not be infringed…” has no clause with “except when….”
Many gun laws already on the books are unenforced leading to violence.
You can dodge C.A.R.B. regulations Tim, and that is huge in the hotrod world.
You do know that dodging CARB rules is mostly just breaking the law, don’t you?
Completely legal to put an old body on a new chassis Tim, nothing illegal about. Stop the lies.
https://ls1tech.com/articles/legal-california-engine-change/2/
Yes, if it never leaves your property! You can insure it if you think it has a high value, but that is not even required.
The Constitution doesn’t say you have the right to drive but it does say I have the right to arm myself.
But you do have freedom of movement under the Constitution and your car is a means of enabling that movement. Similarly, the Constitution doesn’t spell out what it means by ‘bear arms’ and we’ve since developed some accepted regulations that limit you from owning an armed tank, grenade launchers, or bombs.
I guess you’re not entirely wrong, since criminals are people.
Please stop gaslighting everyone.
That’s true. It’s all about total control.
Surely you just.
Read it again.
Bonta should go back to the Phillipines where they have strict gun laws. Why come to America and tell us how to live our life? A village in the Phillipines is missing their idiot!
Nothing new here, just more political grandstanding for an unconstitutional law.
If you make a gun for yourself you are supposed to put a serial number on it and register it with the state. But people who make their own guns have been arrested and harassed by the DOJ in California. So the public went underground with their guns. Because of this overreach by the DOJ millions of guns have been made and they have no record of them. This, on a national level too after the assault weapons ban in 94. So ghost guns have been around for 30 years and the gun grabbers are to blame for this mess. Obama and Eric Holder are to blame. They allowed and caused what we have today.
And its even worse now because criminals are building fully automatic guns, silencers too. And the imported or printed ”switch” for the glocks that make them full auto. So now criminals really do have these dangerous weapons all thanks to the actions of the gungrabbing government liberals. And people still trust them with our medical, power, water, and schools too.
THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED
Only way this country will stay free, it took armed citizens to win this country and it will require armed citizens to keep it. Such a simple plan but escapes the people who are worthless during war times.
They want to disarm us so they can replace us with low IQ citizens who will do whatever the government says they should do.
If I ever heard any sentiment that we should murder the 1% maybe I would agree. As it is I’m not aware of any calls for violent revolution against the ruling class.
What does the 1% have to do with this country being free. We didn’t defend this country in the beginning on a conspiracy theory, crack me up. Will this country ever be threatened by an invasion? Yeah , you gun haters hope not lol.
That’s one part of it.
The other part provides for a “well regulated Militia”.
Knowing what guns are out there and who owns them is inkeeping with the definition of a well regulated militia.
No. It has nothing to do with it. It’s a prefatory clause giving the need for a well- armed, well trained and functioning armed populace. It means in good working order. Not regulated. And every founding father took the militia to be every able-bodied male in the US as a counter to a standing military.
It’s a bit telling that you take the part of the 2nd Amendment that you like to be literal while downplaying the “well-regulated militia” part as being irrelevant.
I’m not downplaying it at all. It’s very relevant to understanding what the right is about.
“A well balanced breakfast being necessary to the start of a healthy day, the right of the people to keep and eat food shall not be infringed.”
There’s no question to whom the right belongs and there’s no question that the “militia” meant the armed citizens of the US.
The question is what is meant by “well-regulated” because in the current interpretation by the Supreme Court, there is no requirement for training or education about being a part of a militia.
If the US required mandatory military service and training by all citizens of the appropriate age as they do in many Scandinavian countries, then there wouldn’t be much of an argument about the “well-regulated” militia. But we don’t require any training and that’s the biggest problem I see with gun use in the country today.
The other big question was whether this right was held collectively by the people of the States or whether it was an individual right. Up until 2008, it was deemed a collective right that allowed States to regulate arms as their populations saw fit (States Rights). Then the conservatives on the Court in the Heller case decided it meant an individual right and hence states could no longer restrict the ownership of many kinds of weapons.
Nope. You are willfully misreading. The right belongs to the People.
