Quote:
|
which is why it is really important that gunowners respond to this push by lending a hand politically and sending some extra cash to your favorite gun rights group instead of hoarding 400 stripped lowers and hoping they don't pass legislation that makes your collection useless.
|
Hey, it was only 300 lowers
The chances of us losing in
McDonald are slim, but let's take that as a worst-case scenario.
Things have changed since 1993. The last AWB came about because we weren't ready, because the rhetoric was too easy to sell to a blissfully ignorant populace, and because the academic and legal communities still believed the whole "collective rights" argument about the 2A.
We can look to the silly post-election buying panic as a really good example of that. People are acutely aware of the effects of a ban, and even if only a tiny fraction of them are willing to do something about it, we've got a pretty substantial core of activists. The current generation of shooters remembers the 94-04 AWB very acutely, and they're not likely to stand by and let it happen in most cases.
The current situation in Washington has been a lightning rod for a "conservative" backlash, and the RKBA is a cornerstone of the conservative philosophy. There's already a cadre of very angry folks out there, and another AWB would just be another poke at the wasps' nest.
Now, as far as state or municipal bans, it
could happen in parts of Massachusetts, Illinois, California and New York. However, even if the precedent of
McDonald doesn't work, there are legal challenges available via
Heller. There's language in
Heller that precludes any sort of blanket ban, and there was mention of civilians needing militia-class weapons to serve effectively as militiamen.
The reach and limits of the
Heller decision haven't been defined yet. Bear in mind, we're in uncharted territory when it comes to 2nd Amendment jurisprudence, and the maps are still being drawn. If anything, an AWB in Peoria would be an opportunity for a lawsuit that could define and expand those lines.
Will they try sneaky stuff? No doubt. Will it be an overt AWB? I really don't see it happening.