A well-regulated militia is what you need if you want to keep a free state. Well regulated = in good working order/ functional.
The People can refer to the collective population of a state or country or it can refer to the individual. The Constitution does not definitively state one or the other in the Second Amendment and up until the 2008 Heller decision it was deemed a collective right held by the States.
And you are somehow arguing that the current state of affairs is that there is all gun owners are in a militia in good working order or even functional?
It’s the Bill of Rights and it’s not a list of rights for the people it’s a list that the state specifically can not violate.
The militia should be in good working order to maintain a free state. Currently, it is not, but that has zero bearing on any individuals right to keep and bear arms. Every founder who wrote on this asserted the individual right to bear their private arms (it was legally required in some states).
If you have a single quote from a founder who says this is a collective right I’d like to hear it.
The assumption was that ALL CITIZENS would be armed.
The founding principle of America was self determination. This means you take the amazing opportunity of open, free lands and forge your own destiny.
The opposite of city life, which breeds laziness and corruption as Thomas Jefferson repeatedly warned.
Freedom is dangerous, however. But standing armies are even more dangerous as they are easily controlled by corrupt governments. For this reason “well armed militias” for national defense were ratified into the constitution as a separate component of a single, well worded statement.
The idea that the Founding Fathers did not mean EXACTLY what they say is one of the dumbest concepts ever, and is exaggerated by the fact that modern Americans are so weak, lazy, scared and stupid that they willingly surrender their RIGHT to protect themselves.
The manufacturing technology has surpassed their ability to regulate what they fear. Armed America. Too bad. So sad. The sky is the limit for the Home Engineerd.
Bonta does not have a single clue about guns and thinks the state can regulate every single one, regular gun, and “so called” ghost guns, etc. He has the mind of a tiny little Hitler! Guns are here to stay, and they will never go away by regulation. They can be made by individuals with the skill, and brought into this country by car, plane, ship, etc.
A majority of the people who focus on firearms as being the problem are clueless as to the machine. Most of these people struggle just changing a tire.
These same people took years to learn to use a light switch. It’s not likely they will progress much further.
Yes, they are complete idiots. They struggle with the fix-a-flat.
As guns are restricted, more and more, a block market emerges with outright importing of fully automatic Weapons. We know the cartels are making their own guns in Mexico right now and we know China is responsible for importing thousands of Glock switches And AR15 blank receivers, And silencer parts. This disturbing trend is caused by the regulations on guns. When you create a black market Someone is going to provide the product.
It’s often been said, “Violence never solved anything.” The simple truth is that when you are slammed up against the wall and the knife is at your throat, when a circle of teenagers is kicking you as you curl into a ball on the sidewalk, or when the man walks into your office building or school with a pair of guns and starts shooting, only violence, or the reasonable threat of violence, is going to save your life. In the extreme moment, only force can stop force. – Rory Miller
Power to the People!
There is plenty to fear…
When a nation mistrusts its citizens with guns it is it sending a clear message. It no longer trusts its citizens because such a government has evil plan
When government takes away citizens’ right to bear arms it becomes citizens’ duty to take away government’s right to govern
“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
– Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787
“What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms.”
– Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Stephens Smith, son-in-law of John Adams, December 20, 1787
“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”
– Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776
Empty talk so long as Democrats fail to keep actual criminals in jail.
Once you see all sides, you realize that these career criminals just want to control the ability of citizens to protect themselves from the real enemy: A tyrannical government.
Exactly ! Guns were to be kept to protect us against a tyrannical government! Thats why guns are protected constitutional right!
The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.
A well-armed citizenry acts as a major check on the ability of would-be tyrants, enabling the people to forcibly resist oppression. In the United States, our constitutional system is premised on the theory that, in a truly free society, ultimate power lies with the people and not with the government. But should the government forget this basic principle, the people maintain the practical power that comes with being armed for their own defense. The threat of tyranny and oppression is very real, even today. In the 20th century alone, it is estimated that governments with a monopoly on the instruments of force slaughtered over 200 million largely unarmed and defenseless people